February 24, 2014 ~ So Big!

So Big!

This silly girl is getting so big.  So fast.

She’s finally decided that toilet training isn’t the inconvenience she’s previously thought it was.  It’s been five days now, with no accidents, not even during naps.  We haven’t tried for night time yet.

Yesterday I took her to buy underwear.  They were one of the few incentives that worked.  That and the thought that she may have to stay in the “baby” room if she didn’t train.  That day care wouldn’t let her go up to the three’s if she wasn’t trained.

So, underwear.  She wanted Ariel underwear.  We went to Target to buy some.  As she’s looking at all the styles, she said she wanted Thomas underwear, then Spider-man, Sophia, Tinkerbell, Wonder Woman.  She wouldn’t make up her mind.  The boy underwear wasn’t in her size, the Wonder Woman was, and she said those.  But then she saw the Dora ones.  Those are the ones she said she wanted.  Those were her special underwear.  Ok, you sure you don’t want the princess ones you’ve been talking about for days?  No?  That’s fine.  They are her undies.  Whatever.

We ended up with both the Dora and the Wonder Woman – lady super heroes – underwear.

But five days.  Five dry days.  Five days with no accidents at all.

She’s so proud of herself.

We’re so proud of her too.

February 22, 2014 ~ Hats and Knickers

Hats made for PatPat’s Hat donation

Look at all those hats!  All of these hats were donated to PatPat’s Hats.  Each one intended to make a sick little kid just a little bit happier.  Make them feel a bit more loved and cared about.  When I heard that someone from day care was collecting hats, I immediately started looking for a pattern.  Hats are fun, quick, gratifying to make.

The yarn I had left over from one of the baby blankets would be perfect for a hat.  I had a bit more than usual left over, as I hadn’t had time to make the add-on bit.  It is acrylic,  washable, one of the few asks the site has.

Of course, I had to Google and search a ton before I found a hat.  I didn’t want to do just the same old hat pattern, I wanted something different, something that would help expand my skills, or just keep me a bit more interested than and around and around knit.

Mistake Mistake Rib hat

I ended up choosing the Mistake Rib pattern, worked up a hat in the 12 month size.  Since I was using a heavier weight than the pattern, it should be good for a 3-4 year old.  While I was going around, I forgot to do the mistake part (knit every other round of rib).  Oops.  So it’s not really a mistake rib, while being a true mistake.

While making this, I tried magic loop, which I found a bit awkward having all the loopy bits of the cable in the way.  Also tried splitting the stitches on four double pointed needles, and that was weird too.  Knitting in a triangle is much easier for me than a square!  Still, I made it through, without too many issues.

I hope someone chooses my hat!

~~

In other news, Ashlin wore knickers all day.  No accidents!  She wore them with a pair of legwarmers that tickled her pink:

Leg warmers AND birdie knickers!!

February 21, 2014 ~ Pooping in McDonald’s

Pooping in the potty? Four times? Sure kid, you can have ice cream too.

Yeah.

It was a fun evening.  It started out really well though, if you forget about the car repair estimate.  A lovely Parent/Teacher conference with Ashlin’s teacher, who said that Ashlin’s doing a great job, is everyone’s friend, and the only girl the boys will invite to play with them. Her concern was Ashlin’s pottying.  Or, I should say, was until two days ago.

And then today.  Today was a good day.  Ashlin pooped on the potty there.  Three times.  That’s a lot of poop.  A lot of trips to the potty.  We probably should have invited the teacher to come to dinner for having to deal with that all day.

Ashlin told her that the reward was Ariel underwear.  Not just flower underwear, which was the big draw a few months ago, when Ashlin proved she could potty, she just didn’t want to.  Now, it needs to be Ariel.  Ok, fine.  I’ll buy her new underwear, but she’s going to need to wear the flowers too.

