Buugs, Mixing Svoons and a Happy, Growing Baby

Friday, Jan 9, 2015

What a week! Phil has been working from home a little, which has been nice, but it has been so cold outside that we haven’t been able to leave the house all week.  And, by cold, I mean it is -25 degrees with the wind chill.  EEK! And, I hate being stuck inside. It’s been trying for me to find things to do to keep us occupied, but I did think of something: Baking! 

I decided to have Maddie help me make some cookies and we had so much fun that we tried making banana bread later in the week.  She seemed to really enjoy pouring the ingredients in the bowl, feeling the different textures (she loved touching the soft flour) and mixing them up, whether by hand or by turning on the mixer.  We had a lot of fun! 

Last week, Maddie helped us make quiche.  

Maddie has been cracking us up recently.  She is definitely getting to the age where everything she says is silly.  I have heard stories about what other people’s 2- and 3-year-olds have said and have been waiting for my own kids to get to this stage.  The next few years are going to be so fun! One thing that had us laughing hysterically was when Maddie was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner.  She bit the side of her mouth and was crying because it hurt.  Like I normally do, I told her to “kiss it” to make it feel better.  She usually will kiss her boo-boos, say, “All better,” and then carry on with playing.  How do you kiss the inside of your mouth, though? Maddie sensed this predicament, too, so she looked at me, lifted her hand in front of her mouth and aggressively pointed to where it hurt and grunted.  It’s hard to visualize and describe, but we just thought it was so hilarious how she “solved her problem.” 

Daddy teaching Maddie how to pray before bed. 

Probably the thing that has us laughing the hardest currently is hearing Maddie’s pronunciation of the word, “Spoon.” Seriously, next time you are around her, ask her to say it.  Sometimes it comes out, “svoon,” and other times it is, “soom.” We joke around that she is swedish.  haha! It is really funny to hear. 

She also thinks that every crumb, piece of dirt, hair or freckle is a bug.  She will announce it's existence by saying, "Buug. Buug" and then before we even have time to tell her differently, she corrects herself, "not a buug. not a buug." Sometimes she interjects, "So  scared," with her r's sounding more like w's.  It's precious. 

She calls all of her baby dolls, "Baby Sarah," and she burps them, cradles them and puts them to bed. 

Maddie has been exercising with me, too, which has been fun.  She likes to watch me run on the treadmill and says, “Running’s fun,” and, “Mama running.” Afterwards, we do some exercises on the floor together and she will mimic me lifting my legs and climb on me for weight resistance.  Who needs to hold dumbells for squats when you have a 25 pound toddler on your back? And the great thing is, that the exercising also gives me an excuse to continue teaching Maddie to count.  She can get up to twenty with no problem and we are now working our way up to thirty.  She loves counting so much! I remember that when she was only a couple months old, she would light up when I counted for her.  She has just always liked numbers.  :) 

Little Sarah is nothing but a pure joy! She has continued to sleep well through the night, normally between 10:30 and 6: (or 7):30. This past week, she has been waking at around 3:30 for one night time feeding but I think she is going through a growth spurt.  All of the sudden, I looked at her and she looked bigger! She is growing so fast. I have already put this three-month-old into a 6 month outfit! She has definitely outgrown the length of her 3-month pants, so I have a load of the 6-month stuff in the laundry right now.  How can I slow this down a little bit? 

Those eyes! 

She is also building up to rolling now.  We do a little tummy time every day and she was really pushing with her arms to get onto her back yesterday. I remember finding Maddie flipped over onto her tummy in the morning one day, and I am expecting to find the same with Sarah at some point.  She really seems close to flipping from back to front.  I just don’t know which way she will go first.  

My little Sarah Bearah coos and smiles so much! She loves making eye contact and will give anyone a huge grin upon doing so.  Her extreme-happiness-smile consists of her opening her mouth as far as it can go with just a little hint of a grin at the corners.  She really responds to hearing her name and her eyes light up when I talk to her about her family.  

Has anyone ever smiled bigger than this? 

Sarah loves to play on the floor and has sometimes cried when were holding her to tell us that she is bored in our arms and wants to get down (translation mine).  She loves to swat and grab the rings and toys on her mat, but loves nothing more than watching her sister.  If Sarah is crying, I just tell Maddie to go dance for Sarah and Sarah will be calm in seconds and begin smiling at her big sister! 

And, I am happy to report that Sarah loves her pacifier! It took about 3 months for both of our girls to figure out how to use them, but now that Sarah uses it, we are able to soothe her much more quickly and get her to sleep when she is fussy.  And, upon learning to use the pacifier, she also figured out how to use the bottle! I am so relieved and looking forward to Phil and I being able to go out for a date and get a babysitter.  

I love my girls so much! 

Seriously. It's just too much. 

My little Maddie loves to climb into Sarah’s seats, pretend to take showers in her play house that she got for Christmas, loves tea-parties and, more than anything her Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. 

Pouring daddy his coffee

I don't think she's outgrown this car seat, do you?  ;) 

And my little Sarah and her bright eyes, her gorgeous and often silly expressions, the way she sucks a pacifier like Maggie (from “The Simpsons”), how she sings, smiles and is able to fall asleep and soothe herself no matter where she is.  

Sarah: "I will have no part in this!"

After Maddie was born and before Sarah, I didn't think I had enough room in my heart for another child. But, my heart just grew bigger. 

They are both the joys of my heart! 

Potty Training Attempt #1: I have never said "Pee-Pee, Poopy and Potty," so many times in so little time....

Thursday, Jan 1, 2015

Happy New Year! The past few days have been an adventure: one we weren’t sure if we should continue or abandon. But, after three days of potty training our eldest, we decided to jump ship and re-embark again in a month.  It became clear to us that two-and-a-half-year-old Maddie is physically capable of potty training, but emotionally, she needs a little more time. 

