March 21

We are trying to enjoy this warm weather while it lasts! Tonight, I took Audrey for a walk in her big stroller. While we were on our walk, we saw a little girl about Audrey's age who was pushing her baby doll in a little stroller. When Audrey saw that girl, she wanted to turn around and go back home and get her own stroller and baby. So we went back home and then finished our walk with Audrey's baby in tow!Potty update: Audrey pooped in the potty again tonight! She was in the bathtub, and she was crossing her legs and looking uncomfortable. I thought she had to pee, so I asked if she needed to go potty, and she said yes. I was totally surprised when she pooped! Then after getting back in the bathtub, she started to get that same look a few minutes later. Again, she said she needed to go potty. And again, she pooped a little more! It was a very exciting night around here!

At some point during this potty training process, we promised Audrey a special treat if she went poop in the potty. And at some point, that special treat became two "brown" cookies (that's what Audrey calls them, they are actually Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies). Here she is with her cookies after bathtime tonight!
She was pretty excited about the cookies, but for about 20 minutes she refused to eat them. (this is actually fairly common for Audrey and treats...she just holds onto them for the longest time!). Finally, I showed her how they were melting in her hands, and she decided it would be better to eat them than have messy hands.

March 20

It was a beautiful day today! I really love the warmer weather...too bad it is going to be back down in the 30's this weekend. =(

I think Audrey enjoys the warm weather too as she has been asking to play outside all the time. We spent some time outside this afternoon playing with her animals. She loves to line up all her animals on the steps outside. Daniel's parents gave Audrey these animals, first a few to take on our trip to Florida and then more as a potty training reward last week. Audrey loves them so much! She insisted that I take pictures of all her animals outside this afternoon. So I figured I would introduce a few of them to you (but don't worry, I won't bore you with all of them).

This is Rabbit. Rabbit says "hippety hop, hippety hop, hippety hop", while Audrey bounces her up and down on the ground.
This is Bambi, aka Moose. Audrey saw a commercial for the Bambi movie and then a display at Wal-mart, and now she loves Bambi. I tried to explain to her that Bambi is a deer not a moose. But she insisted, "No, Bambi a moose. A little moose."
This is Kangaroo. Kangaroo says "jump, jump, jump" while Audrey bounces her up and down on the ground. Notice the distinction between Rabbit's "hippety hop" and Kangaroo's "jump". Audrey is very insistent that Rabbit cannot "jump" and Kangaroo cannot "hippety hop".
This is Giraffe. Giraffe was lost for a few hours one day, and it was a major tragedy. Fortunately, we found her and have kept good track of her ever since!

March 19

I just realized I had not posted yet today. It's 11:00 pm, and I'm still working on my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow. I need to remember that it is not a good idea to start working on the lesson at 9 pm the night before, especially when I choose to do a somewhat elaborate craft that requires a lot of prep work.

So, I haven't uploaded or edited a picture yet (though I did take a couple today of Audrey playing outside). But I'm not going to get it posted tonight...maybe tomorrow!

We did have a big day in our house! Audrey pooped in the potty! It was very close, as she told us she needed to poop JUST as she was actually starting to go. But Daniel grabbed her and helped her hurry to the bathroom, and she made it in time to get it in the potty! That's definitely progress for her!

March 18

We hung out with the Millers tonight. Audrey really loves that family a lot! Tonight, Amy kept hiding toys in Audrey's shirt, which Audrey found very funny. We joked that she looked like Mommy with her big tummy, but I don't think my tummy is sticking out quite that far yet (and I'm hoping it never will!).

Potty update:

The good news: No pee accidents today. And she has been dry the past two mornings when she woke up, and that has never happened in her whole life. So, she is quickly getting the hang of this idea of peeing in the potty and not in her panties or pull ups...even while sleeping! Though I'm thinking she will still wear a pull up to sleep for a while, as I am in no hurry to be cleaning her sheets all the time!

The bad news: Two poop accidents today. To her credit, I think she knew she needed to poop. Twice, she told us that she needed to poop. And she attempted to go on the potty. But she was just not patient enough to wait for it. I know that it is completely normal for kids to catch on quickly to pee and then have trouble with poop...but, it is still frustrating to me. I feel like she is so close to getting it...but she's just not quite getting it all yet. I know I just need to be patient and keep working with her. In time, she will get it. But my patience was running low this morning. Fortunately, I got to escape and go out with the girls to Incredibly Delicious this afternoon...which was a much needed escape!

