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My beautiful girl. 🙂 A lot has gone on this month. Life is busy right now, and you, little miss, continue to grow up faster than I can get a handle on.
We started out the month in Washington, visiting Granny and Grandpa in Oroville and roadtripping back to Cali via Yellowstone, your first whirlwind tour. As soon as we got back, renovations on our downstairs started. That’s our kitchen in piles in the driveway, along with a couple off walls we knocked out in order to expand the kitchen and make space for the addition of your little brother’s new room. We’ve been living behind tarps, in dust, in noise. A month later we’re beginning to see the beginning of the end. The kitchen cabinets are on the walls, the nursery is painted (though not yet carpeted). We’ve been camping out at home these past few weeks, eating off the grill and out of the microwave. The house has been a mess, but we have survived. And we’re really excited to start putting it all back together in the next couple of weeks.
You call the men working on it all, “the guys,” and they’re just about a part of the family at this point. One of them has taught you to say “front door” in the same tone as the security system that informs us whenever one of them opens the front door. They get a big kick out of that. And the other night during prayers (which consist of me asking you what you want to say thank you to Jesus for), you said, “home” and then “they guys.” They got a kick out of that too, when I told them. Pretty special having a sweet little 2 and a half year old thank Jesus for you. I know because you usually include “Momma” in your gratefulness list as well.
I also spent some time trying to teach you how to measure. It gives us a chance to work on your numbers. On a good day you can count to 10. But then it’ll seem like you forget half the numbers the next day. You get it right about half the time. And you really love pulling on that tape and “helping” me measure things while we figure out how to fit your brother’s stuff in his new room.
The biggest news of the month has to be that you are officially potty trained!! Woohoo!!!!! I am so, so, so proud of you. I put you straight into panties the first day. The first time you had an accident, I kept you naked for the rest of the day. You got it 50% right the first day, 30% right the second day and 100% right the third day, and I don’t think we’ve had an accident since. Not in 2 whole weeks! Amazing. Three days to perfection. We’ve been putting you in diapers at night since we can’t set up your bed quite yet (waiting for the piles of furniture to be moved so that we can get you out of your crib), and I don’t want to leave you in the crib for 12 hours at a time without at least giving you the option. You used your diaper the first night, and haven’t used it since. You must have a bladder of steel. You are just so motivated to use the potty! You have no interest in going in your pants anymore. And seriously, you made this about as easy on me as you could have.
I didn’t really feel like I knew what I was doing. I didn’t know. I just winged it based a couple of quickie reads and some passing advice from other moms. We skipped the potential mixed message of Pull-ups and went straight for the big girl panties. I bought you a special potty doll who learned to go on the potty with you. I think that really helped. And I gave you the options of both the potty chair and the seat that fits on the adult toilets. You like both, but more and more you’re asking to go on the big potty, even without the special seat. You’ve got it down now.
The photos above chronicle your first successful pee. Woohoo! Between the cute undies, the potty doll, some sweet rewards, and your self-motivation, we worked out a winning combination. This is yet another milestone I stressed over for no reason. I was scared about how you would react when we put you in your crib for the first time, when we took your bottle away, when we took your binky away, and now when we’ve taken you out of diapers. At every stage you have surprised me with your eagerness to grow up. It’s a good thing, but it’s scary too.
You’re obsessed with heartbeats these days and you frequently feel your own and ours and say “boom, boom” with your hands over our hearts. Earlier this month I showed you where little brother’s heart is, and now you check his out as well. You give him kisses every day and talk about his “home” (room). I think, as much as you can comprehend, you’re really excited to see what all this baby talk is about. You may not get it fully, but you know some big changes are on the horizon and that there’s going to be a baby. And you’re excited about tit.
We also signed up for swimming lessons. We have 3 days left. I’m not sure I realized how pregnant I’d feel at this point, but we’re managing. It’s a lot of work for both of us (since of course I get in the pool with you at this point), but it’s fun too. And you love the water. You’re working on floating, kicking, blowing bubbles, hopping in shallow water, and climbing out of the side of the pool. You are intermittently timid and fearless. I never quite know how you’re going to react to the things we ask you to try. Sometimes you tackle the task with gusto, sometimes you whine and act afraid. It’s as much a learning process for me as it is for you. I want to have the right balance of not coddling, but also respecting your legitimate fears. Overall, it’s been hard but fun. And it’s definitely helped. You definitely won’t be swimming on your own in the next few days, but it’s a good start – you’ll definitely be swimming by next summer.
I may come back and add a few other cute things you’re doing and saying, as I remember them. But here’s a start, a few of the highlights of month 32.
Love you, baby!