No More Teachers, No More Books...No More Babies

Yesterday was Grace's last day of preschool.

How did that happen?

And how did she turn into such a kid?

Below are pictures of her on the first day of preschool wearing the same outfit.

Crazy how she's grown - not only physically but mentally and emotionally.

Her words and thoughts and imagination are on absolute fire these days and her heart is just so...so...good.

That isn't a profound statement or an elegant one but really I don't think there are fancier words that would sum it up better.

She has a good heart.

So mindful of others and always, always wanting to make us proud. 

And this one?

She is officially out of diapers.

A week ago she begged, BEGGED to wear panties to bed and I figured what the hell?

And she woke up dry and has woken up dry every night since!

In the car yesterday, Charlotte announced that she didn't wear diapers anymore - that she wasn't a baby anymore.

Grace says: "Mom, we don't have any babies! We are big girls now. 

You need to put a baby in your tummy. We need a baby!!"

Talk to your Dad girls...talk to your dad girls!

I'm just cracking the thick ice around his stone cold heart regarding chickens...and that's been years in the making!

Unfortunately, we might be behind the eight ball on this one!!

Bribing with Ballet

Right before Christmas, Charlotte was nearly potty trained. Santa brought her big girl panties and she had an accident. After that, potty training took a back burner. She showed no interest which was probably a good thing as we traveled a bit in the last few months. Stopping in road side bathrooms or using the lavatories on airplanes is the pits. Throw in a potty training toddler.

The worst!

Now we are home so it's time to get on the potty training band wagon again. For a few weeks, I've been telling Charlotte that if she uses the potty all the time like a big girl, she can do big girl things like go to school or join ballet!

I never imagined she'd actually do it because she has shown no interest.

And then one day, she just went to the bathroom - by herself - and did all her business.

I didn't even know what was going on until I heard the toilet flush!

Of course, she's had a few accidents (only 2) but it hasn't swayed her determination.

So yesterday, was the first time Grace had ballet class since Charlotte figured out the potty. 

(Grace missed a couple of classes because of spring break, traveling, being under the weather, etc.)

Charlotte, per usual, wore her ballerina attire even though she is not enrolled. 

When we got there, she trotted out to the dance floor. I had to pull her off as she screamed, "I'm a big girl now. I use the potty."

Couldn't argue with that!

But Grace's class is extremely full and I knew the teacher would tell me no flat out if I asked if Charlotte could participate. Mind you, the ballet company only allows students age 3 and above. Charlotte is only 2.5! There was a good chance the teacher would say no regardless of the number of students in class.

Again, I never imagined Charlotte would potty train as quickly as she did so I never imagined that I would be in this position. All through out Grace's class, Charlotte cried and whined that she wanted to dance. I told her I would call the teacher later this week. "Nooooooo!!" She threw herself on the floor. 

Apparently, that wasn't good enough. Again..."I'm a biiiiigggg giiirrrlll nnnoooowww!! I go pee pee in the pottyyyyy."

So after class, I meekly approached the teacher and explained the situation I created for myself. 

She was great and told me that the class starting in five minutes had far less students and that Charlotte could give it a try. We both were expecting her to melt down or get scared or just overall prove that she wasn't ready.

But Charlotte proved us wrong. Very wrong.

She was definitely ready.

Charlotte was ecstatic - ECSTATIC - that she got to be a legit ballerina!

And I was ecstatic - ECSTATIC - that the ballet teacher helped me dig myself out 

of my debt to Charlotte.

I don't ever want to be on Miss Charlotte's bad side. 

Let me tell you, it is a bad place to be!

UPDATE: I'm Up to My Eyeballs in Crap! Literally!

While sitting outside watching the girls play, I hit the publish button on my last post. It is still on the chilly side here so I ran into the house to get a sweater. We'd been outside for about 45 minutes.  Lindey too! Charlotte immediately announced she wanted to put on a diaper. She's been wearing panties so I immediately knew something was wrong so I scooped her up and quickly ran to the bathroom. She had soiled her underpants. Two steps forward and one back apparently. She'd already had several successful trips to the potty today! But that is why they call it potty training. We cleaned her up and put a diaper back on her because that is what she wanted. And as I headed back outside - sweater in hand - to enjoy some spring sunshine and fresh air, you'll never believe what I came across.