So, off to dinner at the store, chicken donut store.  Eat inside store?  Sure kid, you did great today.  We can eat in the store.  There was a bit of debate on if we wanted orange chicken donuts, hamburger with cheese or pancakes.  Teagan was rooting for the pancakes.  Ashlin decided on the burger.    With ice cream?  Sure, kid.  You can have ice cream too.  You did a great job today.

Once we get inside the fun began.  Ashlin had to go potty, but you can’t flush it with her in there, it’s too loud.  Then Teagan needed to go.  Halfway through her burger, Ashlin had to go again.  Poop.  Great.  that’s always fun in a restaurant.  But she pooped.  Yay her!  Then just after we finished our ice cream, Teagan needed to poop.  And she still takes a really. long. time. to poop.

I think dinner took almost an hour and a half.  It’s amazing how slowly littles can eat ice cream and french fries.

Ashlin gets to wear underwear tomorrow.  I’m so proud of her!

Peek-a-boo!

Brain Freeze!

February 12, 2014 ~ Chicken Donuts From the Orange Store

This one

This one.

She isn’t always an easy one, but she’s pretty good.  Right on the edge of the terrible three’s, she still loves snugging, and rocking – usually! – before bed.  Last night we had an awesome chat.  It went something like this:

Me:  Did you have a good day at day care?

Ashlin:  Yes!  We did imagination story.  And puppets!

Me:  Puppets?

A:  Yeah.  And cupcakes!  We had cupcakes for H*’s birthday today.

Me:  Oh, that’s nice.  Were they good cupcakes?

A:  Yeah.

Me:  Do you miss H*? (H* has moved up to the three’s)

A:  Yeah.  I poop on potty at day care.

Me:  Tomorrow?

A:  Yeah.  I poop on potty.  At day care.  Tomorrow.

Me:  That’s awesome!  Will you pee too?

A:  Yeah.  I do pee-pees on potty.  Wear flower underwear.

Me:  You pee and poop on the potty, you can wear whatever underwear you want.

A:  Me go chicken doughnut store?  Eat in store?

Me:  Yes.  You go pee and poop on the potty, no accidents, we can go in and eat there.

A:  Me have no accidents, we eat chicken doughnuts, stay at store to eat.  We go orange store?

Me:  Orange store?  Sure, we can go get Popeye’s

 

And wouldn’t you know it?  She did poop on the potty.  No pee accidents either.  One small poop accident, that she was very upset about.  Her teacher (who I told about the orange chicken doughnut store) said that as soon as she realized she had had the accident, she broke out in tears, wailing about not getting chicken doughnuts from the orange store.

Stu ended up picking them up late – he misunderstood my message about my not being out on time, that he should go – so they came home.  She was crying, she told me through wails and tears that she had pooped in the potty.  I told her that we owed her chicken doughnuts, she had earned them fair and square.  But since I had to work late we’d go tomorrow.  We couldn’t do chicken doughnuts without me!  This seemed to calm her down enough for us to lavish praise on her.

She was so proud of herself.  I was so proud of her.

She said she’d poop on the potty again, tomorrow.

I love this one.

January 24, 2014 ~ Cat’s Whiskers

Cat Whiskers

So, this one drew cat whiskers on her face at day care today.  The teacher got most of it off, but I noticed a hint of marker as I was brushing her teeth tonight. When I asked if she had colored whiskers on her face, she said “yes, cat whiskers.”  And the conversation continued:

“Were you pretending to be a cat?”  

“Yup.”

“Who cleaned your face up?”

“A did.”  

“Did she tell you that you shouldn’t use marker on your face?”  

“Yes.”  

“Are you going to draw on your face again?”  

“Nope.”  

“Ok.  Give me a kiss.”

<smooch!>

 

No yelling.  Calm.  I didn’t even bother trying to clean her face more.  I may give her face a swipe with a washcloth in the morning.  It didn’t look like Sharpie, pretty faint, so, it could be worse.  It might have been better if it wasn’t green and orange though.

 

So big!

