Spoiled toddler

I have to be honest. You are a very lucky kid. You have two parents who adore you, you have a solid roof over your head and never want for anything. On top of it all, you get the best presents. Okay, not the BEST presents. We're not millionaires. But you get some pretty neat ones.

This weekend, you got this:


It's your birthday present from us, and bought to match what you got from Grandma and Grandpa this weekend which is this:


Together with your coupe car, your big cottage/house and more, the backyard is officially yours. We are looking forward to the warmer weather, when we can break out the pool too. This is it:

New stuff

So, the excitement of the birthday weekend has passed, and I confess that I'm glad. The first few days of your third year of life were, well, HELL! You developed this insane attitude, very physical and LOUD. I really was amazed and a little worried about how life was going to be with this new facet of your personality to contend with.

Thankfully the last few days as you've been back at school and back into your routine, life has been much easier. You're still rambunctious, but that's to be expected.

Your birthday party was incredible. So many loving people around us, so much tasty pizza and cake, and an awesome collection of presents to spoil you. You loved it all and really were the star of the day. Every time I looked up someone else was dragging you around to play games. It was so much fun, I would recommend the pizza place birthday party to anyone. A little pricey, but we knew that would be the case.

You said another new bad word the day before yesterday, this one near the top of the bad word list. I asked you to repeat it about 10 times because I just couldn't believe you were saying it! But you were. Hopefully it doesn't become a habit.

You're using sentences with regularity now. And you've got a fairly decent grasp of verb tense, which is nice. Yesterday you picked up your stacking cups, sorted them properly, then showed it to me with a proud announcement of "I did it!" That was pretty cool.

We're in the crazy hand-washing and lotion stage now. You LOVE to wash your hands, and Auntie Missy gave you some anti-bacterial lotion stuff for your birthday that you just can't get enough of. It smells wonderful, like apples, so I don't really mind.

That's it for now. Work is keeping me quite busy this week, so my apologies for the minimal updates!

Two? Already?

Happy birthday, baby girl.

Discipline

So, we've been trying some new ways of disciplining as your 2-year-old spunk shows itself more with each passing day. Obviously we're sticking with the old standards, like if you throw something after I've told you not to, then it gets taken away. That almost always works. If you scream at me, I can't hear you. That usually works, though when you're really riled up you just don't care if I hear you or not.

But the biggies, like aggressively pulling the doggie's hair after we've told you not to, or hitting me or Daddy repeatedly... Those things have to be dealt with differently. So, we've officially jumped on the time out bandwagon. And you know what? It works. I don't know why I ever doubted it, not that I did really, I just wasn't sure you were old enough. Oh, but you are. We've only had to do it 3 or 4 times so far in the last week but it's effective. I remove you from the situation and place you on a dining chair, pulled sideways and away from the table. It's tall so you can't easily get down and don't feel tempted to try. It's in the dining room, which I keep dark when we're not eating, so it's lonely. You can still see me, and I don't watch you but rather ignore you (so you think; I'm really watching you out of the corner of my eye). You can't see the TV, or Daddy, and I make Princess stay away from you. After just a couple of minutes, I come over and talk to you about why you had a time out, give you a hug, and let you down. It works like a charm.

I'm sure next month I'll be lamenting the fact that it doesn't work anymore, but I think the key for us is not overusing it. That's a last resort when you've really done something naughty. Usually you're a good girl so we don't have to worry.

On a completely unrelated note, turning 2 means spending less money on daycare! I've been anxious to find out the savings and guess what? We're saving THREE DOLLARS a week. *sigh* It's a couple of tacos, right? Oh well.

The Um Game

I have to call it The Um Game, because I'm not sure what else to call it. You have this great new game. You roll your eyes up and to the side, like you're thinking, say "Ummmmmm..." then "Nose!" and I'm supposed to point to my nose. You giggle, then repeat, with "Hair!" and on and on through all the body parts you know how to name.

The variation on this was found this morning when you wanted to watch TV after waking up (not that we have time, but you always try). "Ummmmm... Barney!" "No, baby, Barney's sleeping." Giggle. "Ummmmm... Elmo!" "Nope, sorry, Elmo's still sleeping too." Giggle. "Ummmmm... Tahtoons?"

So cute, it's painful.

Movies

You also watched Shark Tale with us on Friday night, and you watched it so attentively, with such good behavior that we have decided we will definitely take you to see the Heffalump Movie. So, next weekend probably on Sunday we're going to do that with Aunt Chelsie. I can't wait!

Valentine's Day

We had a fun weekend, but aren't they all? ;) After a fun day of shopping and traipsing through the rain on Saturday, including a tasty Indian lunch (who knew you were such a fan of pappadums?), you spent the evening with Grandma so Daddy and I could have a nice evening out. And we did; it was a great time.

