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.

Santa in The Hills

Visiting Santa in The Hills isn't like Santa in A2. In A2 you go to Briarwood, stand in line for a few minutes while looking at fake snow and mangy-looking stuffed animals, sit on the worn patch on Santa's knee while a zit-faced teenager takes your picture, get a broken candy cane, and be sent on your way. The grainy picture costs $14.99 and comes with a "sweet" graphic that says "Merry Christmas 2008!" printed across the bottom. Niiiice.

In The Hills, visiting Santa is billed as "An Experience". We arrived at Somerset at 9:30 am Sunday morning and walked up to the castle to make our "Santa Appointment". First available: 4:42 pm. Mind you, this was on December 14th. So we went and did a bit of shopping before going back home.

When we arrived back at The Santa Castle we were greeting to a mob of toddlers, babies and older children running around in their holiday-wear like court jesters flinging oversized checkers at one another. Lily promptly joined in the fun and tried her best to procure as many checkers as she could get her little hands on, even if it meant stealing them from very stoic little boys in the midst of a serious checkers match.

When it was time for our appointment I rounded Lily up and approached the Santa counter, Santa Pass (yep, that's what its called, I kid you not) in hand. The people at the Santa counter have pretty much the most powerful job in all of Oakland county during the holidays (think bouncer at the most exclusive club in NYC). When my Santa Pass was verified, we were allowed into the holding pen to wait our turn with the jolly elf. The holding pen contained numerous velvet-clad benches arrayed in a semi-circle facing the stairs that led to Santa. We walked into the pen and sat down on the bench closest to the entrance. "Oh, no, you can't sit here" a young Maiden admonished. "You have to sit here" she said, pointing to another bench 6 inches away from the bench we had chosen. Good grief. We then had to switch benches 4 more times to ensure that we were in the proper order amongst the rest of the lucky chosen in the holding pen.

When we finally moved to the final waiting bench, I knelt down in front of Lily. "What are you going to tell Santa you want for Christmas?" I asked. "Ba-bies!" she yelled. "And a choo-choo train!" she added, nodding her head. Good, I thought. All that practice was about to pay off! Young Maiden approached the top of the stairs..."Now presenting, Princess Lily!" she squeaked. We walked up the stairs to Santa. At this point, Lily looked at Santa, looked at Husband, and clenched tight to his jacket, her faced beginning to crumple. Uh, oh. I thought, picturing a photographer's nightmare. Quickly, I said to Lily in my most cheerful voice "Look! Its Santa!!!!! Blow him a kiss!". She did, and the rest was a mad blur of flashes and smiles as she sat on his lap, gave him a hug, and told him what she wanted for Christmas.

When it was all over, I happily skipped down the steps and shelled out $30 for these beautiful pics. Santa in The Hills may be a gigantic pain in the ass, but seeing my angelic child's face in these pictures make it all worth it.