Please, let this work.

It's sticker chart time.  Yesterday, I typed up two different charts for my girls in an effort to help them at least become more aware of their behavior.  After a few days of build-up and vague description, Rudy was still having a hard time understanding the concept of earning stickers which eventually earn something as fantastic as a mini Lalaloopsy doll.  To better explain, I pulled some of Marley's old charts out of the girls' bedroom closet.  And looking back at Marley's two- and three-year-old goals was illuminating.  They reassured me that I was a good mom then for trying to reinforce the good stuff and that I'm doing okay now because Rudy's behavior is mostly great, and they were able to do that because they also reminded me of what a furious and passionate ticking time bomb my little Marley was.

Some of Marley's current behavioral goals ("I don't argue or whine if I don't get my way") are not too different from what we worked on years ago ("When I don't get my way, I am okay").  But I think others, mostly because of how they're written and what she understands, show just how much she's growing up ("I respect other people's things and feelings").

And then there's Rudy.  I'm sure she'll be mortified years from now when she learns a substantial audience was aware of her struggles to "keep [her] undies clean and dry" and to "poop in the potty," but that's where we're at.  I guess the good news is, eventually it will seem ridiculous that any of this was ever a struggle.  As a preschool teacher told me recently, laughing: "Don't worry.  She's not going to her prom in a Pull-Up."  (Do you promise?)  And as I once told an SAT prep class when I arrived to teach after an exhausting day with a potty-training Marley, "You know, your parents are so proud of you.  And they want you to get better grades and to get a better SAT score and yes, to get into a good college.  But did you know?  There was a time, when all they really wanted, all they wanted, was for you to use the toilet?  And to use it correctly?"