Another Lindey turd! Come on!

I'm Up to My Eyeballs in Crap! Literally!

So this is gonna be a stream of conscious/bullet point kind of post. I have a lot on my to-do list and even more on my I-want-to-do-list. Sometimes, I get so overwhelmed in my few moments of free time, I try to do everything all at once and of course, get nothing done. How does anyone organize their time when there is no real way to organize it?!?

I already get up at 5 am - I've even bumped that up to 4:45 so that I can try to squeeze in some time where I can focus on just one thing - be it answering emails, cleaning something or just a few minutes to myself to merely surf the web. Yes, I have to schedule my down time - especially if that down time happens to be on the computer. I don't want Grace and Charlotte on the computer all day, everyday so it is only fair that I practice what I preach. The problem is that these days our lives are on the computer! From paying bills, organizing photos, researching anything and finding recipes. Even when I am "on the computer" I'm usually not on the computer in a frivolous way. I'm not Facebooking or Tweeting or gaming. I don't know any other way to put it...but I am working. Be it planning meals or preserving memories or scheduling activities for the kids. So if I'm not supposed to be on the computer when I am supposed to get all this stuff done?!?!

Speaking of getting stuff done, today I have done nothing but clean up sh*t. I'm serious. I woke up extra early to work on gathering and organzing information for a meeting I had today (more on that later). I wanted to get it all done before the girls woke so I could pull my thoughts together without being interrupted. When I went into the kitchen for my morning cup of coffee, I was greeted with dog crap all over my living room. And when I say all over...I mean ALL. OVER.

I should have known better than to let Lindey have free reign of the house last night. We had quite the day yesterday! I kind of have to backtrack with the story. Grace and Charlotte went to sleep like a dream last night! But my God! They should have! They went to gymnastics, accompanied me to the grocery store where we had to stock up on everything (it was the grocery store run after being on vacation so we needed everything!), hit the park in horrible, gusting winds, took shelter in the library and finally, picked up the dogs from the groomer. Oh the groomer! Here is where the story gets back on track. As I was paying and chatting with the store owner, I could hear the girls start that high pitch, whiney sound they make whenever I try to talk to an adult in their presence.  I, of course, kept chatting, giving the girls the one-finger, behind-the-back wave. (While other mothers were teaching their babies sign language for words like 'milk' and 'more', I was teaching signs for "Knock it off!!" and "I'm warning you."Much more practical if I do say so myself.

As the conversation ended, I turned to leave, gathering up the dogs and kids, which is always a shit show on a good day. And then. There it was. The reason for Grace and Charlotte's freakout - legitimate freakout - I might add.

Lindey decided it was the perfect time to have explosive diarea. All over. I will spare the gory details but we made it out without anyone stepping in it. A small miracle as the groomer graciously offered to clean it up. I swear. I can't go anywhere. ANYWHERE I tell you!!

So like I said, I should have known better than to let Lindey sleep anywhere but the "whole" - the little laundry room/dog kennel - last night. At 5 am this morning, while normal people were sleeping, I spent 45 minutes cleaning up Lindey's messes. Awesome.

And when I got back from my meeting today, guess what kind of surprise was waiting for me? Yep! More dog crap! So I let Lindey outside for an hour while I cleaned everything up and got the girls squared away with lunch.

When Lindey has been allowed in the house today, she has been on total lockdown. Allowed only in the "whole." It is now 3 pm and she has been in and out of the whole (only to go outside) since 1 pm. In those two hours, she has sh*t twice - IN THE HOUSE!! I'm telling you, I am about to lose my mind.

Throw in the peanut butter mess that Charlotte made today during snack time - epic! - and the fact that she is potty training and you get the gist. I'm literally up to my eyeballs in crap!!

