2 Years and 5 Months Old!

Hi everyone! It’s time for the monthly update. I am going to have to say that this is honestly the update that has been the most fun for me to write- Emily is so much fun right now! Every day is something new and she is hilarious. Every day she is cracking us up!

Probably our biggest news this month is that Miss Emily is about 99% potty trained. Yeah, you read that right! She woke up on Wednesday, March 3rd and told me she didn’t wear diapers anymore. I was shocked to hear her say it, but cautiously optimistic. That is generally how she operates- she makes her mind up and there is no changing it. She had several accidents on Wednesday and Thursday of that week, but then beginning Friday the 5th, she seemed to really “get” going to the potty. She has only had 2 accidents since then! She is waking up every morning completely dry and some mornings she drinks her morning milk cup before she goes to the potty! We are so incredibly proud of her.

She is starting to ask about a “good girl bed” (this is what other people might call a “big girl bed”…but she calls it the “good girl bed”. We were in Walmart the other day and she saw one she fell in love with. You can see it here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Disney-Toy-Story-Toddler-Bed/13325929 It is 100% NOT what I would pick for her room….do you see the fact that it is BLUE and has Woody and Buzz Lightyear on it?! That is so typical Emily though! Last night she woke up at 1:40am and wanted to “go shopping and get a Woody Buzz bed”. Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know what to do! This is the only bed she’s ever shown any interest in…she always tells me “No good girl bed- Emily sleeps in a crib!” but now she’s fallen in love with a Toy Story bed. Lord help me!

She has also picked up quite a lot of phrases lately…let’s just say, if you don’t want to hear it again, you shouldn’t say it in front of her! Lately she has picked up, “I don’t wanna hear it” (Miss Jamey says this to her son when he starts whining about having to share toys); “You hafta listen to me!”; and “You unnerstand? Yes ma’am? Yes ma’am? Thank you.” The attitude she has when she is talking to us or her toys like this is killing us. She is so sassy right now and it is a combination of funny and upsetting and annoying all at the same time. The other day she lined up all of her Barneys and Baby Bops and was putting them in Time Out for a whole host of things they had “done”. It sounded like this:

“Barney, why you hafta have Time Out? Did you hit Emmy? Why you hit Emmy? We don’t hit. Hands are not for hitting. It makes Emmy sad.” (turns to next victim…er, toy). “Baby Bop, why you hafta have Time Out? You tell no to Emmy? We don’t say no to Emmy. We hafta be nice to her- she’s a nice girl! We don’t say no- it’s not nice. It’s not kind.” (turns to next one). “Barney (a different one this time), why you hafta have Time Out? Did you kick a dog? We don’t kick…it’s not nice. We want to be safe. We hafta be nice to a dog. We don’t want a dog to be sad.”

It is so hard to sit and listen to her “discipline” her toys. When she had all her problems with the Barneys and Baby Bops Paul and I both had tears streaming down our faces we were laughing so hard (quietly though, to hide it from her!) She is SO headstrong and she catches so much of what we say and do…it’s incredible. That said, though, it can be REALLY frustrating to have her telling US what is going on, instead of listening to us!

She is going to be spending a lot of time with Paul’s parents towards the end of this month- Paul and I are traveling to Toronto and to the Biltmore Estate in early/ mid April. We know she will do great with them…but we also know they will be EXHAUSTED by the time we get back!

Additionally, she begins daycare on April 19. While we love Miss Jamey (and always will!), Emily is developmentally ready for more of a school-centered situation. She has been enrolled in a small daycare with a gorgeous facility. Her teachers are both college- educated and her class is small. She will enjoy the outside play equipment, the new songs, and learning letters and sight words (yes, sight words in the 2 year old class- I am thrilled!!) However, the decision to leave Miss Jamey hasn’t been an easy one and I have been torn up about it for weeks. The last few days with her have been so hard as we struggled to say goodbye. Hopefully an opportunity will arise and Miss Jamey will be able to watch BabyFerg for us—that would be perfect, as Paul and I can’t imagine anyone better suited to care for our new little one.

Thanks for checking on our girl—make sure you check her album for pictures!

