From her mouth to our ears

Baby B: “You’re not wearin’ shoes. You’re wearin’ toes.”

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Baby B: “Good grief!”

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Baby B: “You say sorry, Mommy!”

Me: “I’m sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Baby B: “THANK you!”

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Me: “Who do you love?”

Baby B: “Mommy. And Daddy. And [The Dog]. And [Cat 1]. But not [Cat 2].”

Me: “Oh no! Why don’t you love [Cat 2]?”

Baby B: “Because he poops!”

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Baby B: “I did a big, big poop!”

Me: “You did?! That’s great!”

Baby B: “Yeah! Just like Daddy!”

Raise your hand if you’re sure

On Saturday morning, we went to our local independent bookstore for a performance of a local children’s band because we thought it would be something Baby B would like.

Boy were we right!

She loved it. We sat on the floor and she stood a few feet in front of us dancing her little bottom off! She would clap along with the songs (on beat, even!) and would clap in appreciation after each song. Whenever the musician would ask the audience a question (“Who here likes peanut butter?”), she would raise her hand without hesitation — and without looking back at us first. That was the best part to see — her making these decisions on her own, without our prompting her.

This is going to sound corny, but it nearly brought me to tears (in a good way); I was just so proud of her for immersing herself in it and not looking to us for direction on what to do or what to think. Because isn’t that the ultimate goal of all this? Getting to the point that (eventually) your child grows up and makes their own decisions about things. Of course we’re a long way from the end goal, but I love to see these steps toward true independence along the way.

Excuse me

I really try hard not to laugh at some of the things Baby B says to us when she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing, but some days it’s way harder than others. Baby B’s latest thing seems to be making excuses, so below you’ll find some of her current favorites, which aren’t just one-time excuses; she uses them repeatedly.

Me: “Baby B, no running! Walking, please.”
Baby B: “I not runnin’. I’s just skippin’.”

Me: “Baby B, don’t (insert whatever misbehavior you want here).”
Baby B: “I’s not. I’s just fixin’ it.”

Me: “Baby B, come back here, please. It’s time to go to bed.”
Baby B: “I’s just takin’ a break.”
Me: “I think you need to take a break in bed because it’s time to go to bed.”
Baby B: “I’s got to take a break on the green chair.”

Me: “Take a bite of your cheese.”
Baby B: “I not take a bite. It’s too hot.”
Me: “Well then I guess our fridge is broken!!”

Wordless Wednesday: 2009 Father’s Day sketch

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Baby Safe Ball

I wonder if this Baby Safe Ball comes in a toddler version too.

Slide into summer fun

So the secret getaway for Father’s Day weekend was the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area. I’d thought about some other locales but ultimately settled on the place we got married since we usually just do daytrips down there (it’s about 3 1/2 hours away) and don’t have much of a chance to do a lot while visiting. But mostly I chose it because the hotel I found has an indoor/outdoor waterpark, which I thought would be fun for all of us.

We left on Friday morning and arrived in the Gatlinburg area at lunchtime, so we went to the restaurant where we had our “rehearsal dinner” before our wedding. (In quotes because we didn’t actually have a wedding rehearsal, but we hosted a dinner where our families met for the first time.) Did a little shopping at the Osh Kosh outlet, then went to the hotel around 1:30 p.m. to see if we could check in early. Thankfully we were able to, so we brought in all of our stuff and got Baby B settled for a nap. I’d gotten a one-bedroom suite at the resort, so she was able to take a nap undisturbed and we were able to do other things in the living area.

After Baby B woke up, we got our swimsuits on and headed down to the waterpark. We started first with the indoor stuff, which included a children’s pool, a regular pool, a hot tub, and two big enclosed slides. It’s kind of funny because after all those weeks about talking to her about staying dry (in relation to potty training), she didn’t like getting her bathing suit wet at first. 🙂 Some other kids were there and she warmed up to it just fine. We then went outside (where it was in the mid-90s all weekend — PERFECT!) to enjoy the kids pool out there in addition to another hot tub, regular pool, and lazy river. (No, Baby B didn’t get in the hot tub. We let her dip her feet in there once or twice, but that’s it.)

