long lashes

I was wondering if she had inherited my side of the family's long eye lashes. Judging by this picture, I guess she has.

raindrops keep falling on my head

Who knew it was supposed to rain today?! I was pleasantly surprised by the nice, cool temperatures and the soft, steady rain that our poor, brown grass so desperately needs.

All morning though (starting at 6:30, when it was still dark out!), my little one was begging to go outside, as is her custom when we're home in the mornings. I kept telling her no, that it was raining. But finally, after her asking for the umpteenth time, I thought, "Why not? There's no thunder and lightning....she'd love it." So I told her if she got her rain boots and put on her raincoat (a recent garage sale find), she could go out.

You should've seen the excitement on her face. First, she got to go outside. But wearing her beloved boots? Even better! And a new pink coat? Wow, does life get any better for this two year old?

Here she is, surveying the situation.

"It's waining, Mommy! I get all WET!" she told me excitedly.

We went for a walk around our cul de sac. Then she decided she wanted to go find the octagon (our neighborhood walks have recently become shape finding walks, as she points out the octagon stop sign, the triangle yield signs, and the rectangular street signs.). So we walked around the corner to where we could see the octagon sign, and walked home. Smiling all the way, I should add. She had a ball.

new adventures

This morning, just before 9:00, R told me that she had gone pee-pee in her diaper. I told her it was okay, but next time she should tell me she had to so we could go in and use the potty (potty training has been pretty non existent since I posted this.). I was in her room at the time, so I pulled the training pants out of her drawer that I've been collecting in hopes that soon she'll be ready to start potty training. I showed them to her and told her they were "big girl pants," (that's how they refer to them in the potty story she loves to have read to her) and when she was ready to use the potty she could wear these instead of a diaper. She was really excited about them and smiling as she held them and looked at them. I asked her if she wanted to wear them today and use the potty instead of going in her diaper. She said "yeah!" So I put a pair on her and the adventure began.

My routine is to put her in her playpen while I take a shower in the mornings. I hadn't done that yet, so I put her in the playpen in the training pants, sitting on a waterproof pad so if she did go, it wouldn't get the playpen mat wet. I told her to keep them dry and when Mommy came back she could go sit on the potty.

Usually she's in her playpen for nearly an hour, listening to music, playing with toys, and reading books. I take a shower, make the bed, get laundry started, and usually some other thing that needs to get done. It's really a nice arrangement, and she loves it, most days. But today I knew I couldn't leave her in there that long, so I took a quick shower and got ready and went to get her at 9:15. My plan was to check and see if she was dry (she was), take a load of laundry down with her in tow, and then bring her up and put her on the potty. But while we were in the basement, and she was playing with her old baby toys which are down there, I heard a stream of running water, looked over, and saw her looking down at her wet feet and a steady stream going down her leg. "Uh oh," she said. "All wet!" I told her it was okay, that she had pee-peed in her big girl pants, and next time she needed to tell Mommy before she did that so we could get to the potty. "Keen it up?" she asked. I told her yes, that Mommy would clean it up, but first we needed to clean her up. So I took her upstairs, cleaned her up, put a new pair of training pants on her, and told her to keep them dry. We went back down to the basement and she continued playing with her toys while I cleaned up the mess (I'm so glad it was the concrete floor in the basement that I really could care less about!).

I got the load of laundry started and we played down there a few minutes and then I told her it was time to go up and sit on the potty. She did so, willingly, for about 10 minutes. We looked at books and talked about the pictures. But after 10 minutes she started taking off the training pants from around her ankles, got up from the potty, and said, " Take them off! All Done!" I told her that if she took them off, she needed to sit on the potty. "All done, potty," she said. Then she said, "Diaper on?" At this point, I knew I had two choices.

1) commit to a day of full fledged potty training--no diapers, many trips to the potty, and probably many accidents

or

2) chalk it up as a little bit of experience, put the diaper on, and try again another day

Well, I have been up since 2:30 this morning--couldn't sleep for no known reason (except that I didn't take tylenol PM or benedryl, and it seems that lately if I don't take something, I don't sleep well at all--not a trend I want to continue, but I'm not sure what to do about it). So I was tired. Very tired. And the idea of committing to a day of potty training didn't appeal to me one bit. If I had thought about it very much, I wouldn't have even suggested putting the training pants on in the first place. But I was tired, so I wasn't thinking much.

So I chose option #2. At 9:52 she got her diaper on and we went on with business as usual around here. Much less stressful for both of us. 52 minutes of potty training. Not really a good start. I know the rough days are soon coming..... I'm not looking forward to them, but if I keep the end in sight (no more diaper changes!!!!), maybe I'll have the energy I need to make it happen.