March 17

We had a good morning at Sprouts! Audrey was in a good mood. She was even willing to share toys with the other kids...on her own initiative! Rather than screaming "no mine!" when a little girl came up to play with the Mickey Mouse toys (Audrey usually lays claim to them pretty early in the morning), Audrey said, "Here you go" and gave her Goofy. She kept Mickey and Minnie for herself, so it wasn't a total sacrifice...but I was still happy that she initiated the sharing. It might be a first for her. =)
Audrey and Elliot were having lots of fun wearing these hats. It was also Green Day, so lots of kids were dressed in green..plus we made green crafts and listened to a story about green frogs and ate green snacks! Audrey is getting the routine of Sprouts down really well. She loves to talk about what we are going to do at Sprouts. With a little prompting, she says, "First, playtime. Then clean up time. Then story time. Then (and this is where she gets most excited) SNACK TIME!"
It was also a beautiful day today, so we tried to go outside and play several times. I think Audrey was happy to be reunited with her slide. I thought she might be getting too big for it, but she was pretty excited to play on it this afternoon. Then this evening we went for a walk. When we got back home, we played in the driveway with sidewalk chalk until it was too dark to see anything. Why can't temps be in the 70s every day? I am pretty sure I would be happier and more productive if every day was as nice as today.

Today's potty update: much better than yesterday! No accidents! Audrey is not as interested in going potty anymore as she was those first few days. I think the novelty has worn off! Today I had to drag her away from whatever she was doing to get her to go, but she still went in the potty and stayed dry all day.

March 16

For "D" week, we had a fun dinosaur-themed morning. First we made this lovely dinosaur out of the letter D. (Kind of looks more like a turtle with spikes to me, but Audrey thinks it's a dinosaur, so that's what counts). Then we went to the library, where we did some dinosaur puzzles and saw pictures of dinosaurs hanging on the walls. And we checked out some dinosaur books and an Elmo dinosaur movie!

Now for the potty training update. (I'll put these at the end of my posts now, so you don't have to read them if you don't want to. Since this is a blog about my daily life and potty training is a big part of daily life right now, I just have to write about it...but I don't expect you to read every little detail!).

Today was kind of rough, at least the morning was rough. I purposely gave Audrey more to drink today. Yesterday, she didn't drink much at all in the morning, but I was still trying to make her go potty. And she was getting frustrated because she didn't really need to go potty. So today, I wanted to make sure that she had plenty of pee to work with.

I also wanted to test her a little. Would she tell me she needed to go on her own initiative? And would she do it even when we were not at home? The answer was: sometimes.

A couple of times throughout the morning, she told me "Mommy, pee coming out now!" Every time she says that, it gives me a little heart attack because I expect to find her soaking wet. But she doesn't literally mean the pee is coming out right now. She just means that she needs to go pee now. But it still scares me every time.

So she successfully went to the bathroom on her own initiative (though I still reminded her and asked if she needed to go all day) at home, at the library and at church! I wasn't even standing near her at the library. She was doing puzzles by herself and I was looking at books on the other side of the room. And I heard her yell (it seemed incredibly loud in the quiet library): "Mommy, pee coming out now!" A little embarrassing, but we made it to the bathroom, so I was quite happy!

She had one accident at home and two accidents while we were at church for lunch. One accident at church was while she was eating a cupcake. I'm pretty sure she knew she needed to go, she just didn't want to stop eating her cupcake! The second accident at church was poop. I left her alone for literally one minute, while I put a few craft supplies away. And when I came back, she had pooped in her pants. I'm pretty sure she waited until I was out of the room to poop...which at least means that she has control over when/where she poops! We just need her to do it at the right time in the potty!

The rest of the day was better...no more accidents. She made it all the way through the nursery tonight and kept her panties dry without me around to remind her. So, I'm glad the day ended on a better note.

It was a frustrating morning because it felt like we were moving backwards not forwards. But I expect days like this to happen. I was probably asking for it by giving her extra drinks AND letting her dictate when she went to the bathroom. The accidents, while annoying, are all part of the learning process. And I do think she is getting the hang of this potty training stuff pretty well. I just need an extra dose of patience for the next couple of weeks, because it stresses me out!

March 15

Audrey had one accident tonight, which was frustrating because she had been doing so good! It was right around dinner time. I was busy getting ready for a Stampin Up class, and Daniel was busy dealing with dinner. So maybe we missed the signs that she needed to go. She didn't do as good at telling us when she had to go today, but she also didn't drink very much today. Maybe she just didn't need to go very much! No poop again today, so we're still going to have to be patient with that.

This is the only picture that I took today. We are doing a "green" theme at Sprouts on Thursday for St. Patrick's Day. So I've been trying to post a picture of something green on our Facebook page each day. These are the cupcakes Daniel and Audrey made tonight while I was teaching my class...pretty impressive! The church staff is providing food/serving lunch to the Seniors at our church tomorrow, so this is Daniel's contribution.