She's All Growns-Up and She's All Growns-Up

My baby is sleeping for the first night in her big girl bed. I guess that means she's officially a big girl instead of a baby now. I don't even think I can call her a toddler anymore--as she certainly doesn't toddle. Ever. Stands on one foot while she smoothly lifts her other leg, straightens and bends it with perfect balance, yes. But toddles, no.

She won't be 2.5 for another week yet, but in many ways she seems so much older to me. Her play has become richly imaginative, and her attitude and bossiness is much beyond her years. I wonder where she gets that from?

I keep waiting for the day to come when she turns into a terribly difficult child, and maybe when her baby sister is born she will. For now though, I would really like to tilt the hourglass on its side, allowing the sand to rest a bit, since my baby is growing up unbelievably fast.

L is for Lily!

Potty Training

Lily and I are now on day three of house arrest. Yep, that's right, we're potty training. We haven't left the house since Friday night. I've actually assisted in the potty training of many children in the past eight years--they just happen to be children with autism. No matter, I thought. I'll just use the same techniques we used with those kiddos with Lily. I've been prepping Lily for about two weeks telling her that when summer came there would be no more diapers. "What happens when summer comes?" I'd ask, expectantly. "No more deepers!" she'd answer excitedly.

Day one we woke up, took off her diaper and put on her underpants. After she had been up for about an hour and a half I took her to the potty. And there we sat. And sat, and sat, and sat. Husband went to the store to get provisions for breakfast. We still sat. Husband returned and made breakfast. We still sat. Breakfast was ready. "Come on and eat before it gets cold!" said Husband. I thought about cold eggs. Yuck. I thought about the fact that Lily hadn't peed in three hours and had been sucking down copious amounts of chocolate milk, juice and ice water. Hmmm...At Husbands urging, Lily and I emerged from the bathroom and went to eat breakfast. Maybe she'll just tell me when she has to go, I thought. Right. Two minutes later she peed in her highchair while happily munching a bagel. I took her to the potty, glaring at Husband. I cleaned her up, changed her underpants and took her back to breakfast. "Lily, when you have to go pee, just tell Mommy or Daddy, okay?" I urged. "Okay!" she replied. Ten minutes later she was still finishing breakfast and peed again in her highchair. "Uh-oh!" she said. "I peed in my highchair!" Yes. Yes you did, I thought, glaring again at Husband. Wash, rinse, repeat. About an hour later, Husband took her to the potty where she peed pretty much on command. For the remainder of day one she had many other successes including a poop (I never thought I'd be so excited about a poop before) and two more accidents. Day two she had one and a half accidents. Here we are on day three and so far she's had zero accidents and two pees and a poop. Wooo-whoo! See how exciting my life has become?

Mommy: The Job

I played hooky from work today. I'm exhausted, run down, have a headache, and am nearly nineteen weeks pregnant. I work full time and have a two year old. I decided to stay home today when I realized that I have not had a full day to myself for the past two years, three months, one week and five days. That's a lot of time to go without having a single day to your self. When this next little one arrives, I'm sure things are going to get exponentially busier, especially since I'm planning on only taking 6 weeks of maternity leave before returning to work. Yikes.

I've had the pleasure of seeing a few friends go from one child to two. I've read about their sleepless nights, their failed efforts to balance the needs of two little beings, their mounting stress as they realize that they can't possibly do it all. I have a pretty good idea what I'm in for, and it isn't going to be pretty. I'm sure there will be times I'll be asking myself why we decided to have two children. I'm hoping that the times that I question are fewer than the times that I look at their sweet little faces and realize that Mommy: The Job is far more rewarding than a full night's sleep.

Spring!?!?

So its April in Michigan and I'm on Spring Break. Yesterday we woke up to three inches on snow on the ground. WTF. No matter, I thought. I'm not about to let this crap weather ruin MY vacation plans. So I bundled Lily up, threw her perfect yellow spring dress in a bag and drove over the river and through the woods to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. Having dealt with Somerset Mall's holiday festivities before, I called early in the morning to make sure I wasn't going to get there at 9:30 and not see the HaHa (as Lily calls bunnies) until 4:30. "Nope, you should get right in," said the lady on the phone. Sweet. We got there and after a quick costume change, Lily was in her "Easter" dress, ready to see Hester Fairweather, the bunny herself. She loved it, and was by far the best kid there (if I do say so myself!)

Holy Crap. I have a 2 year old.

Okay, okay, I've actually had a two year old for over a month now, but Husband has been out of town in the great white tundra for the past 4 out of 5 weeks, so blogging really hasn't been on my priority list lately. But now he's back, and luckily he's shaved his beard, so I have a little more time for updating my neglected blog.

Lily turned two last month, and I really can't believe how quickly the past two years have gone. Granted, there have been times I was certain would never ever ever end. Like when she stopped sleeping at 3 months old, or when she threw more food on the floor than she put in her mouth. Or when she called me dada for months and months. But now here she is, a spunky, lovey little girl who amazes us everyday with complex language, random letter, number, shape and color identification, and a bizarre obsession with Puff the Magic Dragon. She's really into dolls and stuffed animals lately, and is now upstairs sleeping with her entourage of Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Zoe, Mermaid, Marisol and not one but two blankies. Favorite foods are yogurt, bananas, cereal, cereal bars, veggie burgers, berries, sunbutter jelly, and 'roni cheese.

Christmastime is Here, Happiness and Cheer

Here are some pics from the FIVE Christmases we celebrated this year. Lily had a blast. I needed a vacation from my vacation! And yes, I did add the nose picking pic on purpose.