And just because, I took some pictures outside today. Can you tell where we were playing?!

titanic tent

Some of you know that my husband is an outdoor fanatic. Hiking, camping, and exploring outside are some of his very favorite things to do.

But he married me.

Hiking, camping, and exploring outside are some of my very least favorite things to do.

Consequently, since we've been married, we've gone camping only once. I've refused since, because sleeping on the hard ground is not my idea of a good time, but promising that if he got me an air mattress (or a camper) , I'd try it again. The thing is, our tent wasn't big enough to hold an air mattress. That saved me from having to go camping ever again!

Until this weekend, when he decided to start looking for a new tent, since they're on sale at this time of year. We went all over the city on Saturday and Sunday, looking for the best deal on a tent big enough to hold an air mattress plus a pack-n-play for our little one.

So he decided on a tent. He brought it home last night and decided to set it up in our living room. As we unfolded it we were in disbelief--it was MUCH bigger than we had anticipated--bigger than our living room! But we went ahead and set it up--of course R was ecstatic, watching us, trying to "help" anywhere she could (but really, just getting in the way).

Tonight he decided to set it up outside so he could put the rain fly on and really see what it looked like, since we couldn't get the full picture inside.

It was like rocket science, trying to figure it all out. But we got it up. It fills up the majority of our backyard! I wanted to take pictures, but I forgot to take the camera outside until it was too dark to take them, so I decided to look online to find a picture. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a picture of someone else who set up the exact same tent in their living room! So this isn't my living room, but this is pretty much what my living room looked like last night!

And this is what the tent looks like on the website, and what it pretty much looks like in our backyard right now.

It fits the air mattress (which he also bought me last night) and there would be room for several more air mattresses! There's plenty of room for the pack-n-play, several weeks' worth of suitcases, and anything else we'd want to take with us camping, like the kitchen sink!?

So my excuses for going camping are gone. Uh oh. What have I gotten myself into?

Camping with a two year old.... I thought it would be difficult before I was a mother. I can't even imagine trying to do it with a toddler. Stay tuned. I'm sure we'll go before long (I have no more excuses!) and there will be plenty of stories to tell. Oh my.............

friend fix

So yesterday I got my friend fix....

We met Allecia and Kaden about halfway between us for a fun morning at the park. The drive wasn't too bad, and was totally worth it to get to see our friends again! We met at a park, which had a water playground as well as a regular playground. After lunch we changed the kids into their swimsuits, but neither of them was too excited about getting too close to the water. As the time went on they got a little more brave, but mostly they jumped in puddles and avoided getting sprayed. At any rate, they both had a great time and enjoyed seeing each other.

Here are some pictures.

We got them to pose for this picture together and then some other people came over to the playground and they were much more interested in looking over at the new kids than looking at Mommy for a picture. I finally just took the picture anyway!

This is about as close to the water as she would get.

Running away from the water.

With Kaden and "Sheesha" (her name for Allecia)

They wouldn't go close to this while it was spraying water, but as soon as the water stopped, they'd run up and play.

an adventurous evening

Well we had quite an adventure last night. My husband was reading our little one her story before bed and I was downstairs (it was his night for bathtime). All of a sudden I heard him on the monitor say, "What the heck?" Then he yelled "Weed, get up here, quick!" (Okay, he doesn't call me Weed, but I don't use my name on here.) I ran up and he closed R's door behind him, coming out in the hall and said, "There's a bat." As we stood there in the hall I saw it flying behind him, near the bathroom in the hall. I screamed. It was so freaky. It flew into our bedroom.

I went in R's room and shut the door behind me. She was sitting in the rocking chair with her eyes open really wide. "Bird fwying Deetah's house," she said!!! (Deetah is what she calls herself. For those of you who know her name, you can see that it sounds absolutely nothing like her name.... We try and try to get her to say it right, to no avail). Anyway, I said, "You saw a bird flying?" and she said, "Yeah. Over dayer!" and she pointed at the door. I told her it was okay, stayed in there with her, read her another story, and put her to bed.

My husband had meanwhile trapped the bat in our shower in the master bathroom under a cardboard box. When he went back a few minutes later he thought it had gotten out of the box. He called a bunch of people (the health department, Animal Control, and a Critter Control place), trying to figure out what to do. It was going to cost $370 for someone to come catch it, with no guarantee that they would get it. They give you 30 minutes and if they don't catch it, you still have to pay them! Outrageous! So my husband decided to do it himself....armed with my tennis racquet and wearing his steel toed work boots! He told me I was his back up and he handed me a badminton racquet!! If I hadn't been so freaked out I probably would've been laughing my head off. He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, so I didn't know what was happening, except from the sounds. He told me later that he found that it was still in the box. He got it wet with the shower so the box was pliable. Then he stomped on it over and over. He killed it and got rid of it (after he took pictures....which I wouldn't look at, and won't post on here, even though he thinks I should. I really don't want to see it, and I doubt many of you would, either!). Then he scrubbed our shower like it's never been scrubbed before. I'm glad I didn't have to look at it (he wanted me to, though)!

