First day of school

It only took me a month to write about it - not because it was traumatic in any way - life, as it does, has gotten in the way a lot, and this blog seems to be the biggest sufferer. Whatevs, no more apologies - back to the topic at hand...

Maddie's first day of junior kindergarten was August 4th. The school on our street offers both regular and "modified" school calendars - since we had heard so many great things about the modified program, we chose to enroll her in that schedule - which means we lucked out with getting the most amazing teacher for Miss Madds. She's young. She's stylish (bonus points from Maddie for all her cool belts and scarves and shoes). And she's so lovely and patient and everything you think a Kindergarten teacher should be.

So yes, kindergarten is a big shiny bright spot in our rather grey, grumpified life right now. Maddie loves it. She's learning, she's making friends, she misses it on the weekends. Pretty much the best case result for the whole "sending your child to school for the first time" scenario. Lucky = us.

How adorably cute is my firstborn on her first day?

And how adorably cute embarrassing is this exchange between us - right before we walked her to school for the very first time:

Me: So - when we get to the gate, you will go in with the other kids to line up for school. Mommy and Daddy will say bye to you at the gate.

Maddie: {silence}

Me: But that doesn't mean we won't be thinking about you the whole time you're at school. We'll miss you while you're there and we'll be there to pick you up as soon as you're done.

Maddie: Mommy, you won't be sad that I'm gone. Don't cry, okay Mommy?

Me: Umm.... well, I might be a bit sad. But it's a happy sad. I won't cry Maddie. I mean..... well, I'll try not to cry, okay? I will miss you though. Such a big girl, going to school. It's a big step. Mommy is very proud of you, boo.

Maddie: Mommy, I'll be right back, okay? You don't have to miss me. And don't cry, okay Mommy?

For all those friends that knew me, way back when, whoever thought I'd be counseled by a three year old not to shed emotional tears - yes?? Jeebus...


xxoo.S

Bright shiny star

Even in my sleep-deprived grumpy bear-like state, I could help but brag about this...

That's right. She's a fucking genius.

xxoo.S

This is our life - aka Snippets

• We had a follow up appointment to check Katie's weight progress today. In two weeks she's gained 4 ounces - which puts her at 13 lbs 13 oz as a 7 month old - still not even registering on the growth charts. Our "fantastic" (heavy, sarcastic air quotes being used here) family doc isn't worried - thinks all is fine, because you know, she looks okay. I requested quite strongly for a pediatrician referral and she finally gave up arguing with me and said okay. So now, we wait and see what he says...
• Maddie started ballet last Thursday - through the community rec program (meaning it was only $30 for 7 weeks - which suits my cheapass just f.i.n.e.). She loves it but is clearly the youngest and possibly least coordinated kid in there. I watch her clomp around the gym with a massive grin on her (and my) face... best $30 I ever spent.
• The Hubs was awarded with a 4 day holiday in Mexico in March from his employer and I'm.... not so much looking forward to it (yes, you can punch me in the face right now). It's not that I don't crave some sunshine and escape from the winter - but it also means 4 days away from my Kates (Maddie too - but let's face it - she'll probably barely notice we're gone). The Hubs refuses to even entertain the idea that we bring her along with us. Oh and it also means I need to find a bathing suit that covers, erm... EVERYTHING. I may pop over to 1928 and buy a suit from then.
• That being said - I am trying to make good on my resolution to lose weight - I even attended a spin class yesterday. It fucking hurt. At the time it hurt - you know how much it hurts the next day when it already hurts while you're doing it? Let's just say, going up or down stairs was tragic for me today. TRAGIC.

Yep - that's us in a nutshell right now...

xxoo.S

It's a milestone day!

Maddie just went to her first dentist appointment. She was (understandably) trepidatious - regardless of how much I tried to hype it up as a fun, exciting event - she was onto my game and eyed everyone in the office as warily as you should eye up a "helpful" stranger whilst backpacking thru Europe.

When the dentist came in I almost laughed out loud. Because he was tall. Like, really really fucking tall. So tall that it was hilarious - you know? (Am I the only one that wants to laugh out loud at really tall people? Is that strange?)

