Saturday, February 28, 2009

Inch by Inch

We are inching closer to the nursery being done! Last Saturday Steve was able to spend some time working on adding some details and his favourite part - the canonballs crashing through the walls! Madeline loved watching him paint and kept calling the lines "spiders!"

Side view

A Cannonball attack!
Next step - Portholes!


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

DaVinci











I got Madeline this Melissa and Doug easel a little while back and she usually just focused on the side with the paper and crayons, but I brought in some sidewalk chalk and she pulled up her stool and started drawing! She was so serious about her art! I think she just may have a future!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Father Knows Best

Madeline's has this runny nose, coughy, sore throat "thing" pretty much all winter. It comes and goes at will so I don't know if it something or nothing.....either way - I HATE hearing her hack over and over at night and during naps. I read that honey is excellent to give children before they go to sleep (obviously who are over a year old and before you brush the teeth!) to help coat their throat and ease the coughing. We've done it in the pass to some success so when she started coughing again a few weeks ago I broke out the honey.



Except she wouldn't let me anywhere near her. I coaxed, I bribed, I semi-forced. Nothing. I don't know what child wouldn't want something so sweet and delicious, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I tried a few times on a few different days but just gave up after getting honey all over half of my kitchen.



My husband came home the other night and asked if I was going to give her some honey before bed. I told him no because I was frustrated with fighting with her over it. I'm not going to GAG her just to get some down her throat. My husband walks to the pantry, gets out the bear full of honey and starts to talk to Madeline about honey-bear. Honey bear, if you're nice and rub his belly will give you a BIG spoonful of honey. Honeybear is full of such yummy honey - but you have to rub his belly and say please!! I was like "yeah babe - she's soooo gonna fall for that."



Next thing I know my daughter is rubbing the bear's belly and begging for honey. "More honey!" she says as she rubs his belly "More please!!!"

Uh - ok?! Great!

I'm not surprised my husband came up with something creative and cute to get her to do it - I guess I'm just jealous. I'm the mom - I'm the primary caregiver - If I can't get her to do something no one should be able to right? And with so little effort??

Sigh. My child continues to surprise me...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Potty Mouth


Madeline is still doing GREAT with potty training. I think the "boot camp" is over and now it's just about maintaining things. Sometimes she wants privacy when she goes, other times she likes to chat. Today we had the following chat while she took care of business:

(She is playing with the phone that hangs beside the toilet in the Master bathroom)


"What's this momma?"
"That's a seven"
"Seven!"
"What's this momma?"
"That's a four"
"Four!"
"What's this momma?"
sigh
"That's a five"
"Five"
"What's this momma?"
"That's the pound sign"

"No Momma, that's a wapple!"

Could she BE cuter??

*I just need to say that I have been craving breakfast food this entire pregnancy and I am very tempted to lick that picture of waffles right now but am showing restraint."

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

One small step

We are one step closer to a real nursery! Steve was able to get a few hours this weekend to finish the base coat of the top part of the wall. He still has to add in the black detail like on the bottom, but I still think it looks pretty darn good!! The closet/bathroom entrance. Please ignore the clutter in the closet - baby2 will have to share his closet space with my ebay stuff for a while!

The BIG wall - those are portholes that will eventually be painted. Steve has other great visions for this wall - but we'll leave that as a surprise!

The double window wall. The dresser will sit right in front of that window. It fits perfectly!
I am so lucky 1) to have a husband who wants to do a crazy creative nursery 2) has the talent to actualize it. Because if it was up to me it would be "the great white nursery"
I did tell him that in one small corner of the room I was going to write "Ishmael was here" or something of the sort.....lol@Myself......


Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Potty Boot Camp

I sort of decided on a whim this week to start potty training Madeline. I kept saying last year that "after the holidays" I'd get around to it. I didn't have a reason for not hopping to it after the New Year except that I was nervous. I knew that Madeline needed an all or nothing approach and the thought of not leaving the house for a few days didn't exactly appeal to me either . . .



So Tuesday we were snowed in and I kept thinking "Erin, this is the day!" but I had gotten up extra early and it was cold and . . . yada yada yada . . . One of my friends mentioned that she had sort of dedicated the day to PT so I decided to be inspired, knock off the excuses and just do it. I took off her diaper and let her roam! We talked about feeling like we needed to go peepee and letting Mommy know. She sat down once and squeezed out ONE literal drop. I still gave her a piece of candy and congratulated her. Around 4:00 she sat back down on her potty on her own for a few minutes. Then she came to me and said "Pee pee" and I was all "yeah sure honey, show Mama." So she brought me the cup (it's a little portable type potty) and by golly she certainly had gone! I was shocked!!!! We went and put it in the BIG potty, talked about all the things we do after we go, and then she got a piece of candy! She was very excited about that!