So that's just an ordinary night in the world of Weed....

I had trouble going to sleep, wondering how it got in, whether there were more, and would they be flying around me while I slept. Eeeeewwww!!!

This morning when I went to get our daughter out of bed one of the first things she said was, "Birdie fwying Deetah's house over dayer!" pointing toward her door. What a memory! I told her the "birdie" was all gone, and she seemed pleased by that fact.

tiny ballerina

A few days ago she started talking about a "banahnina." It took us awhile to figure out what she was referring to, but we finally figured out she was saying ballerina. How she knows what a ballerina is is beyond me, but then I didn't know she knew the word "octagon" either when she pointed one out to me at a stop sign the other day! She picks up things all over the place.

So anyway, this weekend my mom and I went to a series of children's garage sales and one of the things my mom found were some Isotoner-like slippers for toddlers. They look silimar to ballet shoes, so she bought them for R to pretend she's a "banahnina." They're too big for her, but the elastic allows them to stay on her feet, and she is now constantly asking me, "Put on banahnina shoes, Mommy?"

I asked her to pose like a ballerina for the picture. Here's fifth position....

...and here's her interpretation. Needs a bit of work, but I think she's about ready for the stage, don't you think?

at Kaden's request

Kaden and R haven't seen each other in almost two weeks, since they've moved away. Both of them seem to be experiencing some withdrawl, since she talks about him all the time and he is asking to see her pictures. So here are some pictures for Kaden. (Oh, and the rest of you, feel free to enjoy them, too!)

Several days ago she found an empty box upstairs in the guest room. She brought it downstairs and started climbing in and out of it. Then she started popping up and saying, "Jack-in-the-box!" So here's our own, live Jack-in-the-box in action.

When we were at Grandma's we went to get ice cream one night. She loves holding the cone on her own and eating it all (yes, she eats every last bite) by herself. Here she is with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoying her ice cream.

no news is....

...well, just no news!

I couldn't write 'no news is good news' because the news isn't particularly good around here (it's not really bad, either...just not particularly good). We've been dealing with lots and lots of fussing lately. Lots. She fusses when every little thing goes wrong. When she doesn't get her way. You name it. She fusses about it.

My husband said last night, "What happened to our easy, happy girl?"

She turned two. That's what happened.

Actually, it's taken several months past two for this to happen, but I'm guessing this is what they refer to when the call it "The Terrible Twos." She doesn't throw tantrums (I say while crossing my fingers....), so I'm thankful for that. It's really not "terrible," and I'd rather deal with fussiness than tantrums. But she's got to learn that the world doesn't revolve around her and not everything is always going to be exactly the way she wants it. And I guess those are hard lessons to learn for a little girl.

So it's not terrible, but it's not easy, either. It's tiring.

And I've been staying up way too late watching the Olympics at night, so I'm extra tired while dealing with it, too. I'm sure that makes it seem worse.

Then there are times that make me forget how tiring it is; like just before naptime today, for instance. She and her Daddy were playing outside (he was home for lunch). I was inside getting my lunch, my husband came in, and she was out by herself for a few minutes (in our fenced in backyard with my husband watching her out the window, lest you think we were neglecting our daughter!). I then went out to join her. She had been doing something at the back of the yard, turned the other way. When she saw me she smiled a big smile and walked over toward me with two sticks, one in each hand. She was moving one of them back and forth over the other one. I said, "Whatcha doing, kiddo?" And she said, in the happiest of voices, "Payin' da vi-yin!" (violin) It was the cutest thing, watching my happy girl in her own world, playing her vi-yin in the backyard on a sunny afternoon. I'd wished I'd had my video camera with me.

So no, the twos are not terrible. Sometimes they're terrific. Sometimes they're tiring. But never terrible.

independence

She's starting to become a little more independent these days, and telling me, "Seff, Mommy," when she's done something by herself (putting her shoes on herself, climbing up on Mommy's bed by herself, etc.).

She's also started playing more independently, just in the last week or two. She still says, "Mommy, pway?" and she wants me to go in the dining room (her play room) with her, but once she gets started on something I can leave and go do something else and she'll continue to play by herself, sometimes for quite awhile. Her favorite thing lately has been to use her strands of beads as spaghetti noodles, putting them in pots and pans and serving them to me. Or she'll put the beads in her tea cups and she'll have a "pahty." Today she started calling it a "Tea Pahty." In the bathtub last week at Grandma's house we had to have "bufday pahties." We had to sing happy birthday and she blew out pretend candles. She's just a party girl!