He was, of course, lovely and thankfully resisted rolling his eyes at me when I a) preemptively apologized for the state of her teeth and/or cavities (blaming her juice habit like one apologizes for their crazy alcoholic grandfather), b) tried to sit on the chair with her and only succeeded in swiveling it around at top speed whilst he was trying to patiently explain the instruments to her, and c) insisted on taking a look in her mouth when he said "yes, she does have her 2nd molars" like he wasn't the expert or something?

And so - no cavities, no (lasting) trauma, and she got to pick out a "prize" from the "treasure chest". And another milestone chalked up for Maddie...

xxoo.S

Three is hard

Wow - we're only a week into having and three year old and I'm EXHAUSTED. I feel like she's gotten older overnight, and yet, also so much younger.

She needs me a lot - as in, going potty, helping with her food, just holding my hand while I'm driving. It's endearing. It's frustrating. And it's kind of odd. It could be a bit of jealousy / acting out about Katie - and yet, I don't really feel like it is.

If I could play psychoanalyst for a second, I'd say it's almost like she's resisting growing up. Maybe so many changes and so many things are going on in her head that she's needing these more baby moments to feel grounded?

For now I've decided to have patience with her (mostly) and let her work through it on her own. But I am looking forward to the day where I can eat dinner without having to "help" someone else with theirs. That will be ... oh... six years from now I suppose?

xxoo.S

Matching

I bought these matching dresses before Katie was even born - daydreaming of my radiant post-pg self with my two gorgeous girls in their matching sundresses enjoying the sunny summertime loveliness - very stress-free, very idyllic.

Um, right.

So a few weeks ago, realizing that summer has left us for well and good this year and they still haven't worn these dresses I bought back in the flush of spring, I thought we'd take advantage of the mid-afternoon sun in my bedroom for a... (say it with me) Photoshoot!

I'm ready for my close-up now Mr. DeMille...

Sharing her *bling*

This is called mauling in our house... as in, "Maddie! Stop mauling your sister!"

My attempt to be an artistic photog -- FAIL

Okay, got one smiling...

And now the other is smiling...

Okay, they're both so OVER this...

My beauties...

xxoo.S

To nap or not to nap...

I've been quizzing all my fellow moms out there lately about just when their toddler gave up their afternoon nap. After a few months of bedtime worries - fighting Maddie to go to sleep by 8pm, dealing with a thousand requests after she's actually in bed, listening to her play around and read to herself in her room sometimes up until 9:30pm - I finally realized, huh, perhaps she's getting ready to give up her afternoon nap.

Thing is - I'm not so sure I'm ready for her to give up her afternoon nap. That time is precious to me. During the week, with her coming home from daycare after lunch, it means that I still get a few hours just with Katie. Whether that's spent eating lunch, doing errands around the house or just napping myself - it's still time.for.me. On the weekend (and non-daycare days like Friday) it gives us a bit of a break after a full morning of toddler energy.

I like that break. I need that break.

I'm told if she gave up her afternoon nap, she'd likely start going down in the evening much earlier (like 7-ish) - but really? That only gives me an extra hour in the evening. And it would mean she would see her daddy for approximately 30-45 minutes every weekday.

Ah.... nope. That's not for us. To be honest, she's stopped with the full-on-body-attack-refusal of bedtime that she was giving us during the summer. And I really don't give a damn if she sits and reads to herself between 8-9pm. She's not coming out of her room. She's not requiring me to read beyond my requisite 1-2 stories per evening. She's just sitting up reading to herself until she gets sleepy. Not the worst thing in the world...

However, she has started doing this at naptime as well (to the point where I have to go up and sternly tell her "that's the last story - go to SLEEP"), so I can see how we may be transitioning to a couple of hours of just "quiet" time in the afternoon. BUT when she does finally fall asleep, she's down for a solid few hours and I'm usually having to wake her up at 4pm. So I'm just not convinced she's ready to give up that rest period.

So yes - this is me - resisting change. Fighting for the afternoon naps to stick with us for a little bit longer. Fighting tooth and bloody nail to keep that "me time".

xxoo.S

Half days rock my world

Yes, this is another daycare-related post. Yes, I'm sorry in advance as you're probably bored to tears with my daycare drama. But at least this time I'm not whining...

