My Word for 2015

Last January several of the bloggers I follow shared how, instead of making lists of New Year's Resolutions, they chose a word to represent their upcoming year.  Maybe as a mantra or a reminder, but something to direct their efforts and new-found enthusiasm at the start of the year.

I jumped on the band-wagon and I chose the word steady.  You can read last year's post here http://mcclintockclan.blogspot.com/2014/01/now-where-were-we.html.  Although I didn't wake up every morning and chant "steady, steady, steady" or meditate on it, the word was running through the back of my mind.  One friend would even reference it for me.  Over-all, I did feel steady last year.  The waves of life came (house stuff, expat life, heart surgery, months in the US and away from our normal routine, and the general calamity of having three young kids), but the waves did not over-take me.

Drum-roll for this year's word please...
                                                                      rest

Which, as it turns out, is oh-so-hysterical at the moment because it's 5 am and I'm up blogging.  I'd really rather be resting, but ChinaBean still has a touch of jet lag.  So, when she woke up at 4 am asking for a waffle because she was hungry, she woke me up too.  She is now happily sleeping in a cozy bed next to her daddy and I'm up blogging. Oh well.

Anyway, looking ahead to 2015 I know there will be epic adventures (trying to soak up all the goodness SE Asia has for us), there will be changes (moving?  Probably. Where to?  No idea), building a house (maybe), and by the end-of-the year I will have a 9, 7 and 4 year-old.  Wait, what?!  

In between all that I need to find rest.  Seek it out, look for it, ask if what I am doing is restful.  I want to read more.  Enjoy the quiet.  Be alone some.

Found this on: http://bravegirlsclub.com/archives/10250

As for the "not" New Year's Goals that I wrote in my planner last year (I like to think of it more as a running to-do list), I will happily be carrying over the unfinished ones to this year and not add anything new.  And, in last January's post I referenced potty-training (done) and pacifiers (done)...I'm calling 2014 a complete success.

So, here's to 2015 and a new year!  May it be restful for all of us.  

What's That? Wednesday: My Love/Hate Relationship with Potty Training in China

Can I be honest for a moment?  I really, really, really dislike potty training.  It is not a highlight of my mothering career.  And, for the record, my first two children were very easy.  I know it can be much worse.  I don’t like that I have to be constantly thinking about someone else’s bodily functions and asking every 20 minutes, “Do you have to go potty?”  I don’t like having to drop everything and run to the toilet with a toddler any time there is a thought of potty running through her head.  I’m lazy that way and I’ve okay with that.  

Potty training while in China just adds a whole new dimension to the process.  The assurance of clean potties?  Nope.  Finding a potty quickly while out and about?  Nope.  Family bathrooms so daddy can share in the potty training fun?  Nope.  Holding a small child who has legs barely longer than an American Girl doll over a squatty potty…not fun (and doesn’t smell so great either).  Anticipating our 14-hour flight to the US this summer with a potty training toddler…also not fun.

And yet!  We live in a society where it is completely socially acceptable to allow your child (or adult male) to potty in the bushes, the grass, along the side of the road, in the park or, for the particularly brave, into a plastic Coke bottle while standing in front of the “It’s a Small World” ride at Hong Kong Disney (not our child or adult male).  There is great freedom in this and it almost makes up for the challenges.

If you haven’t already guessed, we have recently started another season of potty training at our house.  My past experience in potty training a toddler in China gives me confidence that we will prevail once again!