Glitch and perspective...

Okay. There was a glitch in the system. Now it's back to normal, but at one point there were two of the same posts here. The second post wouldn't allow comments. Thanks to those of you for contacting me and sharing your thoughts by regular email instead!
Here's an update to my previous post just hours ago.
To keep my reality in check, Bella was in true form this morning. She did the whole run with her arms open for a hug this morning, but then things took a major turn from sweetness. She normally does very well in the bathroom by herself, but this morning as I helped her two sisters get changed and dressed, Bella took it upon herself to take her jammies off and then she proceeded to dangle the pants in the toilet.
I stepped around the corner of the door to check on her and this is what I saw. She looked up at me and said, "Um." I said, "Um....what are you doing?" (See Chip? Most moms would be freaking out yelling at this point. No. Not me. I just said, Um....what are you doing. I gave her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she had a really good reason to be sticking her pants in the toilet. Turns out she didn't- but the point is I could have lost it. Really. It would have been justified at 9:45 am. I just happen to have a high tolerance for obscure behavior and a bit of patience to boot.)
Bella just stood there. Then she said, "I'm cleaning my jammies." I said, "We don't clean our jammies in the toilet- ever, okay?" She hands the last dry corner of one pantleg to me and said, "Okay." Then I wanted to make sure that her 3-year old "Okay." meant, "Yes, Mommy. I totally get it. I will never stick my pants or any other clothes in the toilet again. Okay." So I tested her. "Bella, where will you never dangle any of your clothes again", I asked. "Um. I don't know", she answered. "In the toilet?" I suggested. "Oh...in the toilet." she replied. Once more, just because I wasn't so thrilled with the amount of coaxing I had had to do in the previous test, I tried again.
"Bella, is the toilet a place where you are ever gonna put your clothes inside? Think for a second about this. Do you think Mommy wants you to put clothes into the toilet?" "No, Mommy. It's not a great idea to put jammies in the toilet. You can clean 'em in the wash." I smiled. "Thanks Bella. You're so smart. Now Mommy is going to do some laundry. Is that a good idea?" She jumped up and down twice while saying, "Yeah!"
I'm so glad I can blog about the joys of parenting. Oh yeah. I love it all. Especially when you realize that your kid has just learned a valuable life lesson and it's not even noon yet. Love that!