We have been with our new daycare provider for almost a month now - started with a few weeks of full days, but just 3 days a week. Then, as of last week, we switched over to half days. This is supposed to be a pre-school program... I suppose we'll see just how much Maddie actually learns, but at least she's crafting on a regular basis (instead of learning new shows to watch on the Family channel - woot).

So... the half day thing. It's set up like this - Maddie attends from 8am until 12:30pm. Which means she gets lunch at daycare, but doesn't go down for a nap. Instead, I pick her up and she comes straight home and down for a nap immediately.

As IF this is going as well as it is! I didn't want to say (brag) anything last week, in case of jinxing it - but yeah, no fighting, no tears - she comes home and heads straight upstairs to her room for one (yes, really, just one) story and then nap.

Clearly she's getting nice and tired out and this is one of the reasons it's working so well. And perhaps the fact that I'm hardcore not giving in even just once on watching a show before she heads for nap. I just tell her that it's very late and we have to nap now so we can get up and play before dinner.

And so she does.

Sounds deceivingly easy, doesn't it?

And so, this is the new rhythm of our lives. Hubs does daycare drop off, I spend the morning alone with Katie either doing things around the house or running errands, pick up Maddie from daycare and (cross fingers) most days get both girls down for a nap at the same time while I eat lunch and finish whatever task I attempted to get done earlier in the day. Usually? Laundry. Man there's a lot of laundry these days.

A bit anti-climatic after all my posturing and worrying about daycare drama and what we were going to do and nail-biting over the expense and yadda yadda yadda. It all worked out in the end - better than we could have expected.

Doesn't that always seem to be the way?

xxoo.S

Let the planning begin...

Maddie's birthday comes in about a month, which means of course it's time to start planning! We all know how much I love to plan a good birthday party... Yay to decorative cakes that take 4 hours to ice! Yay to matchy-match plates and cups and napkins and invitations! Triple Yay to themes!!!

So this year (if indeed we do have a party, as her birthday always falls on Thanksgiving weekend, so we always have to send out an informal save the date email to gauge potential attendees before actually planning the party) the party will be a Princess Dress-Up theme.

Sidebar: I'd like to totally give props to my brilliantly crafty friend Vone, who I am completely stealing this idea from.


And now that Maddie is OBSESSED with dressing up (current fave? a ballerina-firefighter-with-glass-slippers), it's an ideal time to have the party.

Since it's a birthday party anyways, and everyone is (likely) bringing gifts, the invites will encourage people in lieu of gifts, to instead bring dress up items to fill her dress up trunk... This is a great way to build up a wardrobe of fun dress up items for your child, and at the same time - have fun things for all the kids to play with during the party.

We've got our eye on a set of 4 Disney princess dresses from Toys R Us (yes, totally taking the easy way out) - but I'm also pairing that with a custom-built dress up box for our little miss. It's essentially an open box with a garment rod at the top (inspired by this post I saw on another blog ages ago), this will be perfect for her closet and a great way to keep all dress up items in one spot, nice and organized! Love it...

And since we LURVE Disney Princesses at our house right now, the cake will be made using again by renting a cake pan from Bulk Barn (love this service!)... iced within an inch of it's life and hopefully looking like Cinderella...

Will post pics of the party when we finally have it!

xxoo.S

I think the Hubs can take this one...

Singing along to an episode of Dora:

Maddie: Back-cack! Back-cack!

Me [realizing she cannot turn three still calling it a "back-cack"]: Bugaloo, it's pronounced back-PACK. With a P.

Maddie: Oh... Back-cack.

Me: No - with a P. Like Peter. Can you say Peter?

Maddie: Peter.

Me: Or like Peas. Can you say Peas?

Maddie: Peas.

Me: So try it with a P...  back-Puh-Puh-Puh-PACK.

Maddie: Back-Cuh-Cuh-Cuh-CACK!

Me [laughing too hard to correct her again]: Um, sure.

xxoo.S

Bedtime routines

We started our bedtime routine with Maddie at a very young age. I think she was only a few weeks old when we started bathing her every night, doing baby massage/lotion etc afterwards in a desperate attempt to make her understand that this meant "bedtime" and bedtime meant "sleep".

As she got older the routine expanded - books + bedtime bottle + rocking chair cuddles were added. When we changed her room over to "big girl" status, we got rid of the bottle + rocking chair - but somehow more books were added to the routine and a sippy cup of milk became a requirement.