Meanwhile, the other one spent the afternoon in the three’s.  Granted, she was allowed in because the “older” one was being bad.  So, they asked for a nice almost-three-year-old to take his place.  As Ashlin was being so good, helping the teachers clean up, listening, they sent her over.

She had an awesome time being in the same room as her older sister!  She said that she was given a bracelet – that she then misplaced – for being so good.  We’ve been telling her that it will be difficult for her to move up officially to the three’s because she’s not potty trained yet.  That she has too poop in the potty first – no more diapers or pull-up!

It’s become a mental game with her. She is fully capable.  She will go all day dry, peeing in the potty, as she needs.  But she won’t poop.  She’ll sit on the potty for a few minutes, trying, but a minute after she gets off, she’ll have pooped her underwear, or, more lately, the pull-up.  We’ve stopped putting her in underwear, it wasn’t worth the frustration.  And it doesn’t do any one, especially her, any good with us being frustrated having to change her because she’s pooped herself.  Again.

So, the teachers know that we’ve told her this, and they’re playing the same angle at day care.  Soon enough.  She’ll be big and moved up and this will be a fading memory.  I want her to stay small for a bit longer.  Diapers are a small enough price to pay for now.

June 11, 2013

So big!

So big!  My baby has gotten so big, almost overnight.  Or at least over the past week.  She’s now working on potty training, and though she’s a bit hit or miss now, she’s interested and trying.  As we did with Teagan, she gets her reinforcement in the shape of a mini-marshmallow.  Yesterday, she earned three marshmallows.  True to herself, she also asks for a high-five, or fives, as she says.

This morning, she walked into day care, proud as a peacock.  As soon as she stepped into the room she threw her arms wide and bellowed out “Ashlin pee pee potty!  Marsh-a-mallow!  Fives!”

I love how she says marshmallow:

Today, again, three marshmallows, which she decided to trade in for a dum-dum lollipop.  I was hoping to make her count out the marshmallows, one at a time.  I love how she says marshmallow.

So proud of her.  A bit sad that some of the last bit of my baby is going away.  But so proud of my little peanut.

Also, it will be nice to not change diapers any more.

July 12, 2012

Thunder! And Flowers!

We ended up losing the fish today. Sigh.  It’s an empty pond.  With frogs, and one crayfish.  I’ll finish treatment and give the pond place a call.  See what they suggest us doing – emptying the pond and refilling, doing more than two weeks treatment.  Maybe we’ll wait a bit before getting more, but I would like to get more.  I really like the fish.

In other happy news, Teagan came home with a bunch of art.  This is her drawing a thunderstorm, raining on her flower.  I didn’t get to ask if they were her sunflowers or not.  She sent me out to water them tonight while she finished eating dinner.

She did a bit of art for everyone!  Mama, dada.  Even Ashlin and the cat.  Not sure where she got the name “Gagoo,” maybe the teacher misunderstood Teagan’s pronunciation of “Clio”.

She’s asked for watercolors.  I think she may be mature enough to be able to paint a nice picture and not get paint everywhere.  They may just be one of her rewards for being good, and quiet, and not falling in the toilet.

For Dada

For Mama

For Ashlin and the cat

Related articles

• June 10, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)
• June 16, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)
• July 10, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)

July 1, 2012

Happy July!

Driving home from LaLa’s, the sky was so beautiful. It made me forget the third potty stop, and all the singing at eardrum piercing level that Teagan was subjecting her sister and myself too. Something about a gingerbread shark and crab? I have no idea. It was loud.

Home now, but glad for the trip. Good food, family and friends, sick and well. Hopefully one friend will be able to stay comfortable.

May 11, 2012

Sleeping Beauty

Ashlin must have been so tired from all that walking yesterday that she slept through the night and was still sound asleep at 8am. Dead to the world.  That’s almost 13 hours of sleep. In a row.  Unheard of for her. Absolutely awesome.

