Happy Belated Everything

I have been pretty lazy this year when it has come to the blog, which is a disappointment because it is also a good way to look back at Little Layna when she is older.

Layna's 3rd birthday had come and gone quickly. We celebrated with myself (mommy), Papa and Gram Robidoux and Uncle Austin. I decorated the dining all pink with streamers, and Layna's cake was literally all bright pink.

Then, Christmas came. We - Layna, myself (mommy), Papa and Gram Robidoux and Uncle Austin - had our traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve. It wasn't a white Christmas. A little wet though. I drove Layna down to her father's home, where she opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Boyce, Daddy, and Uncle Tim and Auntie Rel. Layna was supposed to spend the day with Daddy and his family, but was brought home a few hours after I left Fall River, because she was sick and had a temperature. So we have been sick lately.

Before the holidays, I have taken Layna ice skating a couple times. She is actually doing it on her own.

Clowning Around on Halloween

It has been awhile! Halloween came and gone and today is Thanksgiving. Let's begin with October. Layna has finally broken out of her shell at dance, and is now one of the more outgoing girls. Whew! I almost started losing hope, but those before class sessions with her teacher had definitely helped! They are working on their holiday recital dance, which is adorable! I can't wait until January and to show it to you.

Layna was Little Miss Indecisive for Halloween. She wanted to be a clown... a princess... a witch... and Minnie Mouse! She really had no choice once her simple but cute clown custom was made. We went trick-o-treating with Miss Aislyn and Kait and her family/friends. It was nice to enjoy the little "holiday" with friends. Layna was very into getting candy. Our first go at it, Layna would literally run to the door and elatedly say "trick-o-treat" and "thank you" while Aislyn was shy and hesistant. We went home had some dinner, warmed up, grab some hot chocolate, and then wagon, and headed out. However, while the girls were playing in the house Layna had an accident resulting in a costume change: Nurse in Training from last year. So, we took the girls on a second round of trick-o-treating in the wagon. It was a pretty enjoyable and successful Halloween.

After Halloween, Layna would say "Halloween all done" every time she saw any sort of Halloween decorations. Back in September, we (my mother and myself) told Layna a list of holidays and birthday before her birthday.  Layna made a card for Uncle Austin's birthday, and she was asking for her birthday. She has remembered the "checkpoints" pretty well. The list was like this:

Uncle Austin's birthday
Grandpy's birthday
Uncle Andre's birthday
Grandma Robidoux's birthday
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Layna's Birthday
Christmas
New Year's
Aislyn's Birthday

She has remembered it amazingly well. Once we celebrate one thing, she will tell us it's done and announce the next thing to celebrate. When we had our little snow fall in October, Layna saw the snow and shouted with excitement, "snow! my birthday soon!" I guess I shouldn't have to her the snow means her birthday is soon along with Christmas.

Layna has started night time potty training this week, which she has done amazing at! Four days in a row and not a drop of pee on her bed. She has actually woken up 2 nights to use the bathroom. I wish regular potty training was this easy! I am so proud of her!

This past Tuesday, Layna got to see Daddy, which was like Christmas for her ! I was happy to see her so excited.

Until next time,
Happy Thanksgiving!

painting pumpkins for Halloween 

watching "their friends" trick--treating

Layna's Dance Class Photos

Layna has been in dance class since September 7th. It has been a struggle and Mommy has been going into the "classroom" with her for the past month. The past two classes, Layna has been having little private lessons with her teacher, but when it comes time to "dance with her friends" she doesn't want to be by herself. At least we got her tap dancing and making lots of noise. Here are some photos and videos of this past class:

Growing Up!

There hasn't been much going on lately. Layna continues to do great with using the Potty but she still has accidents here or there. She isn't pooping in the potty and I am brainstorming some ways to get her out of her pooping "habit": she will poop in her underwear and immediately head to the bathroom to take her undies off and dump the poop in the toilet. What to do, what to do...

Layna has been helping Papa and Mommy with Papa's garden. She loves picking the cherry tomatos and eating them right off the vine ! Sometimes we don't have any to bring back into the house. She also, helps water the garden. She's always interested in the "baby" vegetables and watching them grow until they are ready to be picked.

Miss Lady has been trying to pedal her tricycle lately. Last year, her legs were too short, and this spring her feet didn't reach the pedals when she turned the handle bar. Now, she can reach; therefore, she has grown a little! She is getting taller and continues to thin out.