It got to the point that it was taking almost an hour from start to finish to "do" bedtime. Which meant we needed to get started by 7:15 at the very latest to get her down for 8pm.

That was - until last week. You see - Maddie spent the past two weeks at Gramma V's. And god bless her heart (because thank you to any grandparent that will take an almost-3-year-old for an extended visit!)... but now we have a toddler with a 10pm bedtime, who wants her overhead light to be on all night and who is demanding about a thousand books to be read to her before night-night.

And that? Makes for an almost two hour bedtime routine. And we were thinking one hour was excessive.

So the past five days since being home, we have been working on ridding Maddie of these habits.

First to go was the overhead light being on. (Sidebar on this: not sure how or why, but Maddie developed a fear of the dark during her stay in Kingston. Which meant she asked for the overhead light to be put on before going to bed. Which then meant she either woke up to bright shining light at 4am and wanted to play, or woke up to it being turned off sometime before the adults went to bed and screamed bloody murder for it to be turned back on. It was..... in a word.... NOT fun). I wasn't about to let her get into this same habit at home - I figured if we had any chance of getting rid of this habit, it would be in her own room, where she felt most comfortable and where I felt most comfortable letting her cry if she didn't like it. It took one night to break this habit.

The additional books in the routine were a little harder - but we've just been consistently firm - she gets a total of 3 books ONLY and she chooses which books these will be before getting into bed. There have been tears and tantrums about more books, but again, with us holding firm she seems to be getting the picture that we're not giving her an endless supply of stories at bedtime.

And the last little wrinkle is moving the bedtime back up to where it needs to be. This has been trickier - and she can fight (oh she can fight) going to bed like no one's business. Requests for more milk, a glass of water, one more story, just one more kiss, a hug from daddy, please mommy - don't leave me here... we've heard it all. And being told that "Please don't leave Mommy, I miss you" is a bit heart-breaking when you need to walk away.

But the temper tantrums have been epic. There have been time-outs. There have been cry-it-outs. There was even one small (diapered bum) spanking administered by Daddy. (Yes, I can't believe I'm even admitting it out here in blogspace - let the vultures now rip me to shreds) But we're making progress. She went to sleep last night by 9pm with barely a complaint. If we can shave another 1/2 hour off in the next week, we'll be back to normal (since 8:30 is acceptable in the lighter days of summer)...

Here's my question to the moms out there though ... how long is your bedtime routine? What does it involve? Are we insane to be happy enough with a 45 minute routine that includes 3 books? Or is that normal? (Is anything really normal?) ... tell me peeps... I want to hear your opinion on this.

xxoo.S

Who needs a son...

The Hubs and Maddie hit a milestone this past weekend - on Sunday morning he took her up to the lake for their first Maddie/Daddy shore-fishing experience.

He gave her his ice fishing rod - because (to quote): "Well, it's kind of the right size, and she doesn't have her own Princess rod just yet."

Clearly, I see a shopping trip for a fishing rod in our near future. Bass Pro, here we come...

Oh - and what fishing trip is complete without a quick sidetrack to the nearby park?

All told - they had a great time. Maddie loves fishing and the Hubs thinks she's "a natural". I see a few more trips up to the lake this summer.

And no, they didn't catch anything. But I don't think that dampened any of the fun.

xxoo.S

American Idol she ain't

Maddie has added a new skill set to our everyday routine. Singing along with everything.

That includes Dora (but only the mermaid rescue episode thankyouverymuch).

That includes various singing toys/dolls/etc.

And that includes just random songs SHOUTED into the microphone that accompanies her little Sir Mix-a-Lot keyboard toy she loves to play with.

It wasn't until just this week that I noticed just how much I sing to her. Silly made up songs. Normal songs but with words replaced so as to make them all about whatever it is we're doing. Or just actual songs - nursery rhymes, lullabies, the McDonald's theme song.... clearly I have no standards.

And so I take full blame - I've created a singing demon. (And sidebar? It's freaking adorable to watch a toddler try to sing along with a show/doll/radio - she gets about every 5th word right but manages to mumble along with the rest - and really? It's probably not much worse than what I'm still doing in my mid-thirties.)

