My Summer Vacation Began Today

The kids have been out of school since the first week of June. My daughters started camp the following Monday. Little Man was supposed to start camp the next day, but needed to be toilet trained. He'd been doing well with peeing on the potty or toilet at home or out, but refused to poop.

We promised all sorts of incentives, but still he held on, literally. I didn't feel comfortable sending him to camp that first week in case he had an accident so I called him in sick. On Saturday I checked the camp cancellation policy and was planning a phone call Monday as we

Finally on Sunday, he pooped in the potty. We all made a big deal out of it (he even had his sisters come and look - and to their credit they did run into the bathroom cheering and looked in the potty and gave him high-fives and hugs). After all the jubilation, he asked if he could now go to camp. Yes, Little Man, you can. This morning I dropped him off, pretty anxious as he hadn't pooped again on Monday and again I was afraid he'd have an accident. I spent my 2 1/2 hours leisurely running errands and catching up on some little chores around the house, even had time to read a little before picking up my daughters.

I was on pin and needles the whole time, expecting a call from the camp that he'd had an accident and I'd need to come by and deal with it. Didn't happen. Although, when I did pick him up, the kid at the door did say that Little Man, "had wet himself so we had to change him, and they told me to tell you that." I feigned surprise, but later found out that they were outside when it happened and since they had "water days" (playing with sprinklers and slip and slides) after they cleaned him up and changed his clothes, they told him he could still play outside, just not go in the pool. Fair enough.

Once we got home he pooped about 4 different times (only once at my urging). Bottom line, I think now that he's been to camp and seen how fun it is he wants to be potty trained so he can go. I feel totally comfortable sending him back on Thursday which means I will now have 6 hours to myself every week for the next 5 weeks. It may not sound like much, but I know it'll do wonders for my sanity. As much as I love and enjoy my kids, I need more daytime breaks than I get.

What am I going to do with my time? Read, call some friends on the phone who I never get to talk to cause the kids are always around, start running again, blog, catch up on stuff around the house, and yes probably some boring cleaning stuff too as it will be much easier without a little person following me around (especially when I would much rather play than clean). Either way, I'm excited for the the new found independence (his and mine).