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

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 !