And while imitation is flattery incarnate, the unfortunate side-effect is (as Hubs loves to point out) she's also imitating my ability to carry a tune. Which is, to say mildly, no ability at all. Result being, he's got two tone-deaf women in house, singing along to anything that moves.

Before you feel sorry for him though...

At least she knows how to dress the part... even if she doesn't have the vocals to back it up...

xxoo.S

If it works, use it...

Scene: the Hubs is clearing up the dishes from dinner. I'm sitting on the couch, burping Katie. Maddie is running around creating chaos, like only a toddler can.

Maddie: Oh! Gotta go potty Mommy!

Me: Oh good! Mommy's feeding Katie, but Daddy will come with you - run and go like a big girl and Daddy will come help.

[Maddie from the bathroom - "I did a poop Daddy! I did a BIG one!"]

Hubs (after returning from potty duty): That's the 3rd night in a row. Is it just me or does she go every night when you're busy feeding Katie?

Me (shoving Katie's sleeping face closer to my boob so it totally looks like she's nursing): Yep - I agree. The timing is uncanny...

xxoo.S

Dramatic? Me?

Driving in the car on the weekend:

Maddie: My's tummy's hurts...

Me: From drinking too much juice probably, you juice-monster.

Maddie: My's tummy hurts from too much juice! Owwwwww. It hurtssssssssss.

Me: Rub it. That will make it feel better.

Maddie: I needs a band-aid for my tummy. Owwwwww. My's. Tummy's. Hurtsssssss!!!!

Me (to Hubs): Seriously? Have you ever heard someone be so dramatic?

Him: Yes. YOU.

Me: [Silence] Har har...well, now there's three of us. What are you going to do about it?

Him: Golf. A lot.

xxoo.S

Making friends

Our neighbours (no, not them) have three children - ages 1, 4 and 7 (ish - I think)... the middle child is the only girl and is probably one of the most adorable, patient little girls I have ever met.

Reason for me raving over her?

She is Maddie's new B.F.F. And any kid that is lovely and patient and kind to my Miss Madds is a fabulous little person in my books.

But what's been even more heart-warming has been watching this little friendship develop. Just a few months ago they barely noticed each other. Well, that's not quite true, this little girl has been quite interested in Maddie for a while, but Madds has been shy, still very toddler-esque, not really noticing that hey, kids live next door. Kids that she could play with. Kids that could be fun!

And then the other day she ran over and introduced herself and that.was.it. Now if said little girl is outside, I watch Maddie practically hum with excitement. Seriously, she is enamoured with this little girl.

Mind you, she's still 1.5 years younger - which maybe makes the adorableness of their friendship so cute to me. Because essentially Maddie just mimicks, follows and repeats whatever her friend is doing. Hence my gratitude to the patience and kindness of this little girl - because even just being 4 years old she gets it. She gets that Maddie is younger, but still wants to hang out with her. And she gets that perhaps Maddie isn't as sophisticated in her mental capacity or physical prowess, so the little girl just tailors their activities to suit Maddie.

Maybe it's me being pg-hormonal. Maybe it's that I was such a socially awkward little kid (and still am - good lord, but I hate making small talk). But watching another child act so benevolent with their friendship, to watch two children that really are at two very different developmental stages, strike up such a lovely, fun, playful friendship?

It's effing adorable.

And watching Maddie so full of confidence, so without reserve, so open and friendly and so essentially, unlike me, as a child?

Well, that makes me feel like we're doing a pretty good job at this parenting gig,

xxoo.S

Taking a day off

Who knew a toddler was so.... tiring???

Kudos to all those home daycare providers that actually choose to spend their time with more than one - holy crap, how do you do it and not fall asleep immediately at 6pm every night.

And how are all your houses so clean??

I've thrown up the white flag. Surrendering. Today Maddie is going to daycare. I am spending the day a) shopping for her "present from the bebe", b) taking a bath, c) sleeping, d) attempting to clean the debacle that is our kitchen after my mass cooking episode yesterday, e) sleeping, and f) you guessed it, sleeping.

I can't believe that I thought I would take Maddie to the zoo this week. I can't believe I thought I'd be able to have her home and finish a thousand million to-do's at the same time. I can't believe the guilt I feel at shipping her off to daycare after being home for only 3 days of mat leave.