Bedtime is still so-so. We were doing very well, but then got into our bad habit again. I would lay with her until she's asleep, and sometimes end up falling asleep with her. Sometimes we need cuddle time. Tonight I tried to just sit on her bed, and rub her back while she relaxed and grew sleepy. When I stopped rubbing her back, she would turn thinking I was about to get up and leave. So, I decided to have a discussion with her about being a big girl, which went something like this:

Mommy: "Hunny, you're a big girl now. You have to go to bed by yourself like a big girl. You were doing it for awhile so I know that you can do it.  Mommy can't lay with you anymore. Mommy has her own bed. Does Mommy sleep with Gramma?"

Layna: "No.."

Mommy: "Right because Mommy is a big girl. You're growing up Layn."

Layna: "I don't want to grow up. I stay little"

Mommy: "Mommy is big. I used to be little like you. But now I am grown up and a big girl. You'll always be my baby girl, okay?"

Layna: "okay." Give her a kiss and she rolled over calmly and within a few minutes I was able to leave my awake but relaxed baby to fall asleep on her own.

I share this conversation/want to save it because it has a lot of significance. The fact that Layna actually understood what I said proves how much she has grown and continues to grow... at least she will always be my baby girl !

All Potty-trained

this is from last summer - our first attempt @ 18-months-old. but its so cuuuute!
such a big girl now!

I can officially say Layna is a Big Girl who is potty-trained! I couldn't be a prouder parent ! We have attempted potty-training when Layna was 18 months old. She was very interested in it, would hold her nose (her sign for needing to pee), and actually went ! We stopped because with Dan and I living apart, the training was inconsistent. Our second attempt was when we were settled into the apartment - about March. Layna's daycare was somewhat helping, but I could tell from the daily reports they were inconsistent too. Layna wasn't as interested in it, and by the time we moved back in to Gram and Papa's, I was determined to get her trained ! I've regained my whole as stay-at-home-mom, and I have been working on it with her again. She had her share of accidents in the house, outside in the yard, and out in stores while running errands. I kept telling myself it's all part of the training. It slowly clicked to Layna. Some days I had to force her onto the potty, somedays she hopped up by herself. Sometimes I needed to wrestle diapers away from her, and other days she welcomed undies on with open arms. I quickly realized that when Layna wore pullups, she knew it was okay to pee not on the potty, so I had to stop with the pullups. Some people said, put them in underwear, and if they have an accident, put them back in a pullup or diaper. Layna didn't care about going back into pullups. But I noticed that when she had underwear on, she would hold her pee but to the point where she would have an accident sometimes, but slowly she learned to pee by herself.

It was a rollercoaster, but every time she went on the toilet I was thrilled, and then everytime she went by herself (which was this past week), I was even more thrilled !  It - the consistency of going by herself with and without telling me -  happened the other day when I put Layna in her bed from the car with her undies on. I heard her walking upstairs when it was due for her to awake from her nap. I went up and she was sitting on the potty and said "Mommy, I pee!" and I asked "where" while making my way into her room and checking the floor and the bed. And I came into the bathroom and she said again "Mommy, I peed!" and I looked in the potty, and she peed ! And later that day, she looked at me and said "Mommy, peeing!" and ran into the potty. She has learned the signal of having to go potty, to hold her pee, and climb up and pee! (Side note, I was using lollipops everytime she peed in the toilet by herself, not when I had to put her there because an hour or two went by and she hasn't gone yet. Those pops could've helped!)

Anyways, usually when I get excited and make a big deal of it, she has an accident as if she knew that I was announcing her achievement of potty training. But not this time ! My baby is a big girl now! Now, it's time for night time training... and shopping for more Big Girl Undies !

Beach Day with Aislyn and Layna

Today I (Mommy) got to spend the afternoon with Layna and her best friend, Aislyn. We went to the Douglas State Park, and played in the sand and the water. The girls were very well behaved; there were no time-outs. They listened, played, swam, and enjoyed the weather! It was a perfect beach day. Aislyn was showing Layna how to go underwater, and before I knew it, I had two girls dunking their heads under water .... and holding their noses sometimes too ! Here are some photos of the two girls:

the girls' first beach trip together (with Kim and Nina)
they're about 7 and 8 months old

this was from the other day, it's Layna's first rainbow!
(we might have seen one or two before,
but she actually understood what we were looking at )

