No one is in control. Of Anything. Especially me.

What a week. This was S's first week in big girl underpants and while she wasn't nearly as excited about the possibilities as R and I were the beginning of the week, she has been doing great this weekend. You know, I read so many books about potty training - strategies to use, things to try, blah blah blah, but what I realized this weekend is that after you show your kids what to do, the rest is pretty much up to them, and that's the hardest part (at least for me).

Leave it to me to turn a week of potty training into a metaphor of life, but the more I tried to 'guide' S to what I thought she should do, the more she fought me. While she was willing to sit on the potty every hour at the beginning of the week, by Wednesday she pretty much had to be strong armed into it. On Friday, I gave the control back to her. Want to wear pull ups? No problem. Want to wear underpants? No problem. Need my help? I'm right here. Don't need it? I'll be near if you change your mind. It sounds so simple. Why was it so hard for me?


I've got great kids. Do they have tantrums over s'mores? Yep. Food on every possible surface of our house at one time or another? Yep. More dirty clothes than I could have imagined would ever be possible? Yep. Way, way, waaaaay too loud at times? Oh, heck yes! But tonight, when I was tucking them into bed, after realizing this week that my need to control things interferes more than it helps, I have hope that I haven't lost all self awareness and (hopefully) parental skill. We'll see.

Food:
Breakfast – none
Lunch - turkey burger on sandwich round w/low fat cheese and 1 tsp ketchup – 350 cal
Baked sweet potato fries 100 cal
Dinner – egg whites on sand round 180 cal
Snack – popcorn 100 cal
Almonds 200 cal
Cupcakes 220 cal

Exercise: 11 min on arctrainer 154 calories
60 min Zumba moderate 550 cal

Calories in: 1150 calories burned: 704