We got dressed and went to The Husband’s restaurant of choice, The Old Mill Restaurant. We had about an hour wait and didn’t get seated until 9 p.m., so we were those parents out with their young child at 10 p.m. But the good news is that Baby B did wonderfully, and we were even able to eat our dessert there instead of taking it back to the room (which I was prepared to do).

We were all tired as we got an early start on Saturday morning, but once we got going, we were all fine. We’d tried to look for a good, easy hiking trail in the Smoky Mountains, but they were all either too difficult for a toddler or had dangerous cliff dropoffs. (No thanks! Again, not with a toddler.) So we decided to go into Gatlinburg proper (we stayed in Sevierville) and visit the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. The Husband and I had been there on our honeymoon, but obviously without Baby B. We got there when it opened at 9 a.m. and had an enjoyable visit (except for the one minor fit Baby B had when she wouldn’t hold on to our finger and wanted to run away from us). After that, we headed across the street to the Pancake Pantry. (The Gatlinburg area is overrun with pancake houses, so it’s sort of a thing to do down there, but this was the original.) Since she was being so good on the trip, we let her have M&M pancakes with a peanut butter syrup. My omelette and buttermilk pancakes were superb.

We headed back to the hotel after that, making a quick stop at the Harry and David outlet store to load up on goodies. Baby B hit the bed for a nap while I had a chance to do some fun reading and The Husband went to the pool by himself for a little while. Once Baby B woke up, we all went down to the waterpark again and had a blast. I was afraid this waterpark wouldn’t be as fun as the (much more expensive) other one that is also down there, but it was awesome, especially for a family with a toddler.

We got dressed and headed out to dinner at the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant at the Apple Barn, my favorite place to eat there. (Any place that serves apple fritters with apple butter when you sit down is MY kind of place!) Baby B made a friend almost exactly her age, and they had a great time playing together in the gazebo outside while we waited. Our server that night was a dud, but the food was excellent.

We got Baby B to bed for the night (she did great all by herself in her own queen bed) and packed up the room for our departure early the next morning, as I had to be at work at 1 p.m. It was hard to go home, scarf down lunch, then leave immediately for work, but it was fine and I made it through the night okay. A little tiredness during the day was well worth all the fun we had during the weekend.

And Baby B was a potty training STAR! She not only had NO accidents all weekend long, but she also pooped in the potty while out in public and had dry diapers overnight BOTH nights. (I’m going to start tracking the frequency of her being dry overnight to help determine when/if we should try night training. She was dry again last night too.) It was very nice to go on adventures and not have to worry about getting extra diapers, though of course we had extra clothes nearby just in case. It’s a little different now since we have to plot out the availability of restrooms when we go out to make sure we stay accident-free, but it wasn’t really that hard to do. I’m glad we had this trip planned when we did, right after switching to undies, because it sort of forced us to get out and take the potty training thing on the road, and it showed us that we can do it successfully. I might have been nervous about it otherwise, but this way we had to do it, and we came out successful in the end.

We all had a wonderful time together as a family, and the only drawback was that the weekend seemed so short. There’s so much to do in the area that you could easily spend a week there and not do it all. Still, I’m thankful for the time we did spend together there, and I can’t wait to go back sometime (hopefully for our 5th anniversary next year).

Daddy dearest

To The Husband,

When we exchanged wedding vows (almost) four years ago, we agreed to be each other’s partner in life, no matter what challenges were presented to us. At the time, I had no idea how necessary that would be when it came to raising a child, but I can’t thank you enough for being my partner in raising Baby B.

I am so fortunate that you are such a hands-on dad. I see other dads around who don’t seem to have an active presence in their children’s day-to-day lives, but you’re just the opposite of that.

