We have yet another gaggle of ducklings in our lake, but these, unfortunately, weren’t born in our flowerbed like last year. They are still awfully fun to chase, regardless.
Not quite what I had in mind
7 years ago
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Potty Training = Epic Fail
With dance classes and princess camp around the corner (not to mention MDO in the fall), I cleared our social calendar last weekend and decided we’d give potty training a go. We talked it up to HG about all the things she could do as a big girl and bought new princess big girl panties.
On Thursday night, we left her diapers out in the garage for the diaper fairy to pick up and give to babies that needed them. On Friday morning, we opened the door to find a bag of prizes from the diaper fairy, all wrapped to be opened upon a successful potty, and she was so excited.
That morning, she teeteed twice in her big girl panties before she finally started getting the hang of trying to get to the potty. Mostly, she either wouldn’t make it there or she wouldn’t totally empty her bladder, but she earned a few prizes throughout the morning and a great attempt a time or two. Somewhere in the afternoon after nap, the prizes- and frankly any kind of reward- lost the magic, and she was ‘scared’ to use the potty. When I say scared, I mean crying, screaming, hitting when anyone mentioned the potty. Nothing would do the trick- no candy, no prize, no outside time, no grandparent visit. Nothing. We tried using timers, not using timers, but to no avail. We went to bed that night very frustrated.
It only got worse on Saturday morning. It was a stand off. She didn’t teetee from the time she woke up til about 11. She wouldn’t eat anything and was very lethargic, and she actually fell asleep once leaning over on the couch. She woke up as she realized she had to potty and was then hysterical when she had an accident. When she decided that she’d rather put on a diaper and take a nap than stay awake in her big panties, I knew something was wrong. She woke up from her nap with a 101.3 fever and a tummy ache, and we gave up on the potty training. From all of my internet investigation, I self diagnosed it as a UTI due to the fact that she was holding it so much, and I did not want to create an even bigger problem. She felt crummy through Sunday morning, but by that afternoon, she was back to her boisterous self.
O.M.G. We’ll have to try again soon, although I’m convinced she’ll go to kindergarten in diapers. And I’m only partly kidding.
Excited about her first prize
And to end this very depressing post, a cute pic from our Monday night snuggle. I had waited all day for this exact moment, holding my girl close and watching her sleep peacefully.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
“I’m 3!”
So it took me a few days after Helen Grace’s birthday extravaganza to get up the energy to tackle her ‘chair’ picture. I finally managed to get her clean, dressed up, and cooperative, and I bribed her into getting in her chair for pictures. I let her bring whatever animals she wanted to bring, and afterward, I was so relieved to finally have her three year picture documented…until I realized that night that I FORGOT HER HIPPO!!! Are you kidding me?! And everyone I asked told me that I had to redo it to include the hippo. I tried to talk John into PhotoShopping the &*%^%$ animal in, but he refused. Alas, I had to do the whole photo shoot all over again. Luckily, when she tried on her new ballerina tutu and shoes, she was so happy that she would do anything I asked. I scooped her up and ran upstairs to GRAB THE HIPPO and take the long awaited pic. Whew!
3 year old photo shoot #1
2 years old
This has been a wild and wonderful year of firsts….first camel ride, first moving carousel horse ride, first trip to the beach, first time to be a flower girl, and first road trip to Opryland. And she’s finally accepted BOWS! The toddler fits peaked during this year, but thankfully (knock on wood), they seem to have tapered off a bit. Maybe I’m figuring out how to respond, and maybe she’s figuring out what she can and can’t get away with. Her imagination runs WILD, and she’s constantly pretending to see and do things and making up songs and stories. She’s still a mama’s girl but spends a lot more time now hugging her daddy’s neck and going on walks with him. She’s becoming much more comfortable in the pool and will jump off the side to us. We are having a potty training boot camp this weekend, so hopefully, we’ll be able to soon add that to her accomplishments for the year.
She’s pretty much a Bossy Bess with friends she’s comfortable with, although she can still be a tad shy or overwhelmed in a new environment. She loves to take care of her friends and make sure they are ok, and she’ll give out pats as a sign of affection. Luckily, she doesn’t seem to have much, if any, separation anxiety anymore. As long as we explain to her ahead of time what is going to happen, she can go with the flow. She’s just like her mama and wants to be prepared.
