Potty Update

Aria is really starting to get it. I picked her up from school today and she was wearing the same clothes she put on this morning! Last week she did fine at home, but had at least 3 wardrobe changes each of the 4 days at school last week. So I was prepared for the worst today...

It started out with the weekend where she did excellent (no accidents) and even ended Sunday with a #2 in the potty! When I picked her up today they told me that she held it in all morning and then after her nap she asked to use the potty. This is HUGE! I'm so proud of her. Even at home there was some improvement today too. Usually we ask her constantly if she has to go, but we started to back off and she told us she had to use the potty (with no prompts from us).

Kevin said tonight that she asked to wear undies to bed. He gently talked to her about not rushing into it and it would be soon to come. I definitely agree, I'm not ready to change a wet bed in the middle of the night. She has woken up a couple time in the last week to use the potty around midnight, but we want a good week or so of dry diapers until we go totally diaperless.

So there's the update...we're on the right track now after a hard week last week. We are definitely PROUD parents :-)

Don't eat your broccoli!

Lately Aria's been a little pickier than usual about eating veggies. It never used to be an issue. Tonight after gobbling up her chicken parmesan, noodles and even some friendship bread her broccoli remained on her plate. I don't know what came over me, but I decided to tell her "Aria, don't eat that broccoli!" What does she do? Without question, she put that broccoli in her mouth and gobbled that up too! Kevin joined in and told her not to eat the other ones...and she ate those too! She is silly, I love how she caught on to our "game" and giggled the whole time she went along with it. The funniest things work with her. She likes to keep us on our toes!

On the potty training front...I was a little down today because it's a little worrisome that she's having so much trouble getting the hang of using the potty at school. But on a high note, tonight Aria wanted out of her bath because she had to use the potty. She sat on it, got a little squirmy and then wanted off. That was my cue that she HAD TO GO (if you know what I mean). It took a little encouragement and an M&M to keep her seated. About 15 seconds later, we had success! She was so excited and I was too!

This potty training thing has really opened my eyes about parenting. I had no idea how it would go. I'd read a little and listened to others' stories, somehow I missed the following:

• Kids might have issues using any other potty then their own at home.
• Apparently the feeling of having to #2 will scare them so much they won't want to sit on the potty...even if they have undies on!
• Some kids will hold and hold it because they don't want to use the potty. We're talkin 6 hrs people!

Aria has really educated me as a parent. I had no idea how complicated potty training can be!

of course it'll take a while

Well yesterday didn't go too well. she held it in until after her nap. then had two accidents at school, and one with Dana at the store. She did use the potty at home twice last night, and again this morning before we left for school. It's hard to realize that things like this just take time. Aria's been so good about other transitions (like sleeping through the night, getting rid of her bottles and pacifier, going to daycare, and moving to a big girl bed) that we've taken for granted the time and work involved in her getting through this one.

Every day is a step in the right direction. She has accidents at school mostly. :-)

PS: Where's that Christmas post?

we shall see...

Aria wore undies all weekend—with only a couple of accidents. Today she was a little reluctant to go to school in her undies, but I was able to convince her that the new routine of going potty before going to school was part of being a big girl/big sister. We know she'll do just fine at school, her best friend there has been using the potty for a couple of weeks now.

I was also able to put her hair in pigtails—quite an accomplishment for me. The part wasn't exactly straight, but it's a start!


and don't forget to check out the videos below!

Nursery Rhymes

Recently Aria has been reciting nursery rhymes along with her many songs she sings. We have a book of them we read often. The cutest part is that we hadn't read them recently and she started to recite them off the top of her head one night during dinner. Last night we caught her on video to share.

PS My computer is fixed! Thanks Goofydaddy! Soon I will be working on the past missing posts (Christmas, for example).

Baby #2 is a wiggler!

Last night I felt the baby move for the first time. Or maybe I was sitting still enough and awake to finally notice. I'm 14 weeks along and time is just flying. Aria says everyday that she is going to be a big sister. SO CUTE! We often read the Christmas story and after saying "...and Mary was going to have a baby...," Aria speaks up and says, "Mommy's going to have a baby too!" It seems as if she's really getting it.

On her own, Aria decided to sleep in her twin bed. She is so happy with herself and we are too because it allowed us to move the crib out of her room. That was an easy transition! Thanks Aria. We rearranged some of her furniture and ordered a bean bag - she has such a grown-up room now.

This weekend we picked out some cute underwear for Aria too. She's still not very interested, but I just wanted her to know about them and start to get her excited. The past couple months she as been very adamant about "NO POTTY, Aria wears a diaper!" But, she has sat on the potty twice after her bath in the past few days. The last time she stood up in the bath and said she had peed. I quickly pulled her out and told her to sit on the potty if she still had to go more. AND she got on the potty and she even went a tiny bit more. Aria got an M&M for that! She loved the treat :-) I think we have small progress, but it's progress nonetheless!

Bring on baby #2! We're getting ready!

Shopper in Training

I couldn't resist posting about our grocery shopping trip on Sunday. Once our computers are up and running again we'll get to our Christmas post and we'll be able to include pictures more easily. At this rate it might be a Christmas post in April! :-)

On Sunday we went to Harris Teeter and let Aria push the mini cart around the store. She loved it and did such a good job. We had to herd her a little bit, but other than that she was more patient than usual at the store. I think it's because she was proud of her active role. SOOO cute. Kevin got a picture with his phone. She even stopped to try a sample of cookie.