In the diaper days, I’m almost certain you changed more than me overall — without even complaining about it. Now that Baby B has been potty trained, you’re just as likely to volunteer to take her to the restroom with you so you can help her.

If we’re visiting friends and Baby B is down on the floor playing, chances are very good that you won’t be found on the couch chatting with the grown-ups, but you’ll be sitting down on the floor with Baby B, taking an interest in what she’s doing.

If we’re at dinner and Baby B is not eating her food, you’re the one who’s coming up with new (and fun!) ways to get her to eat.

You do the fun things. You do the not-as-fun things. It’s a package deal — both the good and the bad come with parenting —  and you’re up for it no matter what.

It’s a sad thought, but if for some reason I were no longer around, I have full confidence that you could take care of Baby B for the rest of the time she spends in our house. I suspect not all moms are as confident in their husbands’ parenting competence.

Happy Father’s Day, and thank you for everything you do for your family! Who has more fun than us?!

Potty pooper

So sorry to make this week’s posts so potty-training heavy, but this is a big deal right now, and I want to make sure I capture the experience. Just a few random thoughts today:

• I am so unbelievably proud of Baby B! So far, that one accident on Monday at daycare is the ONLY accident she’s had all week.

• We’re going out of town this weekend, and the only diapers we’re taking are for overnight. I do not feel a bit nervous about this. She’s ready. And if there are accidents, you know what? We’ll deal with it. I’m not even sure if I’ll take the potty chair (though it might come in handy if she has an “I gotta go!” moment while we’re on the road without easy access to restrooms. I’m still leaning toward no potty chair.

• Using the timer has worked very well for us. Baby  B doesn’t necessarily wait for the timer to go off — she’ll use the potty when she needs to — but there are times that we need to get her to at least try to use it (like if we’re about to leave the house). We’ve stopped using it in 15-minute increments, but in order to avoid the struggle of “Mommy wants me to do this, so I’m therefore not going to do it,” the timer comes to the rescue. If I’m having trouble persuading her to try, I just set the timer for a few minutes, it goes off, and SURPRISE! Potty time! The cow timer said so! Not Mommy. The cow said so, therefore we must try. So far it’s worked beautifully.

• I know we’re not out of the woods yet, but I’m amazed by how (almost) easy this has all seemed. But then I think it goes back to the fact that we wanted to wait until she was ready, and we didn’t push any arbitrary deadlines on her. At least in our case, I think that has been crucial.

• I have no timeline in mind for overnight training, but Baby B has been waking up with less-wet diapers lately, and this morning she woke up with a completely dry diaper. We’ll continue to monitor things and let her lead the way. She’ll let us know when it’s time to drop nighttime diapers.

• Baby B can get up on the toilet by herself without the aid of a stool. That’s great, of course, but it kind of annoys me in public because she has to use the toilet seat as a handle, and I can’t help but think of all the germs. I’m not usually a germophobic person, even with bathrooms, but the thought of her holding the toilet seat makes me cringe. You can believe we wash her hands really well afterward.

• With diapers, we used the euphemisms wet and dirty to describe them more discreetly. I can’t really think of a good alternative to poop and “she pooped in her undies.” Saying “dirty undies” doesn’t seem quite the same, for some reason.

Wordless Wednesday: The benefits of a video monitor

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Let’s have a potty to celebrate!

Our switchover to undies this weekend was a terrific success!

(Go ahead and skip this post if you don’t want to know specifics. It bugs me to no end when parents go around telling anyone with ears about their child’s potty-training successes [and failures] against their will, but this is my space to record such things, and people come here voluntarily, so I’m not forcing it on anyone. You can choose to read, or you can choose to skip it.)

