Just when I thought it would never happen, Ella is potty-trained! Today was the second day we sent her to school with undies….. I find this particularly amazing. Maybe because we worked so hard at it for a long time, maybe because there were times when I thought Ella might always be in diapers… but, here we are and that just goes to show: never underestimate Ella! Over the weekend we didn’t use diapers and she even went to the bathroom in completely strange bathrooms and in a port-a-potty at Garden in the Woods. Even some adults can’t go in those things! I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen b/c Ella is pretty particular about new places (after all she didn’t use the toilet at school during the summer program), but I thought we’ve got to try. I held her over in the “toilet” in that claustrophobic, smelly, plastic box of a bathroom and she went. We are still using diapers at night and during nap but Ella is not yet 3 and a half. Anyhow, I’m very impressed. Otherwise we had some issues over the weekend when Ella was away from home and at events. We went to a dinner gathering on Saturday and also to a picnic on Sunday. At the picnic Ella had a crying meltdown episode. I think she was incredibly hungry that time but that doesn’t explain the dinner party. She was just out of sorts. Crying and complaining and moaning. She gets obcessive in those situations which is hard. Unless she gets something to flip over and over (or a book to turn pages), she can be unmanageable and downright impossible, almost to the point where we are thinking maybe we should keep her home for those kind of events. She just doesn’t enjoy herself and makes everyone else miserable. We hope it is a phase.