Well, we had a nice three-month break from illness in our house, so that’s pretty good for us considering how things went this past fall. So far this hasn’t been too bad — just a cough and occasionally a fever — but I’ve taken off Monday and Tuesday to keep Baby B home and help her get better. Unlike some other times, this actually wasn’t too bad of a time to take time off, so I’ve enjoyed this time at home so far. Baby B is in a good mood and not acting too sick, so we’ve had a fun time overall — and I have to admit that I wasn’t too eager to venture out into the snow that hit here overnight anyway.

So I’m at the end of week 5 of my 12-week training program for the half marathon, and I wish I could report things have been going better. I overdid it a bit during week 2 and ended up having some shin soreness that escalated to the point that I had to take off week 4 completely in order to heal. Thankfully I know better than to run through the pain — it doesn’t fix anything, slows down the healing, and this isn’t important enough to ruin my body over — so I began running again this week and felt great for the first three runs. I even felt great after that third one and thought I was good, but then a few hours after the run my right leg started hurting right on the lower shin. It looks like I need to skip my long run tomorrow (though may do the elliptical or bike at the gym if those aren’t painful so I can at least get a workout in).

I keep telling myself that it’s not a big deal. That if I need to walk the entire race, I can do that. That I only decided to do this because it’s the first such race in my city. That it’s not like I’d ever planned to better my time from Indy, instead taking a more laid-back approach to training.

And all that is true.

But… (you knew there was a but, right?)

It’s just frustrating to have the drive and desire to do something, but then you encounter physical challenges that hold you back from reaching your intended goal. Only so much is within your power, so when those physical issues come up and there’s not much you can do, it’s challenging. You feel like you don’t have control. You sometimes have trouble seeing other people succeed in the way you want to.

Hrm, where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah. With having trouble TTC #2. Hrm. Interesting.

Not such a good thing to have that parallel since one of the reasons I did decide to train was as a distraction from TTC. Looks like that backfired a bit.

But, as with most things, I’ll push on in both realms and do my best to succeed. The definition of success may be a little different now, but in the end, that doesn’t really matter as long as I tried my best and hopefully reached the end goal.

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A couple nights ago, we were reading a Berenstain Bears book called The Trouble With Money, where Brother and Sister learn they need to stop their spend-happy ways. A picture on one of the pages shows Sister holding her piggy bank upside-down with the last coin spilling out of it. Baby B asked, “What’s she doing?” One of my favorite things to do is turn the question back to her and ask what she thinks — you never know what kind of answer you’re going to get! — so I did that here.

I loved the very serious answer I got:

“I think she is sticking her hand in the piggy bank, and then it BROKEDED, and then she cut her hand, and then it was BLEEDING, and then they had to go to the HOSPITAL, and then it was all better.”

I was following along, saying, “Uh-huh” with each bit of new information along the way, then she broke me by the end and I let out a laugh.

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Baby B’s teacher said that most of the other kids in the class cry immediately when they fall down or hurt themselves. (Understandable. I might do that too, and I’m much older than they are.) But she said Baby B usually is stunned for a few seconds, then gets up and says, “Don’t worry, I’m okay!”

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I love to see what kinds of phrases Baby B picks up as a direct result of listening to me talk and then puts into use herself. So I’m quite amused at her latest addition, “of course.” I say it to her all the time. If she asks for help with something, I’ll say, “Of course I can!” So now she’s taken that on herself. If we ask her to do something, she’ll excitedly say, “Of COURSE I can!” It’s so nice to hear that since we deal with her being contrary quite a bit of the time.

I finished Positive Discipline for Preschoolers over the weekend, and I still think it’s a style that fits well with my parenting beliefs. I wouldn’t say I learned anything groundbreaking, per se, but it did provide some food for thought along the way as well as reinforcement of the beliefs I do have.

One issue it addressed is picky eating, which I actually think we have under control at our house. Baby B is still picky with her food, but we try not to get on her case about eating it. We make her a healthy dinner, usually what we’re having but sometimes a well-liked favorite we know she’ll eat if we think she might be unsure about our dinner, and then it’s up to her to make the choice whether or not to eat it. Chances are pretty good she won’t starve if she has just a few bites of her dinner.