Sunday we had church, and it was Chocolate Sunday. You had some chocolate pretzels and enjoyed the revelry. Sunday we fought the nap monster for hours (probably due to Chocolate Sunday) before I finally had enough and put you in your crib by yourself. Amazingly, you didn't scream at me. You played with all of your stuffed animals (which I have recently relocated to your room, out of the living room). Occasionally, you'd cry a bit, then stop and play some more. Before I knew it, you were actually asleep. It was a godsend. We will be doing this more often.

This morning, you brought some cookies to school. You were supposed to bring Valentines too, but your dodohead mommy lost the list of your classmates. So, they get cookies and not much else. Oh well!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Ceili, your birthday is in 5 days. That still blows my mind.

2 years old - almost!

So, I don't think it has anything to do with the post below, truly. But yesterday when I picked you up, I noticed that your basket was missing. Why? It had been moved into the 2's room. This morning when I brought you in, I asked Miss Sylvia where I should take you. She said the 2's room.

Yes, my baby girl is in the 2-year-olds room. With 2-almost-3-year-olds. How did this happen?! I remember being so excited about you moving up to the 1's room, but to be completely honest that was mostly because we were getting a big break on the weekly tuition rate. (How selfish is that?) This time, I am looking forward to it because I've heard through the grapevine you don't like "some" of the teachers who work the 1's room. That's an entirely different issue, and is in fact quite related to my post a couple of days ago about school searches.

So, one more milestone. One more good thing about the 2's room? They take regular, scheduled teaching trips to the potty each day. Yes indeed. Finally I have help with the potty plan. I think you'll catch on quickly!

Yearning

It's the only word I can use. I'm going through another phase of longing for Baby #2. If this is only the result of the passage of time and the knowledge that in 7 months or so we'll get the green light, then I can only imagine how bad the longing will be a few months from now. *sigh*

And I was doing so well.

Singleton after Gestational Surrogate Quads

This story just made me smile: A 'miracle': Surrogate quads have new sister

It's a reminder of how varied our human family is, and a reminder to never give up hope.

Super Sunday

So, I'd say you were pretty well-behaved yesterday. You are two afterall, and I can only expect so much. There was a lot of toy playing and cracker munching involved with keeping you at an even keel, and you were admittedly at your rope's end by the time the game was ending. You promptly fell asleep in the car as soon as we left, which was just what we'd hoped for. But really I admit I'm happy with how you behave in general around adults and in non-kid places. You usually listen to me, and though you try to throw a tantrum or two here and there you're usually aware they won't actually work.

It would have been better if the Eagles had won, but what can be done about it now? Bummer.

So, your birthday is in 12 days. I still can't believe you'll really be two. You know so many incredible things now. Your speaking is getting better all the time (yesterday you spotted and named "elephant" perfectly!). I'm starting my research into Montessori and preschools for what our next options might be. So many things to think about, and I want to make sure we make the right decisions for you. No pressure.

CO

This unrelated story reminded me of my most recent house acquisition: A carbon monoxide detector. It's just one of those weird things you always figure you should have, but never really get around to acquiring. We have a fairly aged gas heater in our house, and it's located in the hall right across from the door to your room. When a weird quirk of planning ended up with me killing time in Home Depot (no! the anguish!), I remembered that "Someday" item.

This also let me relocate the smoke detector that was in the hall into your room, so we have an added layer of security there. We already have fire extinguishers in two locations inside the house, so now I guess we're even more safe. It's a nice feeling.

(By the way, ours looks JUST like that one, but was only $19.99 at Home Depot. That's the other reason I bought it, because they're getting so much cheaper! Go on out and get one to protect yourself too!)

Uh-oh

You have a fun game you like to play with Daddy lately. It's the typical game where you sit on Daddy's bent legs and he bounces and rocks you in the air like an amusement park ride. It's also a fabulous workout for Daddy. The most amusing parts are when you BEG to be tickled ("Tickle, tickle!" while pointing to your side or chest), or ask Daddy to "Bite!" where he nibbles on your pajama-clad feet and roars. *sigh* Children.

So in the midst of your playing last night, Daddy remembered something he'd forgotten to do in preparation for our gardener's visit today. He promptly proclaimed, "Sh*t!" And you promptly repeated it. And grinned.

Your first curse word. I'm so proud.

Mommy presents

I don't think I mentioned my new toys. At work, I won an award that came with a $100 gift card that could only be used at a few select places. I debated what to do with it and was going to buy work clothes, only I recently did that. After talking it over with Daddy I decided to buy a couple of things I've really wanted but couldn't justify buying normally. So, I got a bea-U-tiful Fossil watch, and this:


I've been wanting it since even before you came into this world. I've asked Daddy for it, and he looked for it in stores but never found it. I've had it bookmarked forever. And now... I'm wearing it! I love it. I'm weird about my jewelry. I don't have a lot and I don't wear much, but the pieces I have usually mean a lot to me. This one means the world.

(Edited to add the link to Red Envelope under the picture - I should have had it link back from the get-go but plum forgot. Sorry and thanks for the reminder!)