Monday, May 24, 2010

2 going on 12

So, have any of the rest of you dealt with a little one getting too grown up too fast?
Let me tell you, its interesting. It starts with stuff like you are talking to someone and you say a day of the week, like Friday and that little voice next to you asks "Mama, what's on Friday?" Or, you say "no throwing balls in the house" then your angel bounces a ball to Daddy. Daddy says "Honey, I think that constitutes throwing" and the next thing that little voice besides you says is "Daddy, what is constitute throwing?"
Then there is this "I can (insert statement here, examples include get dressed, go potty, get ready for bath, etc) all by myself." That alone is fine, its when she adds "I don't need you anymore" well, that just breaks my heart.
Miss C is 2 going on 12, I tell you! She potty trained in 3 days, through no help of mine. She gets herself dressed (it can take forever but she is just delaying!). She gets herself ready for her bath and into her bath. She bathes herself and often washes her own hair. She wants to read her own bedtime stories.
She is conscientious too. For example, when she gets up at night to go potty, she doesn't flush because, she says, it is loud and it might wake us up. She also wants to share with us. For example, yesterday she gave me half of everything, from an apple to a cookie, to me.
Yesterday afternoon, after I got back from ordering her birthday cake (a major to do!), Miss C announced to me that she is a princess. Ok, no problems. After a while she asked to wear her Cinderella costume. We needed to go outside to plant some new shrubs. What did she do? Very daintily, Miss C used a spade and dug holes, inserted dirt, mulch, what have you and planted 3 new shrubs, all without getting dirty. How does she do that?
Seriously, I know we all want our kids to grow up, but how do I keep her from growing up too fast?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Potty training update

For those of you nice enough to follow our story, I felt it was necessary to provide an update.
Miss C is definitely a big girl now. As I mentioned in the last post, Miss C decided two weeks ago to only wear panties. I made a couple of mistakes along the way, one of which was to basically force her to wear a pull up one night because i was afraid she would have an accident. While it pissed her off, she proved me oh so wrong.
The day after, Miss C looked me in the eye (she does this to make sure I understand her, oh so grown up) and said, quite clearly, "Mama, I told you. I am a big girl. I wear panties. I don't have accidents, see?" Oh gosh, you are a big girl!
She has thrilled her teachers to no end. One day last week she had a minor accident, a toot gone wrong. She was very concerned that her teachers would put her in a pull up because of it. Geez, they had already asked me if I wanted to do anything with her pull ups! They reassured her and DH that they have the utmost confidence in her potty training and don't plan to put her in a pull up every again.
This week has been incredible on that front. While the teachers saw her potty last week, on Monday she really impressed them by going #2 in the potty at school. They were more than impressed, they were stunned.
When I brought her to school this morning, I asked her if she needed to go potty. She told me she did but she wanted to wait until the potty that has the door on it was available (one room she is in first thing in the morning only has one potty but it does have a door, her regular classroom has 2 potties but no doors, so, ok, I get it). No problem. I waited. Her regular teacher walked in the room (she was on break, another teacher was in the room, something Miss C doesn't like so we usually wait for Campbell, as she calls her, to return) and I mentioned that Miss C was waiting on the potty. Campbell told me "heck, we don't bother to ask Miss C if she needs to go potty, she's doing so great, we know she will go when she has to." Wow, talk about a confidence boost for a little girl!
So, that's it. We gave an entire trash bag full of bags of pull ups to another girl in her class and I have 4 very nice, hardly used potty chairs, in case anyone needs them! :)

Saturday, April 17, 2010

What an amazing week (beware, potty talk below!)

