"Go Away! I Can Dress Myself!"

That's right!  This morning I was told to go away.  I don't know whether to be sad that she doesn't need me to help her anymore or to be happy that we can both get dressed at the same time now.  She's just becoming more independent.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the last three years and it's time for me to let her be her own person.  She likes to pick out her own shoes in the morning, although sometimes I have to "help" her pick a different pair.  I think she'd really enjoy picking out her clothes too, but I'm not ready for that.  Instead, I set out her clothes in the evening and ask if she'd like to wear a particular shirt/sweater.  That way, there's no fussing in the morning and her clothes are waiting for her to put on.  It's amazing how much she likes to do on her own now.  While my mommy instincts try to do things for her, I'm working on stepping back and letting her try to do things on her own.  I think it's good for both of us, but it's hard for me.  For example, she had such a blast this year decorating the Christmas tree.  She was grabbing breakable ornaments and helping put them on the tree.  I could see how happy she was and how much fun she was having.  If you know me though, I was on pins and needles hoping that she wouldn't drop them.  Life is way too short to worry about the small stuff.  Things don't have to be perfect and if something gets broken...oh well.  Becoming a mom has really changed me for the better.  It's the joy of seeing your child do something on their own and seeing how proud they are of their accomplishments that's important.  It's not the stuff that will be remembered, it's the experiences that will last a lifetime.

You Wet It, You Wipe It

I thought potty training was complete when your child stops wearing diapers/pull-ups and starts using the potty.  Seems pretty simple, doesn't it?  Well, I've discovered that potty training continues long after the big switch from pull-ups to panties.  It's the "training" part that I've been working on for the past month.  While we've been fortunate enough to not have any bedtime accidents, we are having paper training issues.  That's right, "You wet it, you wipe it!"  My daughter can't seem to get that through her head.  Boys don't use paper, why should she?  She uses the potty and pulls up her panties.  Then, she walks funny and complains that her panties are wet.  I've reached the point of frustration and cannot understand why she will not use paper.  The problem is that she knows what she's doing.  Sometimes, she'll say, "I used paper, Mommy," and I praise her.  Yet, other times she'll choose not to and she makes this little smirk when I ask her about it.  She has a facial expression that she does when she's embarrassed or has done something that she knows is wrong.  I just don't get it! 

The other part of training I've been working on is getting her to poop in her own bathroom.  Instead, she goes in ours because she doesn't want to make hers stinky.  It took me a while to get her to start using hers.  Now she asks if I'll spray after she goes.  It cracks me up!  She recently made the observation that girls sit and boys stand to go potty.  So, the other day she asked me if boys stand to go poo poo too.  I don't think she understands why they can't do that.  I'm just thankful that they don't.

Swimming Lessons

Fear of Santa Claus

Last Christmas, we waited over an hour in line with Grandma to see Alyssa meet Santa.  She was so excited!  She kept pointing at him, jumping up and down, and saying, "There's Santa!"  When it was her turn to see Santa, she flopped on the floor kicking and screaming.  Talk about an embarrassing moment!  She refused to even get close to him and we ended up leaving without a Santa picture.

Santa was visiting early this year.  Last weekend, he was already at the mall for pictures.  There was no line, so we thought we'd ask Alyssa if she would like to see Santa.  Of course, she said yes and got all excited when she saw him.  However, when we approached him she clung to me and refused to get near him.  Santa's helper was really nice and let us stand there and look at him, but no matter how much I tried she didn't want to go near him.  We managed to ask for a dolly and give a "high five," but that's about it.  I could have left at that point, but it was important for me for Alyssa to overcome her fear.  There was nothing to be afraid of, yet I knew she was scared to death.  At Halloween time, she walked up to a life size doll of Hannibal Lector and wasn't afraid at all.  It took about 45 minutes and she agreed to see him as long as I went with.  As you can see from the photo, we sat next to Santa and not on his lap.  He did ask me if I wanted to sit on his lap which I thought was a bit creepy.

It's not uncommon for children to be afraid of Santa Claus.  He's a strange man in a bright red suit with a long beard and big 'ol boots.  It's totally normal for children to be fearful of someone or something.  We made several trips to look at him without the pressure to be near him.  I think that helped her see that he wasn't going to hurt her.  I explained that we were just going to tell him that she wants a dolly for Christmas and take a quick picture.  I volunteered to sit with her to help ease her fear and she agreed.  We took a few pictures and she said to Santa, "I want a dolly, a soccer ball, and sparkly lipstick." 

Since then, Alyssa has taken her Santa picture to school with her twice.  She says she wants to go see him again.  If we're at the mall and there's no line, I may let her go just to see if she really wants to see him or just look at him.  Either way, it took a lot of courage to go up there and take the picture.  I am so proud of her!

Little Monkey Lost Her Grip

My little monkey was swinging around, and having lots of fun on the playground.  She followed another girl and went too far, she lost her grip on the monkey bars.  Poor little thing lost her grip and fell face first in the wood chips.  She got a lot of scratches from her eyebrow to her chin, and her little cheek was pretty swollen.  When I saw her I couldn't believe my eyes, she looked at me and started to cry.  It's her first big owie and I'm sure more will come, but it's never going to be easy for her mom.  It's healing good and she's doing much better, I'm so happy we're not doing a Christmas family picture.

Leapfrogs to Seahorses

I'm so proud of Alyssa!  She was promoted from Level 3 - Leapfrogs to Level 4 - Seahorses in her swimming class.  In the past two months, she has made so much progress.  She absolutely loves diving down for rings!  She talks about it all week and even asks Ms. Sherry right when she sees her.  She is floating on her back, turning over, and swimming back to the step.  She also swims to the wall, climbs out, jumps in, and swims back to the wall.  It's amazing to watch!  We are hoping to get some video next week.  She is so excited when she jumps in the water that you can't help but laugh.  In addition to the physical benefits of swimming, the confidence she is building is immeasurable.  She is so proud of herself and I am very proud of her. 

Yippee, We're Pull-up Free!

That’s right, we are officially free from all diapers and pull-ups.  It’s been quite a journey, but we’ve reached another milestone in parenting.  I am proud to say Alyssa is 100% potty trained.  I’m just happy that I don’t have to change them anymore.  Yippee!

For the past two months, I’ve continued to use pull-ups at night.  I could have just let her wet the bed, but I didn’t think she was ready.  She wasn’t getting up in the morning and going straight to the potty and every morning her pull-ups were wet before I woke her.  I didn’t want to risk her wetting the bed and having to wash it and her every morning, so I figured we’d just wait until she was ready.

About three weeks ago, Alyssa asked to sleep in panties.  She told me she was a big girl and didn’t want pull-ups because they were for babies.  I told her if her pull-ups were dry in the morning for a few days, then we’d try panties on Friday.  On October 24th, we switched to panties.  I made a chart of the week and every morning she was dry she got to put a Dora sticker on the chart.  I told her if she got all stickers by the end of the week that we’d go shopping for a toy.  It worked!  She earned a sticker every day and ended up getting a Tinkerbell movie last Friday.  Every day this week, she’s been getting up in the morning and going.  I think it’s safe to say good-bye to pull-ups forever.

Good-bye expensive pull-ups, good-bye stinky diaper pail, good-bye emergency parking lot changes… you won’t be missed.