In other news, I've come down with something and I don't really know what it is. I have cold symptoms, but it's not really a cold. It feels more like the flu--I'm so tired and have been on the couch (watching the Olympics) most of today. But I don't have a fever, so maybe it's not that. It's strange. Hopefully no one else in my family will get it.

just some random pictures

These are various pictures I haven't gotten a chance to post.

Before Kaden left on Saturday R got to go say goodbye. Kaden was down at Jada and Jillian's house while his parents finished packing, so they all played a little while. We made them stop to pose for some pictures before R had to leave.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party. One of the presents was a John Deere vehicle. The kids took turns driving and riding it. Liam, the birthday boy (with red hair in the back seat) preferred riding and letting the girls drive him around!

A month or two ago we went to the zoo with Kaden and Allecia. This was taken then.

We're back home now. I drove back during R's nap. She did better sleeping in the car this time, so it was much more tolerable than the drive up on Monday (there was much crying on that trip, and very little on this one). We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but it's also good to be home and see Daddy.

IKEA

So I experienced IKEA for the first time this morning. I've wanted to go forever, but the nearest one to me is a couple of hours away, and with a 2 year old, going to a store, let alone a store as big as IKEA, which is two hours away, is pretty much impossible.

But since we're at Grandma's, and she has an IKEA less than an hour away, and Grandma could help entertain said two year old in the store, we decided to try it.

We got there just after it opened, so it wasn't too crowded. We started in the kids department, since that's where the elevator opened when we got out, but it probably wasn't such a good idea. She had a great time there, but once we left that part it was pretty difficult to navigate the rest of the store with my quickly-tiring toddler. Grandma did a great job of entertaining her with soft, fuzzy things and playing chase for a little while.

But I was able to get some things I needed (and lots of things I didn't need....), like little plates, bowls, and cups for R (she had one plate at home, so I decided it was time to buy her some!) and some new cutting boards. The things I didn't need are mostly Christmas presents for R. It's never too early to start, right?

over the river and through the woods

....to Grandma's house we go!

R and I are leaving this afternoon to spend most of the week up at Grandma and Grandpa's. I'm looking forward to it, and I know they are, too. If R knew where we were going, she'd be going nuts right now with excitement, so I won't tell her until just before we leave. She doesn't quite get the "later" or "after awhile" concept just yet. If you tell her something's coming, she expects it RIGHT NOW.

In other news, remember the potential job I mentioned a month or so ago? It's not going to work out after all. But I'm actually pretty glad. In that month I've had a renewed joy for being at home with my little one and lots of things have come up that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was working. So although I know I would've enjoyed it, I'm also relieved that I'm not going to have to try to balance work and motherhood, at least not for this year. Motherhood is complicated enough for me at the moment!

Well, we have a play date this morning, so I'm off to that. Next post will be from Grandma's house!

big moves

Yesterday was one of the saddest of my life. As I've mentioned several times, my closest friend, Allecia, and her family, moved 3 1/2 hours away. We went with them so my husband could help unload the truck and I helped her clean and get her kitchen set up. In the morning I was crying while everyone else told them goodbye, even though I wasn't saying goodbye yet. Throughout the day I'd find myself with tears in my eyes just thinking about having to say goodbye. But then the moment came that I actually had to say goodbye. And it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

The ride home was tough....probably even tougher for my husband, who had to put up with me bursting into tears every half hour or so!

Then another big move took place this morning. Our little one moved up to Sunday School! She's no longer in the nursery....she's a big girl now! When we got there she saw play doh on the table and she was hooked. No clinging to my leg, no tears....just a smile and a delighted "Pway Doh!" was all we heard, as she walked in and got started.

I was really concerned about her sitting still and actually paying attention during the 5 minute lesson they do. You've probably read about my terrible library story time experiences (we don't go anymore....and if we do go again it will take a lot of convincing from someone to make me try it again!), so I was expecting the worst. When we went to pick her up she was full of smiles and said, "Have fun, Mommy!!" Well, at least that's one positive--she enjoyed it. I said, "Did they read you a story?" "Yeah," she said. I asked her what it was about, expecting no answer, or maybe something I couldn't comprehend, but she said, "Baby Moses!" And sure enough, when I looked at the newsletter they gave us when we left, it said they had learned about Baby Moses!! Wow! She actually had paid attention! I asked her, "Did you sit still and listen to the story?" She looked at me, put her finger up to her lips, and said, "Shhhhh."

I wonder if that's because the poor teachers had to tell her that over and over again as she ran wildly around the room???? I'd like to hope it was someone else's child and mine just saw them do that. Yeah, I'll continue to think that.