But don't worry. I don't feel so much guilt that I'd actually change my mind and not send her today. T-minus 60 minutes...

xxoo.S

Early morning adventures

So aside from being super-awesome of late, in a great mood, sleeping like a demon and potty-training like a rockstar, Maddie has learned another cool trick.

Getting out of bed, opening her door, and wandering around the house in the early-morning hours.

I remember all my anxiety leading up to the transition to her "big girl" bed - would she fall out, would she hate it, would she jump out of bed every chance she got and never sleep. And then the transition turned out to be the easiest thing in the world... and I was all like, what's with the hoopla people?

Now I get it.

She's known how to open and close doors forever. And she learned how to climb in and out of her bed fairly quickly (why did I ever praise her when she was doing this??).

And then last weekend, she put two and two together. For a while (before she got comfortable with getting out of bed on her own) she would just sit up in bed and call out for me in the morning. Then she started getting out of bed and going to her door, knocking on it, calling for me.

Either of these two was entirely acceptable ways to wake up in my opinion.

Waking up to a stealth-like-ninja-child creeping into my room silently and staring at me from the side of the bed? Not the most relaxing way to wake up.

Even less relaxing? Waking up to an open-doored, empty bedroom and having to search the upstairs for my toddler, who has been up for who knows how long? Very much not relaxing.

Am realizing, as I type this, that I sound like the most irresponsible parent in the world... I'm actually a very light sleeper and have a pretty good mom-sensor as to her wakefulness, so I'm pretty sure she's only ever been up for 5 minutes on her own at the most...


Anyhoo - I should probably note, we ALWAYS have the child-gate secured at the top of the stairs. And all the bathroom cupboards are child-locked. So the worst she can really get up to is pulling out all the towels from the linen closet, going into the baby's room to snoop around the new toys/clothes/bags strewed across the floor, or climb up on the blanket box to look out the hallway window. Pretty benign adventures.

But still a little jarring and so looking online as to what other's suggest I come across two options. Either lock (or secure) the bedroom door (i.e. using those child-proof door-knob covers), or put up a child-gate on the outside of the kids door.

Now the first option, essentially locking the child in their room, while the safest of all options, is not an option (for me). Not that I have an actual phobia about being trapped, but holy shit, that would scare the hell out of me personally and so I really don't fathom doing this to my little miss.

The second option - the baby gate outside the door - well, more humane in at least they see why they are trapped - but still... I can't help but feel like we're moving backwards a bit? And also, the baby gates we currently have from the earlier baby days are too thick to work in the door jamb with the door closed, so yeah... it means we have to go out and buy a new safety gate, just for this.

Unless there's another suggestion that I'm totally missing?

xxoo.S

Oh, hi there!

I've been silent for a while. Well, what can I say? Last week was a bitch. I got sick (again! I know, play another record, right?). I was working like mad, trying desperately to wrap up loose ends and feeling guilty all at the same for all those loose ends that I really was going to have no choice, but leave loose. All in all, it was hectic and crazy and not awesome.

So instead, let's focus on what is awesome. It is Tuesday. I'm 2nd day into mat leave. I have my massive to-do nesting list created (yes this is a good thing, I'm anal and love my lists). And I've got my little Miss M home with me from daycare for her own little "mommy-vacation" for the week.

You know how I always write about how much of a Daddy's girl she is? Well, this past week and half, she's changed her tune quite dramatically. She's all about "momma momma momma" lately. Momma has to play with her. Momma needs to do bath time. Momma has to read the bedtime stories.

In return I get the softest pats on the cheek and a little girl that looks right in my eyes and tells me, "I lub you TOOOOOO much Momma."

Heart. Melting.

Also in the realm of awesome?