While I am bouncing from one mess to the other, all I can think about is what I am not getting done! I have fabric all cut out waiting to be sewn together. I have several other projects I want to tackle. There are some things I need to dig in and research. I'd like to upload my photos from vacation. I'd like to share more of my stories and thoughts here. I'd like to get my hair cut and get a pedicure. I'd like to workout on a somewhat consistent basis. And while it sounds crazy, I want to get the plans for Grace and Charlotte's birthdays underway because I have a feeling this summer is simply going to get away from me for reasons I don't think I quite have the words yet to explain. I just don't know how to do it. I don't know how to get it all done. I don't know how to teach and nurture Grace and Charlotte all while getting things crossed off my to-do list!

I guess the only thing to do is move everything to tomorrow's to-do list and see what happens!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, we have another bird nest to report. This year, a Killdeer has nested in our backyard! (If you've been following along you know that an owl nested in our yard last year and the year before that...come to think of it, we've had a bird build a nest in our yard every spring since we moved here!)

See her there on her nest amongst the oh-so-natural pink flags?

We're hoping the flags will keep the garbage truck guy from running over the nest.

Aren't the eggs amazing?

They look like rocks!!

And I was able to catch a few photos of these two deep in conversation.

I love that they can now sit and talk to each other.

Unfortunately, most of those conversations end in someone crying. 

One Down, One to Go

Grace is officially out of diapers! Woo hoo!

A month or two ago, Grace forgot to switch to a pull up at nap time. To her surprise (mine as well!) she made it through nap time with no accidents!

Another couple of weeks went by and out of the clear blue - with no insisting or suggesting by me - she decided to wear underpants at bedtime. I was a bit hesitant because I didn't think she could make it.

In the morning, we both woke to a wonderful surprise...

clean, dry sheets!

Since that day, she refuses to wear pull ups. Period. We have convinced her to wear them on particularly long car trips but lucky for her we haven't been going any long distance drives!

So there you have it!

One girl. Potty trained.

Almost.

About every other night, we are waking up to wet sheets yet she is determined to wear those panties at bedtime. So while I am not changing as many diapers, the amount of laundry I've been doing has dramatically increased! heheh

Someone I know likes to sleep with a lot of blankets!

On a side note, Grace's baby sleeps in a bassinet next to Grace's bed. Every night, she tucks the baby in (with about 30 blankets), reads the baby a story, closes the blinds, turns off all the lights and tells the baby how much she loves her, that everything will be ok and that she'll see her in the morning. It's super cute!

In other news, all this potty talk has got someone else pretty interested in the whole process!

Sorry for the blurry picture. She literally doesn't sit still - not even in her sleep!

She now insists on wearing panties too!

She runs around the house saying, "Panties! Too! Too!"

Or maybe that's, "Two! Two! Two!"

Because she likes wearing two panties...over her pants and over her diaper!

You know, just in case!

A Quick Update So I Don't Forget

Yesterday was Charlotte's second "trial" of gymnastics. While she isn't technically able to start until she is 18 months old which she will be at the end of March, I fibbed and reported that indeed Charlotte was 18 months!! I had too!  I just couldn't see spending an hour of my life chasing around after Charlotte as she bobbed, weaved and darted out onto the gymnastics floor to join Grace's class. It wasn't fun for her. It definitely wasn't fun for me. So now while Grace is in "big girl" gymnastics, Charlotte is enrolled in "baby" gymnastics. She has two classes under her belt now and let me tell you...she HATES waiting in line for her turn! When the coach FINALLY says it's Charlotte's turn, Charlotte hops right up there, no hesitation, just BIG smiles and does whatever she is supposed to do. But when it's time to sit back down for the other kids to take their turn all hell breaks lose! Remember how I mentioned that she darted and weaved to get to Grace's class, well she's still doing that but now she's just trying to cut in line! I think I leave gymnastics more winded than either Grace and Charlotte after all the chasing I do!!

In other news, Grace is now using the toilet and not the potty...a HUGE milestone if you ask me!! And she has started going through nap time without a pull-up. Progress people. Progress!

Charlotte said I love you for the first time a few days ago. It was prompted...meaning I told her to say it...but she said it nonetheless! Grace, on the other hand, told me that she loves Daddy - not Mommy - and then proceeded to bust out in endless giggles! And so it begins!!