Layna's Second Trip to Syracuse

Mommy and Layna made a visit to Syracuse due to the loss of Grammy Chamberlain (Layna's Great Grandmother). We drove up with Uncle Austin, and stayed with Grandpy. We spent most of the visit over Uncle Charlie's house spending time with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Debbie, and cousins Caitlin, Allyssa, and Kyle along with Uncle Andre, Aunt Nicole, Lisa (Nicole's mom), Teddy (Uncle Andre's dog), Uncle Austin, Grandpy, and Cait's and Allyssa's boyfriends. It was a good weekend together. Well, we left Saturday and stayed until Tuesday. Layna liked playing with Allyssa on the swingset. She enjoyed following Teddy around. And for the most part behaved well, and slept well. We definitely got off our sleep schedule and eating schedule, and she finally ate a whole meal on the last day we were there.

On Sunday, we went to Aunt Slavka's (ChaCha's) taxi company's annual BBQ. It was good to see that side of the family, and Layna was elated to see her Baby Lilly, her Auntie Rosie, and her Chacha along with swimming at the lake. Mommy was holding baby Lilly, and Andre announce that my daughter who I just rinsed off was playing in the sand at the volleyball court. So Andre rinsed Layna off and when I looked up I saw him chasing the little lady in the sand. Yes, he had to rinse her off and carried her over to the picnic area again. After the BBQ, we went to the hotel where Uncle Andre, Aunt Nicole, and Lisa were staying. We went swimming in the pool there, where Layna had fun and almost drowned Mommy once. We learned that we needed to teach her to ask Mommy if she was ready for her to jump in. Layna asked "Mommy ready?" and I said "no" to see what would happen and she tried to stop herself but ended up diving in and was fine when she resurfaced from the water !

It was obvious how fast Layna is developing, learning, and growing. She knew that we would go to Uncle Charlie's house, and remembered them all easily. She knew the "little playground" was at his house, and we would see Teddy there. If Teddy wasn't there, she would say that he was with Uncle Andre. She ran to her ChaCha with arms wide open and a huge smile on her face, and wanted to be with Aunt Rose because I was holding baby Lilly.

Even though the trip was made for unfortunate reasons, it was successful traveling with Layna and a pleasant visit.


A total sidenote:
A few weeks ago, Layna's best friend joined us at the splashpad Layna goes to. Check out Kaitlin's Blog (Ais' Mommy) for some of those photos: SPLASH PAD FUN

Tall Ships and Splash Pad

Before I start, this is one of those "catching/updating" blog entries. So, just keep scrolling there's a lot of photos and a few of videos to check out!

Now, last weekend we joined Gramma and Papa Robidoux to Newport for the Tall Ships event. It was a bright, no-cloud-in-the-sky day. Layna was well-behaved and was excited to see the "big boats", as she would call them. We parked where we had to take the shuttle, which was a school bus. Layna sat in her seat and looked out her window. She was equally excited to be on the school bus !

After seeing the Tall Ships, we headed to Newport's Easton Beach. We visted this beach at least once a summer, usually after walking the Cliffwalk or/and visiting the Newport Mansions. The water was 70*, which we all loved and enjoyed swimming in. There was it's famous "red tide" where there is red seaweed, or something... Once you get past it you're all good to swim. Layna loved jumping with Mommy when the waves came. She did go under a couple times, but wasn't at all bothered by the salt water. She was definitely back in her element: water! hahaha.... she was running down the beach splashing and yelling with excitement, chasing seagulls, and playing the the sand.

Before heading home for the day, I was able to capture some great photos of Layna on the beach!

the first ship we saw!

so many boats out this day!

she wouldnt get any closer to the hole

a life boat

 

playing in the sand

probably pointing at the "boyydie" aka birds/seagulls 

video of Layna at the beach...

besides my smile... this is such a sweet photo of us!

I try to keep Layna happy, active, and entertained. We go to the park every couple of days to play on the playground, in the sand, and/or in the water at the Splash Pad. This is both of our favorite park. It has "everything" and is appropriate for ages 1-6 years old. Wish we had it in our backyard but 8 minutes down the road isn't bad either. 

literally ran straight through that sprinkler behind her over and over!

we were getting new shutters and she wanted to paint!

We spend a lot of time with Aislyn and Kaitlin. The two of them - Aislyn and Layna - crack me up all the time. This day they decided they needed haircuts along with the babydoll.