Not in the Cards

One of Evelyn's "chores" for lack of a better word is to do homework every day.  This means that while Vivian naps she spends a few minutes looking at books quietly by herself, as well as then working with me to practice her letters, which she has gotten very good at.  Last week I decided it was time to start working to identify numbers.  I know she can count, but she doesn't know the number symbols that go along with the words.  Plus just doing letters every day gets a little boring.

I started by just writing the numbers on cardstock and letting her count out stickers to mark each number.  She LOVED it.  I saw a cute idea on Pinterest to attach pipe cleaners to the cardstock and let her string beads to practice.  Shockingly, I had all the necessary materials in my house.  So, feeling like mom of the year, today I pulled out the pipe cleaners, punched holes in the cards and attached them.  I had to go down into the basement to get the beads, so I handed Evelyn the cards to hold while we ran down.  A trip to the basement...the joy and excitement on her face!

There's not much in our basement, but we do keep a few random toys down there that have been outgrown or that aren't used much.  It makes it a fun treat to go down to the basement.  I asked if she needed to go potty quickly before we went down.  Of course she didn't!  So we proceeded downstairs.  Evelyn dropped the cards, squatted down to play, and promptly peed all over the cards.

I might have lost my mind.  I can probably count on one hand the number of accidents she has had since we made the switch to underpants all day long, but each and every time it happens I completely go bonkers.  Because EVERY. SINGLE. TIME she wets her pants, not 5 minutes earlier I have reminded her she should try to go potty.  And I have learned that if I try to force her to go potty, she just holds it.  I guess I should just get used to it now...she is never going to listen to me when I try to give her advice.

So instead of counting and beading and learning, I cleaned pee and showered my kid and got mad at my kid.  And, once again, I was reminded that on those days that you're feeling really good about yourself and your parenting skills, your kid is always going to be right there.  Ready to bring you back down a peg or two.