Potty Training!

It has been an amazing week! To say that Paul and I are proud of Emily would be an incredible understatement....she has truly outdone herself (again!)

It all started last weekend. I had heard about a specific potty training technique and was eager to try it. I studied the approach and how to implement it and was eager to put it into place this weekend. I started laying the groundwork on Monday and Tuesday-- reading Emily’s favorite pottying book (The Potty Book for Girls) and discussing with her about how this weekend we would throw away ALL of her diapers and she would be a Big Girl who uses the potty. She didn’t have much to say about any of this- just kind of heard me and went on her way. Or so I thought!

Wednesday morning she woke up and informed me that “Emmy’s bottom is NO MORE DIAPERS!” I begged her to let me put one on-- we had to get to Jamey’s house, she was going to make me late for work, etc.-- but she wasn’t having it. She ended up dressing herself and OH BOY did she ever dress herself: pink shirt, pink pants (different pinks, of course!), pink-on-pink polka-dot sock (both pinks were different than her shirt or pants....so 4 different pinks so far), last year’s pink sandals which were so small that her toes hung over the front edge, one pair of big girl panties on under the pants....and one more pair of big girl panties on OVER the pants. (She also had me “help” her with her jacket, which she insisted on wearing backwards, with the zipper up the back). She was quite a sight! She made it all the way to Jamey’s house with dry panties. I explained to Jamey what Emily had told me, crossed my fingers for them, and went to work.

Jamey called me a little while later to tell me that Emmy had peed in the potty!! Over the course of the day she had 4-5 little accidents (I think she was starting to pee before she realized that was happening, and THEN trying to get to the potty) but peed on the potty many times as well. She was having a problem letting all the pee come out though- she would pee a tablespoon, then run around and cheer for herself....pee another tablespoon, run around, etc. I was WORN OUT that evening and she was only with me for a few hours!

Wednesday night I asked Emily if she wanted to wear a diaper or BGP (big girl panties). She said she wanted panties, so against my better judgment, I put panties on her. She woke up twice in the midnight hour having peed all over her jammies, blankets, etc. What a mess! We changed her bedding and clothes and Paul was able to convince her that it’s OK to wear a diaper only at night...thank goodness!

Thursday things went a little more smoothly. She peed more frequently on the potty, had fewer little pre-pees before she remembered to go to the potty, and was letting all the pee out instead of going a little at a time. We were so proud! Paul had to pick her up from Jamey’s since I had an activity after school and she peed on the potty at home for him several times. The best part was that she stopped asking for Skittles (which are actually M&Ms but she calls them Skittles) or any kind of reward-- she just wanted a hug and a cheer and to go back to playing. Incredible!

But perhaps today has been the biggest surprise of all. I mean, we are FLOORED here. This morning at 6:15 she woke up and was yelling, loudly, very soon after waking up (she doesn’t normally seem so panicked to get out of her bed). I ran down the hall and she said, “Mommy- I NEED TO POTTY!” I quickly grabbed her out of her bed and put her on the floor next to her potty seat, which I brought upstairs last night. She said, “No potty chair- I use big potty!” and ran to the bathroom. I ran behind her, helped her strip out of her jammies, and put her on the potty.... at the same time that I realized her diaper was DRY after sleeping 7pm-6:15am, she unleashed the longest pee ever into the toilet! She was SO proud of herself and I just sat there staring at her, stunned. Paul brought up her milk cup and I handed him the diaper and said, “You’re never going to believe this!” He felt the dry diaper, heard her (still) peeing, and was just as stunned as me!

She climbed down off the potty and proceeded to go to our room and climb in our bed (even though it is super high off the ground, she has somehow learned this week to get on top of our bed). She asked for her milk cup and a Barney show and acted like nothing was unusual at all about her activities. No cheering, no rewards, nothing-- just acted like everything was business as usual!

So far today she has peed full pees into the potty and had ZERO accidents. I am so glad it is the weekend so we can help her get super good at this...not that she needs much help! I am just so stunned at how easy she has made it. I guess the old saying, “They’ll do it when they’re ready” really has value!