Nana and Addison

Potty Training

We have officially conquered the third and final step of becoming a big girl. Wow, crazy. We started potty training the weekend before spring break. I took off the entire weekend so that I could help dedicate our time to getting that girl potty trained. I also wanted her to be as far along as possible before Monday when Tim would be on his own. As a mom I felt some major guilt about not being the one to be there the whole week during the journey, but it is what it is. Tim and I are a team and sometimes one has to carry the load.

So Friday night went out to dinner and to the store to buy big girl panties. We tried to hype it up and talk about how exciting Saturday was going to be. Saturday we woke up, today was the day!!! We both got ready then went into Addy's room ready to tackle the potty beast. I had found the "one day potty training method" on Pintrest. Basics were take them to the bathroom every 15ish minutes to try to catch them in the act of pottying. No TV, restrict activity, give them tons of liquid, and encouraged junk food that might increase their liquid in take. So off we go setting the timer every 15 mins, shoving food and liquid down our poor child's throat. We sat on the toilet a lot that morning and missed her going every time. By lunch time Tim and I were worn out and cranky. And everyone was tired of the bathroom. However, we were bound and determined to get her to go on the potty. So before nap we ended up bringing her princess table in the bathroom and basically trapping her on the potty with playdough. Now she actually enjoyed this process, and went to the potty. We cheered, had candy, basically acted like we won the lottery. So with that done we threw her in a diaper (there was NO way we had the energy to tackle naps too) and put her down for a nap. Well during this nap that she didn't take, probably because she was hopped up on so much junk, she proceeded to take off her diaper and pee all over her bed. Aaaaahhhh, talk about frustrating! So now it is late afternoon, no nap, everyone hates the process, I was pretty sure my house now smelled of pee, and she is so fussy. At 5 o'clock, I gave in and we watched Dora. As I was sitting there with Addy on my lap, it felt like she might be running a fever. I had also noticed that she had been holding her ear. Rewind to Friday when I had proudly said to my boss that "Addy has never had an ear infection". (I just love when God humbles you). Addy proceeded to fall asleep on my lap, which has not happened since babyhood. We gave her Tylenol and she continued to run a fever and hold her ear all evening. By that point we had given up on going to the potty because she was crying anytime we entered the bathroom and we were all exhausted. All during this day I had basically put out a plea on facebook for help, and my cousin's wife sent me the 3 day potty training method. We also texted the pediatrician's nurse and she said if Addy still didn't feel well she would have the doctor meet us at the office tomorrow.

So day two, we woke up ready to try the 3 day method. (I know everyone out there reading this may think I am crazy for researching any method, but that is how I work. I like to research the heck out of things in order to make the most informed decision possible. Then I follow that research many times referring back to it during the execution process. Weird, probably.) So the 3 day method is much more relaxed. You are supposed to let the child guide you so that they learn their body signs. No sitting on the toilet or trying to potty. You simply remind the child one million times a day that the need to tell you when they need to go to the potty and that we want to keep their panties dry. When they have an accident you run them to the toilet and say oh no your panties are wet. That's it. You can do whatever activities you want with the child, but must be near them and focused in case an accident happens you can catch them. By the end of Sunday morning we had actually had a couple successes. She even stayed dry during our doctor visit to confirm the dreaded ear infection. By the end of the day, she seemed to start to understand the process we were trying to have happen.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were better than the weekend, but still had a few accidents everyday. However Thursday was the magic day, no accidents!!! We have continued that trend, and even moved into no diapers at nap time. She has been out to restaurants, played with friends, ridden in the car for 30 mins, and stayed at my dad's house all with no accidents! She doesn't wake up consistently from nighttime with a dry diaper so I am just waiting for to cross that bridge when we get there. But I think it is safe to say that we have now conquered potty training!!!! Operation big girl is complete!

Weekend Fun

After several days of sooooo much rain, we had a beautiful summer like weekend. It was in the 80's which is somewhat scary this pregnant lady if we are only in MARCH!!! Hoping that this isn't meaning the months to come will be hot hot hot! We had so much fun playing outside. One evening we tried to make smores, but we ended up just smoking them. The wood was too soaked from the thunderstorms. Tim did have tons of fun with lighter fluid and Addy ran around scared of they whole experience. She didn't even eat her smore, just stared at it and said it was sticky. What?!? She may not be my child. Sunday night we played outside with the neighbor boys. At first she was pretty timid, but as soon as they got out the big jeep those three had soooo much fun. Then Daddy taught her how to hit a baseball. That girl may have a few more athletic bones in her body than her mama. She seems to be able to hit and throw pretty good for her age, but I keep forgetting she is growing up fast! It was such a wonderful weekend, and I think the summer is going to be a blast if we can keep the temps not too crazy.