Day one was cRaZy!!! We had talked about potty training after Christmas was past because we wouldn’t be travelling so much anymore and could devote our time to being in the home where accidents would inevitably happen. So, Monday morning, we woke up and decided, “today is the day!” We told Maddie that she had to go pee pee and poopy on the potty, removed her pants so she was bottomless and hung out downstairs. She, surprisingly was not alarmed by her lack of clothing from the waist down and proceeded to eat breakfast and go about playing per usual.  We sat her down on the potty quite frequently to the point that we got sick of hearing ourselves suggest the seat but nothing would happen.  We also brought Maddie into the bathroom with us and let her see us go potty (I have been doing this for months, actually) and suggested that she go pee pee at the same time.  Yet, not a drop came from little Mads.  How was it possible that she was holding it this long?!?! 

Until accident #1 happened: Maddie was squatting down in front of Sarah when she dribbled out a little pee straight onto the tile floor.  So, clean-up was no big deal, but the problem was that Maddie didn’t feel the wetness on herself like we were hoping. And when we rushed her to the potty just feet away, she closed the dam and the flood waters halted.  (Yes, I am proud of my metaphor).  

Oh well.  

Accident #2 came not too long after that when we sat Maddie down for lunch.  Maddie quietly and calmly peed in her booster seat, which we didn’t notice until after she was done eating.  So, how long was she sitting in her little pee-pool?? 

So, clean up of this one was a little more involved since the straps of her seat were soaked.  Good times.  

But, it wasn’t very long after this incident when I was out of the room and heard hurrahs! Apparently, Maddie had started to go poopy while wearing her big-girl underpants, which we had, at this point, decided to switch over to, so Phil rushed her to her potty and sat her down.  Plop! She went poopy on her potty!  We did the “potty dance” which consists of us pumping our hand into the air while chanting, “Potty! Potty! Potty!” and celebrated the accomplishment all while Maddie looked at her poopy with horror. 

It all went down hill from here.  I think that seeing the poopy in the potty was a little traumatizing for Maddie because after this, she began protesting and not wanting to sit on the potty.  After she woke from her nap that afternoon, I took her in my arms and sat with her on the couch.  We realized that we neglected to give Maddie much physical affection that morning because she was bottomless for a good portion of the time and, even when wearing her undies, we were afraid of her peeing all over the place.  So, I was holding her in my lap when, all of the sudden….there was pee all over me.  It soaked through my jeans, went between my legs and all over the couch. I tried to put maddie on the potty despite her refusal, which only got pee all over the potty rather than inside.  Needless to say, this was not a successful experience and I needed a shower. 

The rest of the day was a failure. No pee in the potty, but it seemed like pee was everywhere else! That night, we put Maddie to bed in her diaper and called it a day. 

Onward! Tuesday morning rolled around and we decided to give it another shot.  Well, Maddie held her pee the entire morning to the point where her bladder was really full and must have felt very uncomfortable.  This was our first indication that she might not be emotionally ready for the change.  It was around 1:30 or so and I went into the bathroom and sat on the big potty while she was on the little one.  She heard me go pee pee and decided to give it a shot.  When she let a little out, so was terrified and immediately stood up.  She kept crying, “poopy” (she meant pee pee) and trying to stop it from coming out.  Her bladder was so full, though, that she had to release it but she didn’t want to.  So, I kept trying to sit Maddie back down, but she kept trying to stand back up.  She got some pee in the potty, which we celebrated, but a lot of it went on the floor. At one point, she lost her balance and accidentally put her hand inside the bowl with the pee in it.  When she was done and we had washed our hands, I left the bathroom feeling, again, like I was covered in urine.  

My, oh, my.  

After Maddie’s nap, Phil had the great idea of going to the store and buying some plastic diaper covers so we could put them over Maddie’s undies. That way, she would still feel the wetness in her undies if she had an accident, but it wouldn’t leak out.  Ingenious idea! And we will be using this method again when the time comes.  

Without going into too much more detail about accidents and the cleanliness of our floors, which we can now call “sterilized” (hehe), Maddie continued over the course of the next day and a half to hold her pee for so long that we worried it would hurt her somehow.  I was concerned she would give herself a bladder infection or an UTI.  And whenever she got to the point that she couldn’t hold it anymore, she would cry, as though horrified, about the idea of sitting on the potty and going pee pee.  But, she didn’t want to go in her pants and would seem very upset if her undies got wet.  She also held her poop for 2 full days! The poor girl.  

Maddie did end up having 2 good successful pees in the potty, but she just seemed so distraught about the entire process.  So, by Wednesday evening, Phil and I both agreed that we should call it.  We put a diaper on little Mads and went into the basement to watch a movie.  While down there, Maddie finally started to go poopy, but it was the saddest pooping experience ever.  Maddie kept holding her little butt like she was trying to keep it in and looked at us with shame that she was going poopy in her pants.  We offered for her to go on the potty, but didn’t want to pressure her, and she would cry, “No! No!” She clearly was scared but also ashamed.  It made me feel like a terrible parent.  

So, while we were not successful with the potty training this time around, I do feel like we have made progress and have learned a lot.  We found that Maddie is motivated by candy. So, we will probably use the candy-reward method next time around.  We also, have the plastic pants to keep the accidents contained, which will be helpful for the future.  And we are pleased to know that Maddie can and will hold her pee pee and understands the concept of going on the potty.  We just need to be more sensitive to her feelings the next time around and understand that she is just a little girl and these new experiences can sometimes be scary.  So, we’ll try again at the end of the month.  And this time, I won’t let Maddie sit on my lap without the plastic pants.