• Sproggy's room is almost done, just some shelf installation and basket buying and artwork-making (this is the rainy-day activity Madd's and I are going to tackle this week). 
• We have the carpet-cleaning guy booked for this Friday (because you can't truly NEST without some steam-cleaning of some kind, right?)
• I cooked and baked like a demon yesterday, and have a few more things to get done today - which means the freezer will be sufficiently stocked for.... oh, the first couple of weeks of newborn-hell, anyways.
• Maddie decided to sleep in all weekend until 7:30am (or later) and take 3.5 hour afternoon naps and that? Was so incredibly fantastic. Especially as Hubs was at a golf thing until late on Friday, cottage all day Saturday until the wee hours of Sunday and therefore slept in on Sunday - so essentially I was on single-parent duty for the majority of the weekend, which, with all that sleep, didn't seem so hard after all.
• Maybe it was all the sleep, but the little glimpse we've had recently of the "terrible-twos" monster seems to have disappeared. She's been a darling of late, very agreeable, very happy - just generally a pretty awesome little kid.

And last but not least? In the past couple of weeks, we decided to try our hand at potty training one more time before the baby arrived. Maddie showed interest in it, our daycare provider suggested it be a good time to try again, and so we did. And the first 2 weeks. Went okay... She seemed to do far better at daycare and save up all the "accidents" for the hours between 6-8pm.

But with little pep-talks from our daycare provider to keep our spirits up (and her promising that soon, very soon, everything would just "click" and Maddie would just all of a sudden put 2 and 2 together and be able to tell us when she had to go - vs us having to ask every 20 mins and try to cajole her into "trying" again)... we kept with it and blammo! Everything seemed to click into place as of yesterday. 

She told me she had to go before we left the house on our errands yesterday morning, she told me she had to go while driving in the car (and DID go in a Tim Horton's bathroom with no issues - I was so proud I bought her 2 Timbits as a reward), and she told me she had to go poop before naptime. So, while she wore a pull-up the whole day (yes, it's much better to "train" in underwear, it's a helluva lot easier when out and about to be using a pull-up), she didn't have ONE accident. And I also learned, she can hold it for about an hour and half - sometimes two. So yeah, that's probably why she resisted when I was asking her every friggin' 20 minutes. I'd get annoyed too.

Anyways - so we've passed that hurdle. She can now tell us she has to go (which is so much better than me having to check with her a thousand times a day), and seems to be totally down with being a "big girl who doesn't wear diapers". 

I realize by simply writing this and bragging about my potty-genius, she will now totally revert and pee all over my shoes while we're out today ... but whatever... I had to share.

Off to run more errands and see the midwife... enjoy your day at work... suckas!!!

xxoo.S

Still my baby?

It's no secret that Miss M is a Daddy's Girl. The pure bliss-joy-excitement she gives him when he gets home from work I rarely get to experience (when it's me walking in the door), in fact, I'm usually lucky to get more than a cursory glance up. Which means I instead swoop down to her and hug and kiss her until she tells me "No more kissing Mommy!".

When Daddy isn't around, she asks where he is. When it's time to go to daycare she always begs for Daddy to do drop-off. And whenever I'm trying to get her to do something (crazy, mean torture things like get dressed or put on shoes) that she's stubbornly refusing to do, she immediately acquiesces upon Daddy's request to "please do what Mommy is asking you to do".

She definitely "pushes" me more than anyone in her little world. And don't worry, I know that it means she's feels most comfortable, feels most loved, feels least threatened by me. At least if the experts are to be believed... But it can still be mind-stunningly annoying and frustrating on some days that she can't just Give.Me.A.Break.

And none of this matters really, because at the end of the day, I'm the one she wants when things go wrong. When she's breaking down. When she's tired, or sad, or sick.

She's my "baby". My first-born. She's the reason I fell in love with motherhood and thought maybe (just maybe) I could do this again. Expand our family. Give her a sibling, a playmate, a partner in crime.

But a girlfriend of mine (who just had her 2nd a few days ago) said something that really resonated with me because it summed up the terrified feeling I've been trying to ignore for the past 8 months. She said, "I never realized how much it would affect me realizing he [her 3-yr-old son] wasn't the baby anymore."

And this isn't to take away from the excitement I'm feeling about Sproggy #2 - I can't wait for her to get here and join us. But that's not to say I'm not anticipating a bit of fall-out from #1. Will she resent the baby initially? Will it make her even MORE of a Daddy's girl and will she be angry with me? I know she will seem GIGANTIC in comparison to the new baby - but does this immediately rank her into "child / not baby" status for the rest of her life?

I don't know. I suspect not. I assume all children are always viewed as being their Mom's "baby" forever and ever and ever.  At least, I hope so.

xxoo.S