Both Saturday and Sunday, Baby B stayed completely dry during the day, including during both naps! The only thing that day that could be considered an accident — and I don’t really consider it a real one — is when she woke up from her nap on Saturday, she started leaking a little while walking to the bathroom from her bedroom. I don’t count it, however, because she knew what to do and was just seconds away from making it to the toilet to complete the task. She did have one poop accident on Sunday when she was outside helping The Husband with some yardwork, but I’m told she did not like the feeling of it in her undies (as expected) and she pooped in the toilet another couple of times that day and again this morning. That was a bit of a relief because she hadn’t done that on Saturday, and I was afraid she was withholding on purpose, but she seems to be back on track in that regard, at least for now. It was also a relief to see that her stools were formed, which as you know they haven’t been for a year and a half now.  I hope that trend continues.

So today the potty show moves to daycare. We sent some stickers to daycare for them to use as rewards, and she seemed excited to go to daycare in her new undies. We sent plenty of extra undies and clothes along with her, but I suspect she’ll do well. I’m told she is super-eager to use the potty there, so I think the biggest challenge will be making sure she doesn’t get too involved in playing that she forgets to take a potty break.

Our next challenge comes this weekend when we go out of town for a special Father’s Day trip (which is a surprise, so I can’t reveal The Destination until afterwards because The Husband reads this blog). I think she’ll do fine, but the biggest thing is we’ll have to make sure we plan for easy access to toilets while we’re out and about (and maybe keep the potty chair in the car for absolute emergencies). We travel by plane at the end of July, so I’d love to feel 100% confident in Baby B’s potty use by the time we take that trip.

We’re well on our way!

Cow says, “RING!!!!!”

Today is Operation: Official Undies Switchover, Day 1.

We started by talking about the switch to panties a couple days ago, then I took Baby B shopping with me on Friday evening so she could pick out some (more) big-girl undies. I would have bought her whatever kind she wanted, but I’m so so so glad she didn’t buy the Disney Princesses one, or the Hannah Montana ones. We put some undies on after we got home last night, then went to an overnight diaper for bedtime, which I suspect we’ll do for a while until she’s ready for night training.

This morning we got up, took off her diaper, and declared that today was the day for no more diapers. As a symbol of this commitment and to help illustrate it for Baby B, we had her put her remaining diapers in the “trash” (they just went in the living room trash; we’ll get them out and keep them in the garage in case we do need to make the switch back, but here’s hoping we don’t have to). At first she was hesitant, but then she stuffed them in there quite eagerly.

Next plan of attack was to use an egg timer to set 15-minute reminders to go potty. She can go hours staying dry, but with the switch to undies, we need this to be a constant thought on her mind as she’s switching to relying on feeling whether she needs to go or not. Our egg timer is a cow, so we set the cow, and when it goes off, she says, “Cow says, ‘RING!!!!!'” We declare: “Pot-ty TIME! Pot-ty TIME!” and march and clap to the bathroom to use the toilet. So far she’s done something every time I’ve taken her to the potty, including twice at a friend’s house we visited this morning and once when we were at the library after that.

I just put her down for her nap, and so far so good…no accidents to report. So far she hasn’t pooped, however. Judging by what’s happened at daycare the past couple of weeks, I think she may be withholding on purpose and not going on the potty, so I think she’s going to have to just poop in her new undies and see how it feels in order to not be encouraged to do that. If that doesn’t work, we have a few other things we can try. We’re going to try our hardest not to go back to daytime diapers, as most success stories I’ve read or heard say that you just need to make that commitment and not look back, even if there are occasional small setbacks. Obviously if there are any major setbacks, we’ll adjust according, but it’s full steam ahead right now.

Happy birthday to Mommy!

Wordless Wednesday: How do YOU eat a banana?

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Stick it to me

Stickers? HA!

Band-Aids are where it’s at with Baby B.

One of her (many) latest obsessions is putting Band-Aids on her boo-boos, and by “boo-boos” I mean: 1) a real boo-boo, 2) any place that used to be a boo-boo within the past month, or 3) any place she’s bumped where she thinks there should be a boo-boo.

“I wanna Band-Aid. I have to!” The sense of urgency in her voice cracks me up every time.

And you know, I don’t really see any harm in letting her have a Band-Aid, even for the fake (to me) boo-boos, especially since she thinks it seems to make things better.

