Emily and Erica have moved on. Two weeks ago, on a Friday, we made a big deal about it being “panties” day. We put them on first thing in the morning, used the potty all day, and haven’t looked back. We’ve talked over and over about all the people we know who wear panties. We’ve made it to church and to the park and to the store and back without any trouble. Oh, yeah, except for the we-had-to-buy-the-flower-flip-flops-at-Target-because-they-got-pee-pee-on-them incident. A few days after that, on our first long afternoon of errands, we made eleven trips to the potty. Which means that if each trip takes a minimum of ten minutes, by the time we walked there, got it done, and walked back to wherever we started from, we spent 110 minutes going to the potty. Yes. That’s almost two hours.  Their reward. . . they got to pick out new princess dresses at Target after we made it for one week without diapers.  My reward. . . serious cash to use for something else, and the knowledge that I have, at last, passed this test in my life as a mom.  

I let Erica take the Purple Turtle on a trip to the mall. I know not to do this. . . not to take favorite toys out of the house to places where they are easily lost. But for some reason that I can’t explain, other than lack of sleep and an overwhelming desire for whining to cease, I caved, and the Purple Turtle came with us.The Purple Turtle did not make it back home with us. Somewhere between the car, the ladies’ restroom, Chick-Fil-A and Old Navy, the Purple Turtle fell out of the stroller. We retraced all of our steps and asked lots of nice people if they’d seen a small purple turtle. We did not find it, and it was not in the car. We had a sad conversation as we drove away.Erica: “But I love my Purple Turtle. What will I do without my Purple Turtle?”Emily: “Let’s go home and get my Pink Pig for Erica.”Me: “You would let Erica have your Pink Pig?”Emily: “Yes. For two minutes.”

So on the day after Thanksgiving, Joel gave me my birthday present. This was pretty fun for me, since my birthday isn’t until Dec. 5. He just couldn’t wait. It started with a movie. . . of him taking Emily and Erica to get mommy a birthday present. It started with the girls getting into the car and doing the buckles on the car seats all by themselves. They kept saying “I’m unique” over and over again, I think because we just watched the Doodlebops, and Moe said that on the show. So they go out for lunch and shopping. At the end, when they are getting back in the car for the trip home, Joel got them to say, “Happy Birthday, Mommy” into the camera. Then Erica says, “Mommy’s two and she’s going to be three?” “No,” Joel said, “she’s going to be three and two.”