Since last Sunday, I have seen so many incredible changes in Miss C, I can hardly believe it.
Last Sunday, Miss C and I went out and purchased a big girl bed for her. Its a twin, hardly huge, but a big milestone in her life. Unfortunately, that bed hasn't been delivered yet. Originally, I was told it would be ready by Friday but now I can't get it until next Wednesday. Its ok though. When I bought it, I realized I needed an interim solution so when we got her new sheets, comforter etc, we also bought a twin size air mattress so she could get used to the bigger bed. What a hit!
Ok, so that was Sunday. Around Tuesday, Miss C decided she wanted to wear a "firt" to school. A "firt"? What the heck is a "firt"? So, I asked her where she had some. She told me in her treasure chest (her dress up clothes are in that) so I figured out she wanted a skirt. Success! Then, she wanted to wear tights with her skirt. Oh boy! Big girl time!
Miss C wowed them at school in skirts a few days this week (thank goodness I had a few in her size in the house!). Come Thursday evening, another huge shift. Miss C demanded panties. Oh boy. Ok, here goes.
I let her wear them, she used the potty a lot that evening. Unfortunately, she also woke up twice with a wet bum and wet bed clothes. Thankfully, I am prepared. I bought 2 waterproof mattress covers when we got her new sheets so no big deal. Each time she had an accident, she demanded another pair of panties. This is a huge change from the last time she wanted to wear panties.
Friday morning, we went to school in panties. She pottied before school and immediately pottied when we got there. Her teachers were a little thrown off balance only because a couple of her other friends, who she has been in school with for all three classes she has been in, are also starting their potty training this week (peer pressure? maybe). She had 7 successes and 4 accidents at school on Friday. Not bad for a first day.
Ok, so here is the part where i get selfish. Rather than get up a lot Friday night, I convinced Miss C to wear a pull up and then panties on top for bed. If she woke up dry, great, if not, no huge issue. She woke up a little wet this morning but in great spirits. We had a busy day planned, lots of big girl clothes shopping. Miss C wanted more skirts, a few school dresses (most of the ones we have are party dresses or getting small on her). She also needed new tennis shoes, more tights, you know, stuff.
We left the house at 930am. She tried to go potty before we left. Ok, so i admit, I might have been a little crazy to go out when she is so early in her potty training, but I packed her bag with extra clothes and panties so off we went. When we got to the store, we stopped by the potty first thing. I have learned that it is best to both go in the big potty, i go first then she tries. No output but no accident either. We found lots of great stuff and then went to lunch.
When we got to the restaurant, we told the host we needed to find the potty first. Ok, another attempt. Again, no success but no accident so no big deal. Nice lunch with one of my guys who is retiring and his brother. After lunch, we decided it was important to go potty before driving home. We got to the bathroom but the big potty was being used. Rather than try to use the little potty, Miss C said we would wait. So, we danced to the restaurant's music in the bathroom while we waited to potty. Once the big potty was available, Miss C told me I had to go first. Ok, done. When it was her turn, she asked me to run the water so there I was, running from the big potty to the sinks where you have to wave your hand under the faucet to get it to run. By the time I got back, Miss C was beaming "I went potty in the big toilet, mama! I got all the yellow potty out of my tush!" She was so thrilled with her success that after we washed our hands, she ran out of the potty and yelled to everyone in ear shot "I went potty in the toilet!" She actually got applause from a couple of people!
This afternoon, another huge success. Miss C gave me this "uh oh" look and said "mama, I have to go (#2)! and proceeded to run into the bathroom. Next thing I hear is "MOM! I WENT POOP IN THE POTTY NOT IN MY PANTIES! I CAN DO IT! I'M A BIG GIRL!" Yes you are, sweetie, you are a big girl now.
Talk about a great week! And, oh, where has my little girl gone?

Saturday, April 3, 2010

A photo blog

Photographic evidence of our recent exploits! Captions are below the photos. What do you think?

Post Easter Egg Hunt drive home.
Easter Egg Hunt Success!

Ready for the Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter Egg hunting with my friend!

Cheese!

Can we decorate cookies yet?