Who am I to argue with the power of the Band-Aid?

The good place

We seem to be in a really good place with Baby B right now.

I love being in a really good place with Baby B.

From what I’ve read and heard from others, the terrible twos stuff goes in cycles and spurts, and we seem to be experiencing a reprieve from the “terrible” part right now.

She’s still picky with most meals, but not putting up a fight.

She wants to do nearly everything herself, but we give her the space and freedom to do just that whenever possible, so it’s almost never a struggle.

Instead of running through store aisles, she actually holds our hand (actually, she grabs onto a single finger) as we walk and doesn’t try to make a break for it.

She climbs into her car seat 99% of the time without resisting.

She’s even more polite than ever (if that’s possible), and she’s even more fun than she’s ever been (again, if that’s possible).

She’s resumed her potty training eagerness (she’d cooled off a little after she got her cast off), and we’ve let her pick out panties. We may get brave and try to make the switch next week. (I’d like to give it a week to talk to her about going to no diapers so it’s an expected change and she feels more a part of it. Plus I need to get more undies since we just bought one pack.)

Life is good.

Friday is my day

I have to admit that one nice thing about my new work schedule is having a day off during the week. That means I can not only get some things done that are easier completed during the week (car maintenance, doctor’s appointments, shopping, etc.), but I also have available child care since we’re paying for it anyway, so I don’t have to take Baby B with me to all these types of things. I love going out with her, but let’s be honest: so many errands so much easier/faster if you don’t have a little one to tow along. (Which is exactly why we do our grocery shopping on Saturday nights after Baby B is in bed.)

I’ll keep Baby B home with me on many Fridays (I did last week), and I’d planned to keep her home with me this week, too, but since she missed two days earlier in the week, I figured I’d go ahead and send her for the day. Today was a good mix of things for me on a day off. I was able to do a little light magazine reading, slept a couple more hours after sending her off to school, took a leisurely shower, ran some errands, paid some bills, had some computer time, did a little light yardwork, and made a nice dinner. (Whew, that’s a lot! No wonder I’m tired now!)

I don’t like giving up my Sundays (in fact, I hate it), but I’ve got to live with it, so I’m trying to find the positive side, and this is definitely one of them.

Show me!

Baby B was going through a separation anxiety thing a couple weeks ago at daycare where she didn’t want The Husband to leave when he dropped her off. He would always do what you “should” — say goodbye, but don’t draw it out, never sneaking out, etc. But she still had issues.

That is, until he started saying, “It’s time to show me out, Baby B!” She LOVES doing this. She gets a big smile on her face, holds his hand and walks him to the door, opens it, gives him a big hug and kiss, and then shuts the door for him and he leaves with no problems.

It’s been so successful that she’s started doing it at bedtime, too ( so that might be another idea for those of you with kids out of the crib who don’t want you to leave at bedtime). Baby B is so happy to show us out that she’ll do everything I listed above, then go right to her bed and tuck herself in (we watch her on the video monitor) or play with her baby dolls sitting on the futon for a few minutes before deciding to lie down and go to sleep.

I think it really plays to her desire to be independent and self-sufficient and gives her some control over the situation. We haven’t had separation issues at daycare since she started doing this, and bedtimes are so easy with this approach. (They weren’t hard before, other than her asking a couple times for us to stay [which we didn’t give in on], but this has made them even easier.)

I think it’s so sweet to see her do this. Every time she grabs my hand and walks me to the door after I said, “Baby B, show me out,” I have visions of taking her to school for her first day of kindergarten, with her eager to give me a kiss so she can rush to join those kids who will become her new friends. I know that so many of the things we’re doing now are preparing her for situations she’ll encounter in the future, and it’s times like these when I can’t help but think we’re doing a good job.