Hello Kitty Skirt

My grandma got Addy a cute outfit for Valentine's Day. With the beautiful weather, nearly hot, I figured it was time to break it out. She did a feel spins before loading up to go to Stacy's. She just loves princess skirts. Side note check out the bruises on her shins. My princess plays hard.






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Addison Update

A lot of the blogs I follow do monthly letters to their children or updates as to their progress/interests. Most of them have written these beautiful well thought out letters. Well I never wrote Addison monthly updates and not sure if the next one will get them either. However, I have decided to start jotting down little things periodically to sort of update the world and my old self someday as to what Addison and Lilah were up to throughout their child hood. I think it will be more of a list of randoms, rather than a letter.

Addison 2 years 3.5 months
-She loves to put diapers on her baby dolls.
-Loves skirts and "princess" dresses
-Loves condiments, mustard, ketchup, ranch, pretty much anything that you can dip
-Sleeps with as many animals and baby dolls she can spot in her room. They are all piled on top of her.
-Loves to run and play outside. I am so ready for daylight savings!!!
-Loves Dora, Bubble Guppies, and really TV in general (gets that from her daddy)
-Likes to cook in her kitchen
-She is very girly. Loves braclets, lipgloss, necklaces, purses, and sparkly things.
-But still a daredevil. Runs and jumps off things, fearlessly.
-Talks A LOT. Her vocabulary expands daily.
-Still twirls her hair while she is falling asleep in bed, but since the paci has disappeared no more knots!
-When she doesn't get her way she says "It's not fair" I have no clue where she got this one.
-Since moving to her big girl bed, likes for mommy to put her to bed. (This changes often, but am loving the extra snuggles I am getting).
-Has memorized Go Dog Go.
-Knows her colors most of the time, can sing her ABCs and count to 15
-Can spell her name but always leaves out the second "d", so it is A-D-I-S-O-N
-When she "writes" her name or others names (which she always "spells" hers instead of theirs), she draws short quick vertical lines.
-She can draw circles.
-Still loves to dance, sing, and entertain
-Thinks anything that comes in a bag with tissue paper is a present for her.
-Absolutely loves spending time with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. She talks about them and things that are unique to them. Crazy how she remembers it all.
-Her favorite songs we sing for bed are Jesus Loves Me & Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
-Her favorite songs in Mom's car are Mr. Sun, There's a Spider on the Floor, and Willabewallabe (all Raffi songs from my childhood).
-In Dad's car she gets to watch Backyardigans or WonderPets
-She is aware that Lilah is in my tummy. She doesn't really want her to come out, but during our prayers we always say to keep Lilah safe. Sometimes she will pat my tummy after this or tell Lilah goodnight.
-She tells us she is a big sister, but doesn't really understand what that means.

Big Girl Bed

My three big milestones for Addy to accomplish before little Lilah arrives are say bye bye to her paci (done!), move to a big girl bed, and potty train. I planned for these to be about a month apart so that we aren't trying to tackle everything at once. A couple of weeks ago, Tim and I worked on painting and moving stuff into her big girl room. For the next week or so we let her play in the room and just get used to the idea of it being her new big girl room. She kept saying it was scary, so we added more and more of her things to make it feel more like her room. Finally, one night last week I told her we were going to read our goodnight books in her big girl bed. She seemed to think that was a good idea. After reading our books, I thought I would try to see if she would just stay in the bed. I brought her Romo. We turned off the lights, sang songs, said our prayers and listened to Violet sing us some lullabyes. I finally got up and told her goodnight. She fussed a tiny bit, but as I closed the door not a peep more. I was amazed. I fully expected her to throw a huge fit, and we would put her in her crib as we had done before. But no fits at all. The next few nights were a bit more work, but nothing more than a few minutes of crying. Luckily, she hasn't learned how to open doors yet, so she was trapped in her room ;). (Side note:After a couple of nights we purchased a video monitor. I would highly recommend these to any mom! I LOVE IT! We can see exactly what she is doing in her room and not wake her up if we sneak back in to put covers on her. Plus, I can just stare at her little cuteness before I go to bed at night.) Last weekend I thought naps might be an issue, but this girl handled it like a pro! So we are officially marking "move into big girl bed" off the list. Next up, potty training. Luckily Tim has spring break coming up! ;) She is growing up so darn fast!