Dancing with my friends!
Big girl in a party dress


Sunday, March 14, 2010

Wonderful weekend

Last week was a tough week. I ended up picking Miss C up from school on average an hour later than normal due to some stuff we had going on at work. No, not going to talk about it here, just know that it was important but not as important as Miss C.
The angel that she is, Miss C didn't give me any problems despite my later than normal arrivals. She took it all in stride even though it seemed to her that we were pretty rushed every night. We were, seriously, quite rushed. I needed to get her fed, bathed and in bed in a remarkably short amount of time. We couldn't run around much outside after school because it was so late once we got home. I flexed a little on bed time but couldn't flex too much because Miss C still needs a lot of sleep. She lives in a growth spurt!
Luckily, I received very few work related calls this weekend and Miss C and I were able to have some fun times. On Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese. For most people, this isn't too big a deal but the nearest Chuck E Cheese is a 45 minute drive and opens at 10 am. We left here a little after 9 and got there just as it was opening. I thought Miss C was going to lose it completely when she realized exactly what I had gotten her into. She figured it was a playground but OH MY GOSH it was a serious playground! I am grateful she is pretty fearless because one of the first things she did was climb into the tube climber and "drive" the little yellow car that overlooked the entire place! She just waved down to me as she explored. We had a great time! The only reason I was able to get her to eat was because I snuck a bite of pizza into her mouth when she stopped briefly. At that point, she realized she was famished! Half a small cheese pizza later, we were back at it! I had to break her heart and tell her we had to leave around 1140. It was just too darn crowded and getting perilously close to nap time. She sat down and cried as I got her to the car. Poor baby. But, heck, she was beat! Unfortunately, she was so tired that she slept for the drive home (about 45 minutes) then played in her room rather than nap. Ugh.
The rest of Saturday was pretty much a blur of playing with practically every toy she has!
Sunday was a relax day. Miss C found a recipe she wanted to try in one of my cook books (a chocolate heart!) and told me that since i said we don't have all of the ingredients that we need to go grocery shopping so we can get them! Deal! We ran out to the store and were back with enough time to make the heart and have a nice lunch together. She took a solid nap and we spent the afternoon playing, building with tinker toys and making a nice pasta dinner together. She is even getting better at recognizing when she is hungry vice just grumpy because at 4pm she demanded dinner! (Mama, my tummy is so hungry! I need pasta now, please!)
I am so glad we were able to have a nice weekend together. Sorry no pictures in this post, I haven't managed to get them uploaded yet but will try to do so tomorrow!
So, how was your weekend?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Happy 200th Post!

Wow! I didn't even realize I had managed to post that much!

Ok, so the point of this post is actually just to put up a few new photos of my little girl, who we all have shared time with in life and via this blog. She is the light of my life and makes every day more special than the last. Please join me in oogling the newest pics! :)




Saturday, February 13, 2010

Long weekend

Since DH left two weeks ago, Miss C and I have been figuring each other out again. Its not that we don't spend loads of time together when DH is home but when he's gone, that third person to play with is gone. So, we've been trying to find lots of fun things for both of us to do.
This is a long weekend so we decided to have loads of fun. Miss C had a big FIRST today. We decided after our morning of errands (we typically grocery shop on Saturday mornings) that today was the day to get a library card.
After Miss C's nap, which was rather short due to her excitement, we got our coats and shoes on and ran off to the local library. We filled out the form and Miss C even "signed" her name (all of that signing in at school is really paying off!) and then Miss C got to hand her paper over to the lady for a brand new library card! What excitement!
We explored the children's section, built some castles with their blocks (love this library!), made a heart picture to take home (again, love this library!) and found 5 books (her decision) to read for the week. We also decided that this will be our Saturday routine.
We live in a very small town and there aren't a whole lot of things to do here that don't cost an arm and a leg. We are still going to the "new playground" tomorrow (I think someone might try to convince me that its our Sunday routine!) after nap. Now we just have to come up with something super fun for Monday!
How are you spending your weekend?