Wordless Wednesday: A pneu way to sleep

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On the mend

I’m happy to report that Baby B is doing much better today. She still has some chest congestion, but I think she’ll be fine to return to daycare tomorrow barring any setbacks overnight. We all had a good day at home. The Husband was home with her during the morning while I went to work, and they watched some cartoons, played with stickers, and practiced changing her baby dolls’ diapers. I came home at lunchtime and had the afternoon shift at home, eating lunch with Baby B, doing our pre-nap routine, and then putting her down for her nap. The awesome thing about the afternoon shift at home? I get some bonus time with her but also a couple hours to myself! 😀 I took advantage of it by getting some things done around the house and on the computer, reading some magazines, and taking a nap of my own. I’m actually glad to be returning to work tomorrow for a full day because I’m so mixed up on my days after switching to my new work schedule and now doing two half-days at the office.

A pneu week

We had a wonderful start to the weekend — my first altered weekend with Friday and Saturday off instead of Saturday and Sunday. Baby B and I had a wonderful time together on Friday, and The Husband and I decided to take her to the drive-in movie on Saturday night to see Up. (My apologies to those who do this, but I refuse to take my two-year-old to a regular movie theater, even for a kids’ flick. Disaster would certainly ensue for all parties involved.) Despite her testing how many times she could climb from the front seat to the back seat to the front seat (answer: 15 bazillion), we had a nice time and she ended up falling asleep, albeit very late for her, before the movie ended.

Just as the movie ended, rain started coming down, and I think it startled her and she began to cry in her sleep. But it wasn’t a normal cry; it seemed very distressed and pained, and definitely different than usual. We thought maybe molars were coming in because she had told us her mouth hurt earlier and she’d had a slight clear runny nose, so I thought maybe she was actually getting a cold instead.

We took her home, got her to bed right away, and went to bed ourselves. Thereafter, about every hour and a half, Baby B would wake up with the same crying wail and was totally inconsolable. Needless to say, it was very frustrating not knowing what was wrong or how to help her. About midway through the night, she started having trouble with her breathing; a couple hours later, it was full-on wheezing, fast, labored breathing with her sucking in her chest on each inhale. When she finally woke up for the day around 8 a.m., she was not herself at all. Clingy and lethargic. No smiles to offer. Still the issues with breathing that her albuterol didn’t seem to help.

“Hrm,” I thought. “I’ve seen this before. Sudden onset. Breathing issues. Pneumonia.”

Sure enough, that’s what the diagnosis turned out to be. I called the doctor that morning and The Husband took her to the doctor’s office (they were taking patients on a Sunday morning, god bless them) and they said it sounded like small spots of  pneumonia when listening to her chest. Honestly, I would have been surprised if it’d been a different diagnosis. He didn’t send her for a chest x-ray but went ahead and prescribed antibiotics in case it’s bacterial (which it likely is since that’s the kind that hits so suddenly).

Boy, that sure did blindside us. She’d had just that slight runny nose and a slight — very slight — cough when she was laying down the night before. That’s it. And I think it especially surprised us since she’s been so much healthier during the past year compared to the year before (when she had pneumonia at least three times and all her ear infections).

When I came home from work on Sunday night, Baby B was in much better spirits, making jokes and laughing and dancing and playing. This morning I took the morning shift at home and she ended up sleeping until 10:30 a.m. I’d gone in to wake her around 9:30 a.m. and told her I’d come back to get her when her breakfast was ready, but I saw she’d gone back to sleep and I didn’t have the heart to wake her right away. She still wasn’t quite herself when I went to work at lunchtime, but her breathing was much more normal, so that’s definitely a good sign.

We’re definitely keeping her home tomorrow, then will judge on Wednesday if she’s okay to go back. If it’s bacterial, she shouldn’t be contagious now that she’s on the antibiotics, and if it’s viral, she shouldn’t be contagious if she doesn’t have a fever (which she hasn’t had much at all, and when she’s had one, it’s been under 100, so not even a fever in the technical sense). But we’ll use our common sense when making the determination of when she returns. The good thing is that pneumonia itself isn’t contagious, just the illness that led to it. (Sort of like how ear infections aren’t contagious, but associated illnesses are.)