But even though this isn’t a current issue in our house, it was still interesting to read about it, especially knowing what we know now. One great point I thought it brought up: Stop and think about how your talk to your child during dinner…and compare that to how you would talk to a neighbor who comees to your house for dinner. Would you say such things as:

“Come on, I’d like you to at least try it.”

“Are you going to take a bite of your mashed potatoes or your peas first?”

“Just five more bites and then you can be done.”

Chances are pretty good that you’d never say such things to your dinner guest, so they’re probably not appropriate for children. Positive Discipline emphasizes giving children respect so they return respect to you, and this method of getting young children to eat just begs for a power struggle. With a dinner guest, you would make a tasty dinner to offer, but you would not micromanage the choices your neighbor made after that. Yes, children are different from adults and do need some specific instruction from time to time, but isn’t the ultimate goal a respectful relationship with your child and a healthy association with food for your child?

Like I said, I think we’ve got the food thing under control in our house, but I thought it was an interesting way of looking at the situation.

Baby B had her three-year check-up first thing this morning, and I have to say that things went very well. We had the first appointment of the day (do that on purpose…I LOVE getting right in), and she was weighed on the big scale (31 pounds) and they measured her height for the first time there (37.25 inches), both at the 50th percentile.

We went to the exam room and she had to undress, and they gave her the option of staying in her undies or wearing a paper gown. As the paper gown looks like a dress, she quickly chose this option, prancing around the room and singing while waiting for the doctor to come in.

The nurse took her blood pressure for the first time (she’d had it done before at some specialist visit, but this was the first time at the pediatrician). I forgot to ask what normal is for this age, but hers was 78/50. (A web search revealed that normal for a three-year-old should be under 105/60.)

I had to answer the series of developmental questions, which I wrote down this time so I’d remember them all:

*Can your child name at least one friend? (yes)

*Can your child throw a ball overhand? (yes)

*Can your child explain what is happening in pictures? (yes)

*Does your child help you brush their teeth? (yes)

*Does your child put 2-3 sentences together? (yes)

*Do other people understand at least 75% of what your child says? (yes)

*Does your child know if he/she is a boy or a girl? (yes)

He asked about her eating (still pretty picky, though maybe a little better than before), but noted there are no concerns with it since her growth is still where it should be.

He said her teeth looked good and asked if we’d taken her to a dentist yet. We haven’t, but we added her to our dental insurance this year in preparation, which he said is perfect because he recommends going for the first time between ages 3 and 4.

He asked if she’d been doing well healthwise in the past year…I laughed and said, “Yeah, except for the broken leg. And the multiple bouts of pneumonia. And multiple ear infections leading to a second set of tubes. And the swine flu. And the roseola right after that.” He agreed that had been quite a year and asked if at least the past few months had been okay, and I was able to say that she’s been nice and healthy since the roseola in mid-November. Fingers crossed that it continues for a while.

He asked how she was doing with potty training, and he was pleased to hear that she’s been 100% day trained since June and has started waking herself up at night to go potty, as he said he usually doesn’t expect to see them night trained until age 4 or 5. That’s actually something I hadn’t mentioned here yet because I didn’t want to jinx it, but for the past couple of weeks she’s been waking herself up around 11 or midnight to go to the potty (we take her because she’s pretty out of it, but that’s not a big deal because The Husband is usually still awake then) and then goes right back to sleep. The idea of having her night trained is very exciting because it means that she’ll be able to maybe go to Connecticut this summer to spend the week alone with The Husband’s dad and his wife. (That’s their request, that she be 100% potty trained before we do that.)

At past appointments she has generally been sitting on my lap when they’ve examined her eyes, mouth, ears, etc., but this time she said she wanted to sit on the exam table — and she did it with me sitting in the chairs halfway across the room instead of right there with her. She did flinch a little when he looked at her ears (a touchy spot ever since she’s had ear issues), but she cooperated well in the end. He asked her to take several deep breaths, and she did exactly as she was told when she needed to. He then asked her to lay down on the table, which again in the past has been an issue, but she did it without a second thought. He did say that her vulva looked a little red, probably from not wiping well, but that wasn’t a surprise since this happens for her maybe once a week. He said it’ll get better as she gets better at wiping but that for now it’s not unusual to expect.