While Grace has been a bit of a stinker when it comes to mommy relations this week, she's been good as gold with Charlotte. At nap time, she brings Charlotte's favorite toys and puts them in bed while hugging and kissing Charlotte "good night."

Grace has memorized several of her favorite books and I often find both girls in Grace's bed "reading." These little scenes are often too tender and too quick to capture on camera. Hopefully, by capturing them here on the blog it will allow me to look back and "remember" all of these precious moments one day long in the future.

Mid-post...Charlotte woke up from her nap. As we were coming down the stairs, she said onnne when she took her first step and twooo when she took her second. woo hoo!

As for me, I have had a toothache for almost a solid year now. About six months ago, I got a root canal in order to fix the problem. Guess what? Tooth still hurts!! Not sure how that is possible since all the nerves in the tooth were removed. Regardless, I have spent far too many hours at the dentist this past year. I was back in the chair this morning getting fitted for a night guard. The new theory is that I am clenching my jaws while I sleep irritating my jaw/teeth creating this miserable aching sensation. So now I have to wear this ginormous mouthguard at night much like what a boxer wears during a match. UGH! I feel like I am 13 all over again and have to wear a retainer or worse a head gear. Fingers crossed that this monstrosity is the solution to my troubles.

Ok both girls are up and at em! I am back on duty. Until next time...

Milestones

Two big milestones in our household:

First, Grace has been wearing big girl panties consistently and without mistakes for almost two weeks! I think we are closing in on diaper-less days! Woo hoo!

And Valentine's Day marked not only the annual day in which we celebrate our loved ones, it also marked the first time Charlotte slept in her big girl bed! I wasn't able to snap a picture for fear of the flash waking her up. I did manage to take a picture of the monitor that shows her sleeping in her room. But I thought a photo of the night vision monitor might be a bit creepy to share.

I am currently watching her on the monitor "napping" while I type. So far, no sleeping has occurred but she hasn't gotten out of bed in over an hour! Looks like we will have an "open" crib in the near future...what to do? What to do?! 

Ballet

Since Grace's first day of school I haven't slept much. Do you know that feeling you get before a big test or a big presentation or just something BIG that you are nervous or anxious about and before you fall asleep all you can do is mull it over and over in your mind while the pit in your stomach grows bigger and bigger? 

That's the way I've been feeling about Grace and school.

In an effort to help Grace get more comfortable when I am not around I signed her up for a ballet class here in town. It is a half hour once a week and yesterday was the first day. There is only one other little girl in the class but I think that is perfect. Small and simple!

I walked Grace into the studio. Charlotte was in the backpack otherwise I'm sure she would have tried to join right in! I introduced Grace to her instructor and sat down quietly in the corner as the girls started their warm-up.

I could tell Grace was a little unsure but we've been talking and reading a lot of books about ballet.

In fact, she's so excited about ballet - and getting a red tutu - that she has initiated potty training all by herself. (I told her the only way to get a tutu was to do ballet and the only way to ballet was to use the potty.) So far so good!

She has been doing great and it is all 'her idea'.

I guess what they say is true...bribing kids works when they are ready, they are ready!

Anyway, back to ballet.

I sat in the corner of the studio with Charlotte as the girls warmed up. I think my presence was making it hard for the instructor so when Grace wasn't looking I hid where I could still see Grace but she couldn't see me.

Success! No tears!

(Looks like I am on the market for a red tutu!)

This cracked me up. The instructor wanted the girls to walk across the floor on their tiptoes and then twirl in the hula hoop. There could be no better task to assign Grace because she walks on her tip toes ALL THE TIME! I mean ALL THE TIME...so here was her chance to put all her "practice" to good use!

She eventually caught on but still it made me laugh. Getting through ballet with no tears was a big step for Grace...and me! I could literally feel her confidence level boost! When we talked about it the car she told me she had fun and liked the music...and that she didn't cry!

Baby steps people! Baby, tip-toeing, ballerina baby steps!