Some days

Prepare yourself, this is what I like to call a "big ol' vent post." Some days I can cope with the ever presence of a three year old and some days not so much. For the past two weeks I've been remodeling two bathrooms. New tile, grout, paint on the walls....the works. One of the very last steps before trim is to caulk the edges of everything. It's a bathroom that small children use so it literally has to hold water like a giant fish bowl. Yesterday I spent three hours spreading caulk around everything in these two bathrooms. It was tedious and downright painful on my poor legs (due to the 5K this weekend). I was so grateful to be done.

This morning I was awoken by Sean telling me that Greta was in the bathroom playing in the caulking.

Sigh.

I suppose it should have been my first clue when yesterday Greta was perched at the opening of the bathroom watching me caulk while saying "Mom, it looks just like frosting!!" For some reason it didn't dawn on me that she'd go play with it and possibly taste it (she tells me she didn't though, goodness I hope not).

So apparently at 6 am she got up and started poking around my fresh, uncured caulking. She then went into her bedroom and started wiping her fingers on everything. There were smudges of caulking on nearly every surface in her room including my brand new carpet and her hair. To say I was mad would be an understatement. So I spent the next 20 minutes wiping everything off and trying to salvage the bathroom. What a mess.

What worries me is Greta's attitude about this. There is no remorse for what she did. I realize she's three years old but it's very difficult to not compare her to her brother at this age. He picked things up quite a bit earlier than his sis. If I told him not to do something he wouldn't do it. Even after she had been reprimanded this morning I was afraid to leave her alone near the bathroom for fear she would go right back in and mess with the caulking all over again. She's on a short leash today.

Since I'm venting I might as well keep going. Potty training has stalled out. I so thought she was done. Nope. She's back to pull-ups and she urinates in them about 90% of the day. Luckily she hasn't soiled one in some time. I've tried coaxing her with candy, stickers and now we are on to toys. She tells me daily how she wants a Tangled doll and I tell her she has to keep her pull-ups dry for seven days and we'll go get her the doll. She gets excited and then an hour later pees in her diaper. Oh and the really fun part? When she's done "using" her pull-up she takes it off and flings it somewhere, gets a new one and puts it on. So I find these discarded diaper bombs all over the house. It's so frustrating. She's old enough, it's just a game to her now.

Ok, vent post officially done. Thanks for listening.