She had no shots at her appointment this time because we’ve done all the previous ones on schedule and did not have to catch up with anything. He said she’ll have four shots at her four-year check-up, though we may split that into 2 and 2 because of the “trauma” factor. We  have plenty of time to decide that, though.

Baby B got dressed, we folded up the paper gown to take home (she was all over that idea when he said she could take it with her), she picked out her stickers at checkout, and I took her to daycare before coming into work.

All in all, a great appointment and a wonderful start to the day…and our fourth year!

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I’m glad whenever I can share her laughter

That funny little girl.

–Slipping Through My Fingers, ABBA

From a tiny, helpless baby to a curious, blossoming young girl.

From indecipherable cries and seemingly endless diapers to hearty laughs and emerging independence.

From being the new member of the family to one that fits perfectly in every way.

She is my daughter.

And today she is three.

Yesterday Baby B and I were in the car, and I was explaining to her what a birthday is (because it occurred to me that I’d never really told her what that means exactly).

“Three years ago, you were in my belly. You were so little then, and you were growing and growing, then it was time for you to come out of my belly. And the day you came out is your birthday. That’s why we have cake and presents…to celebrate when you came out of my belly.”

She thought for a moment and then said: “Please don’t put me in your belly again. I am not food.”

As we’re on the last day of Baby B’s two-year-old year, I thought it might be a good chance to take a look at the past year. You always hear about how “terrible” age two is, but was it really that bad?

She learned her numbers (1-20 reliably and a few beyond) and her ABCs, as well as countless songs.

She went through power struggles with putting on her coat and getting in her car seat last winter, both of which were eventually resolved so that neither task is difficult now. (WHEW!)

Her language has exploded even more, to the point that she can easily converse with adults (who usually understand what she’s saying).

She made big milestone leaps by becoming potty trained and moving out of her crib into a real bed.

She has lost a lot of her baby fat and has become quite tall and slim. (This she does not get from me!)

She finally had her first haircut!

She broke her leg, which of course wasn’t a highlight, but she really showed us how she doesn’t let even something like that hold her back.

Her picky eating, while still not great, has gotten much better over the past year. Or maybe we’ve become better at letting go and allowing her to make the choice to eat or not. Either way, it moved from being a main issue to virtually a non-issue.

We took a number of big trips with our two-year-old in tow, including Gatlinburg, Maine,  Denver, and Oklahoma, as well as numerous small day trips — and she did GREAT with each one, whether flying or driving. Two seemed to be the best age to travel (so far).

She endlessly tested our patience and her boundaries, which I won’t lie…it’s been challenging at times. But the good that has come out of it is that The Husband and I have developed some techniques for dealing with such behavior, and I think our team approach has helped. When I know I don’t have the patience to deal with something at that moment, I just say, “I can’t do this right now” and leave the room until I’m much more calm, then go rescue The Husband once he’s been worn down and needs to take a break. Refreshed parents are much better parents.

On the health front, we had a few more cases of pneumonia, a bad outbreak of roseola, recurring ear infections (again), and swine flu for all three of us. Certainly not among the year’s highlights, though she did have tube surgery again, so hopefully those will continue to help in that department.

We found an awesome babysitter and have made more of an effort to get out for fairly date nights. I don’t feel bad about taking this time away from Baby B, as I think it’s crucial to our marriage and to our family’s overall well being. Certainly worth the cost.

Her imagination and creativity have soared to new heights, and we spend much of our time now in Baby B’s fantasy world — or playing some new game she’s invented.

My overall grade for age 2:

A-

Looking back through my posts from the past year in order to make this post, I constantly found myself smiling a goofy grin while remembering all the great times we’ve had this past year. It’s been an amazing year, and I know so many more great things await us in the coming year.

Were the twos really not as terrible as people say, or did our approach to age two help us focus on the fun moments as opposed to the inevitable battles? I can’t say for sure which is true, but I can say that despite hearing from many parents that age three is even tougher than age two, we still plan to charge ahead and find the fun moments in life. We’ll undoubtedly have many challenges throughout age three as Baby B develops even more into her own person, but something tells me we’ll make it through just fine.