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 )