She was non-stop this morning, walking, walking, walking.  Crawling was not on her agenda.  I’m not sure if she kept walking everywhere at day care or not, but that’s all she wanted at home.  When Stu brought her home, he set her down, and she immediately walked over to me for a hug.  So sweet.  Heartbreaking.  I do wish she’d slow down, stay a baby, but she is determined to be a toddler.  I’m so proud of her.

The rate she’s going, she’ll be running next week.  We will be seeing more of those lovely bruises on her forehead, I’m sure.

I’m going to miss the half-robot half-zombie walk.

Teagan, has also been doing so well.  She’s been very well behaved the past week or so, listening and actually doing as asked.  Being quiet at nap time.  Also, there hasn’t been a potty accident,  until today, for at least two weeks.  The accident today was at nap time.  We’re not sure if it was because she was sleeping – probably not – or because she didn’t want to get up because she was focused on being good and quiet during nap time.  One way or another, one accident in two weeks is great.

 

Related articles

• May 10, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)
• April 28, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)

April 23, 2012

Mine!

Gah.  Why can’t she listen?  Or why is it that she seems to have the retention of a gold fish.  It’s so frustrating.  Dinner tonight was:

Me:  Teagan please don’t crush the cheerios on the floor with your toy

Teagan:  Crushes another cheerio

Me:  Teagan, please stop that.  I’d like you to pick them up and throw them out.  Not crush them.  That makes it harder to clean up.

Teagan:  Stops, looks at me, and crushes another cheerio.

She was totally ignoring me, then blatantly disregarding what I said.  So, I pick her up in one arm, as I already had Ashlin in the other, and go to her booster chair.  The chair she doesn’t really like sitting in any more, because she’s a “big girl”.  Stu takes over with her and starts buckling her in.  She does not like this at all.  Crying that she can do it, that she’ll stop.

Stu ends up distracting her and we get through dinner.  Ashlin is completely tired out, so Stu takes her up as my folks wanted to Skype with Teagan.  While we were waiting for dad to connect, Teagan sticks her finger in her mouth and starts “painting” on the table.  The table I had just cleaned from dinner.  I ask her to stop painting the table.  She hesitates, but then continues.  I ask again.  She stops, chatters about something, dogs eating sausage, her orange piggy tail, I forget.  And then starts smearing the spit around.  AHHHHHHHHH!!

I ask her what she was doing.  She doesn’t answer.  I ask her what I had asked her not to do.  She doesn’t answer.  I tell her that when she doesn’t listen to me it makes me sad.  She asks all the time if she makes us happy, or if we are sad.

I suggest playing a game, a game where she tells me what I just said.  I say that we had pasta for dinner, and then asked her to tell me what I said.  Giggling she said that we had pasta.  I then told her that she had green eyes.  Again asked her to repeat what I said.  She giggled and said green eyes. Ok, so when it’s fun, she plays along.  Then I asked her to not paint the table with spit.  She sheepishly looked at me.  Almost grudginly repeated not to paint the table with spit.

Why can’t she do it when it’s not a game?  In the moment?  Up until recently we didn’t yell at her very often, usually only when it was dangerous. Even now, we try not to.  Sometimes we’ll shout her name, just to get her attention, then continue on in a normal voice. Of course, she’s already melted in tears sobbing that we shouted at her.  Yes.  We did.  She wasn’t listening.  At all.

Sometimes the lure of a sticker works, but not always, and I don’t want to get her to behave just for the reward.  She needs to behave because she’s a part of society.  She will need to live in this world, a world with rules and societal niceties and people she might want to have as friends.

I”m hoping she’ll grow out of this, soon.  It’s very frustrating, makes me feel like a bad mother, as I seem to be yelling a lot, more than I want.  It makes me feel very ineffective and incompetent.  A bad mom.  Can’t make my little girl listen.

PS.  She had an accident today.  Her first in a week.  Sigh.

Related articles

• April 18, 2012 ~ Peeps for Poop?! (lisasff.wordpress.com)
• March 28, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)