A couple of hours later before bed she sat back down on the potty again and went again! She was very excited and Daddy was there to witness it all!

The next day we did the same thing. Diaper came off and I tried not to "hound" her about it. I don't know which is worse - changing poopy diapers or asking her 300 times a day if she needs to go potty. She seemed very interested in going and I only had to ask once every few hours. If she said "no" I left her alone. I knew she'd have to go sometime and she was very unlikely to go on the floor. She went 5 times during the day and had NO accidents!! ON Thursday I decided to chance the nap. I put her down in just her shirt and socks and told her that we try not to peepee in our bed. I figured the worst that could happen is that she'd wet. No biggie. BUT she woke up dry! She also was able to do "both" in the potty that day! We also started a sticker chart. I am too retarded to make one of my own but found one online. However, it required 25 stars before the "goal" which I thought was a lot but - no time like the present to teach potty training AND delayed gratification. (Only one of which I have mastered) When she put a star on her chart we talked about how many more stars we need to get to the balloons! We also got totally rid of all the diapers in the house! Only "night night undies" (Pull Ups) are allowed! We gave all the diapers to the new baby. I have no delusions of her making it through the night without wetting, but I mention casually that we try to keep our night night undies dry. Some day she'll do it and shock my socks off! Of course this also means getting her up at the first sound of her being awake and babbling to herself, instead of giving me a few minutes to wake up. : (

Saturday was my biggest challenge because we had swim lessons that morning. We went potty before leaving the house and upon getting to the locker room. (um, ick) and then after swimming I asked her if she needed to go potty. She said "POTTY!" and I was very glad I brought her seat! She was able to go in the crazy loud, bright locker room like it was NO big deal! I had brought her chart along and some treats. That was all that mattered! I told her that since she just went potty she could wear her Big Girl Undies home. She kept them dry and was able to go potty right before her nap and have another dry nap!

Today we started the day letting her run around diaper-less and she was able to get the last two stickers to complete her chart! So after her nap (another dry one!!) she woke up to a great big Thomas the Train balloon! She got to wear her Big Girl Undies the rest of the day and kept them totally dry! It's funny how much she is "getting" the idea. After dinner she was running around and she said "cup?" and I told her that it was on the table. She kept asking and asking and then she said "I get it!" She ran into the bathroom, retrieved the cup that goes in her potty, put it in her potty, and went. Steve and I just sat there like codfish.

I couldn't be more proud of her. I'm not ready to call her "trained" as yet - but she's done so well! She's had NO accidents and done well with handling the stress of a totally new concept. At this point she almost seems "over" all the drama of getting treats and stickers and just wants to go on with her life!

Tomorrow we're going to take a short excursion to the post office, but will probably still spend most of the day at home learning the mechanics of underclothing! Meanwhile I am keeping all of my digits crossed that I maaaaaay be done buying diapers for at least a little while!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

That funny little girl...

Lots of my friends have been posting cute things their children say and do....and I need to catch up with the crowd.

1. Madeline is obsessed with "helping." As you can see - she LOVES to wash the dishes. She also loves to vacuum, dust, and wash windows. I hope she continues to feel so generous with her time when she can actually help!

2. Madeline's become very "in tune" with people's emotions. This is especially true if she thinks someone is sad. She remarked once about a baby crying and I told her that when people cry it's nice to tell them that "it's okay." So now she'll ask Daddy or I to cry so that she can say "It's ok!" and make us feel better.

3. Ever since she was born I have told her that she is my special angel. About 3 weeks ago I was putting her in bed and before I could get it all out she said "Special Angel!" Then a few days ago I heard her tell RedBear (her lovey) that he was her Special Angel.

4. If she ever wakes up in the middle of the night or too early in the morning I remind her that everyone is asleep. Daddy's asleep, Mommy's asleep, Austin's asleep.... sometimes in the morning I hear her tell herself that "Mommy's sleeping, Daddy sleeping, Austino sleeping..."

5. A few months ago I started telling her when she asked for a "treat" that she could have ONE. (ONE chocolate chip, ONE baby marshmallow) So now she holds up one little finger when she wants something and says "One mama? One? One." Then she says "Don't ask anymore." (I gently remind her that if she gets a treat, she shouldn't ask again - apparently I do this more than I thought)