She is sleeping pretty well these days, although in phases, as usual. She will sleep pretty much all night in her bed (goes down between 8:30-9:00), and if she does wake up in the night, it’s usually pretty close to 5:00. She’s up for good by 6:00 most days, and we are still letting her sleep with us on Friday nights. She takes a great afternoon nap for 2-3 hours.
She’ll start Mothers Day Out at Maples Memorial Methodist Church for two days a week this fall, and she’s signed up for dance classes at Kids Only Gym and a week-long Princesses on Parade camp at St. Agnes this summer.
Camouflaged: HG and Spiffer were watering plants on her patio. Spiffer had on a pink shirt and leaned down behind a plant with pink flowers. HG looked up and couldn’t see Spiffer, but when she stood up, HG said, “Spiffer! I couldn’t see you- you were camouflaged!”
Terrified: Grandma and HG were playing in her front yard while Peggy was in the back yard. HG decided to run around back to find Peggy, but unbeknownst to her, she had gone inside and locked the back door. Peggy soon found HG hysterical and beating on the back door, and when she opened the door, HG said, “Peggy, I was terrified!”
Nervous: John has heard HG say lately that she was nervous about something, and it wasn’t until we were at the zoo the other day that he understood why. As she was standing on a railing, I told her, “Don’t do that, baby. That makes Mommy nervous.”
During bath time the other night, she was telling me all about how the tooth fairy works, and then she stops suddenly with an inquisitive look on her face. “Mommy, what about the tooth fairy? Does she have teeth?”
At bedtime, every time I get ready to say goodnight and leave her, she’ll look up at me with puppy dog eyes and ask, “Mommy, you stay a tiny bit?”
Tiny Dancer
Helen Grace is starting a summer dance class at Kids Only Gym next week (with Ann Maxwell too!!), where she’ll get to try tap, ballet, and gymnastics. To get her ready, we went shopping for tap and ballet shoes at Barbara’s on Wednesday, and the girl couldn’t have been cuter. She was grinning from ear to ear as Mrs. Barbara tried her shoes on and let her tap around the store. We picked out a blue tutu as well, and when we got home, she immediately had to try on her outfit, complete with ballet shoes. I can’t wait to see our little tiny dancer in action!
A Mud Pie for Daddy
When I arrived at Grandma’s the other night to pick up HG, I found her in the backyard ‘making a mud pie for Daddy.’ As much as her muddy feet and hands made me cringe, she was cute as a button in her rain jacket and boots. She obviously knew her daddy would appreciate her rainy day handiwork more than her mama. :)
And here are some other Grandma-and-Peggy-moments caught on G’s camera…
Loves playing in Grandma’s face cream
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Hens & Chicks’ Zoo Reunion
When Whitney, Rebecca, and I met for lunch in Oxford months ago, we pulled out our calendars and made a date for a zoo trip with our little ones in June. It’s sad we have to plan that far out, but life is busy!
Saturday was finally the big day, and we met for donuts to start off the day on a sugar high. Helen Grace was so excited to see her ‘friends,’ and started squealing as soon as we saw their cars in the parking lot. After breakfast, we headed to the zoo. The weather was beautiful in the mid 60s, and the girls skipped together, giggled, and held hands. What fun memories we made!
After having her birthday at the zoo and then sharing this ‘super’ trip with her friends, Helen Grace is going to be sorely disappointed the next time we go to the zoo and she doesn’t get all the bells and whistles. On this trip, we bought a sucker, rode on the boats and the carousel, took a ride on a camel, hopped on the train, and got to see a ton of the animals in action. Thanks to peer pressure, HG had two firsts- she rode a camel and the moving horse on the carousel!
We can’t wait for our next hens and chicks’ event, and we hope Auntie Em will be able to come too!
Donuts for our divas: Elliott Kate, Adickes, HG, Haney, Leighton
As soon as the other girls started talking about riding a camel, HG seemed on board as she kept saying, “I maybe ride on a camel.” She originally wanted me to ride with her, but as we waited in line, she decided she wanted to ride with the girls and was really getting excited. As HG gathered her courage, Adickes was losing hers, and at the last minute, she refused to get on. As I was contemplating hopping on the back of the camel in Adickes’ place, the leader started walking the camel away from the podium, and I had a moment of panic, watching my baby bouncing away on the back of a camel. But as soon as I saw the big, goofy grin spread across her face, I knew she was fine. Holding on with white knuckles, but loving it. She was even waving by the end. I was sooooo proud of her! Such an amazing feeling as a mama to watch your baby be so brave and independent.
Waiting (some patiently, some anxiously) on the camel ride
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