Trip to the cottage with Amy!

Katharine, Craig and Amy came up to the cottage for the weekend. There were a few fights and tug of wars over toys, but for the most part the girls had fun together. Paige woke up early both mornings asking me to "Go wake up Amy". It was such a novelty for her to have a friend there.
If only the weather had cooperated a bit more...it was easily the worst weather of the year. We managed to get outside a few times when the rain let up, just to get the girls outside. And the adults had a fire in the firepit the first night before the rain started. Hopefully we can get some better weather the next time they come up so they can experience such things as oh, I don't know...sitting on the dock? Going in the water? putting on sunscreen? Is this too much to ask!?

Sentences...

Paige is talking in super long sentences now, and can use words to talk about anything she wants to. Her talking is getting more and more intricate as she is using various expressions that she has heard other people use.

eg. "Oh my gosh! There's Amy coming to the library!"
eg. "No! Stop! I said No!"
eg. Mike told her that the ice cream truck was sleeping and she said "No! Stop! he's at the park I said!"

She will also expect praise for doing things nicely, and likes to remind us to praise her appropriately.

eg. #1: gives Amy a cracker, then looks at me and says "that's nice sharing", reminding me that I should say this to her.
eg. #2: After peeing on the potty she always says "good girl sweetheart! high five!" I then have to repeat.

She likes to praise/comfort us now with the same words.

eg. If I go to the bathroom when she is there she will say "Good girl!"
eg. I told her my tummy hurt after drinking too much water, "Oh sweetheart" (with sad expression)" then gives me a kiss.

Potty Novelty...

There has been a change. Paige now likes going in public washrooms, not neccessarily to use the toilet (she'd rather hold it in until home), but to flush the toilet. At the library the other day we had to go into the washroom five times. I can never refuse in case she has an accident, but it gets a bit frustrating! And there was a crack in the toilet bowl, which she thought was a piece of hair. This required repeated flushing to try to get rid of it. She is unable to flush the toilet at home, but the metal handles of most public washrooms, or better yet, the buttons, are easy to push. I don't discourage this behaviour since she is becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of using a public washroom, and not thinking they are scary or dirty. I just make sure to wash her hands when she touches stuff.

If anything I think her being potty trained is way more work than when she was in diapers. It actually requires more gear (change of clothes, potty seat, special wipes), and way more patience. But at home last week we had one small bag of garbage for 2 weeks! We used to have 4 with the diapers!

Gymnastics....

Here are a few pictures that Katharine took at gymnastics. Love the 2 of them on the bars!

For the fall we have signed up for a new class "Book Nook", as well as "Our Special Time" again since we really liked that class and tended to see the same kids in each session. I think we'll also take gymnastics again to involve ourselves in something active. She'll miss having Amy in the class though.

Oh so proud!!

For the past 2 days, Paige has woken up in the morning with a dry diaper as well as after her nap. She has also managed to stay dry all day without any accidents. This morning we chanced going to gymnastics in underwear and she did great! Before the class I told her that the washroom was "Mary's bathroom" (her instructor), and that Mary would let her use it if she needed to. I told Mary and she even went to show Paige the bathroom. Literally at the very end of the class as we got up from circle time Paige said, "pee on potty", and we went to the bathroom and she did just that using her fold up potty seat. I took the advice about telling Paige that a public washroom was a certain person's bathroom from a former coworker. I thought that advice was right up Paige's alley. She really likes Mary at gymnastics, so this seemed like a good non-threatening place to try it out. I have to admit that when she saw the fold up potty seat she started to freak a bit, but I reminded her of our ongoing sticker reward. She had also used the fold up seat on Tuesday at my friend Laura's house, so she had a bit of experience with it as well. So...we're well on our way now!

You should have seen me the whole class. If she would sit down, or look weird in any way, I would say, "DO YOU NEED TO PEE ON THE POTTY!!!!!?????" and start to panic, but all was well!

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I finished my new blog book (year 2), and it is on sale now! haha. There is a link on the right hand side even if you just want to see it (you can flip through a few pages). It is soo much better this time as the pictures are from our new camera, and are better quality.

Overheard...

As I am here in the computer room and Paige is supposed to be napping I overheard the following through the monitor...

"Let's go Swiper's house. No let's go Belle's house. Swiper's house is nice, I love it. Swiper's house is all dirty......"

I couldn't write the rest down fast enough, but it continued on with talks of a bathtub.

I have the monitor on in case she tells me that she needs the potty, otherwise I would just turn it off to try to get some quiet time (since she clearly isn't going to sleep).

Our trip to the store...

Yesterday we went to a store that was far away that shall remain nameless (perhaps birthday gifts for certain people were bought there). Paige peed on the potty before we left but as we were at the store she said she had to pee on the potty. I brought her into the bathroom and attempted to use her fold up potty seat which she would not allow, and I also tried to hold her. When I held her she let out maybe 2 drops and then she was "done" and wanted "clothes back on". We went around the store a bit more and as we were about to leave she yelled "poo on potty!". I told her to hold it in and we walked around a mall a bit and then tried the bathroom again. Would not go. We got in the car where she shortly started to cry and scream "POO ON POTTY!!!" She was completely out of control and we were telling her to just go in her pull up. We finally stopped at a coffee shop since she was practically hyperventalating. She asked to go back to the original store to "poo on potty in store". We finally had to lie to say we were going back to the store. Once she calmed down she finally peed in the pull up.

So what I want to know is, how am I going to get her to go in the store?? So far I have tried to make her go at familiar places like Second Cup and gymnastics. If she had been able to go at the store yesterday, she could have easily worn underwear since she is obviously capable of letting me know when she has to go. (At home she wears underwear now with few accidents). At the park last night however, and probably because she knew was having fun, there was no option of a washroom, and she had had 3 cups of milk for dinner, she said "pee on potty" and obviously went in the pull up right away....so I know she still needs pull ups. But how on earth am I going to get her to go in the store???

Not super successful photo shoot...

No smiling ones really, and did not want to look at me. More interested in sticks and rocks...

Oh innocence....

Just as we were about to leave the Second Cup today one of the employees walked out the door with a cigarette in his mouth.

Paige says "Look he have straw! he he he"

Then she is smiling and chuckling to herself as she sees him outside smoking, thinking he is playing with a straw.

Then she says "He blow something!"

So cute.

ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!!!!!

There it is!

Hi ice cream truck!


Bye ice cream truck!

Woops--little trip on the curb!

And I quote....

Paige sang this at breakfast in one long song....

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the clock, merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream!"

Post-sprinkler warming up....

In case you're confused, Amy is wearing the "Paige" hat.

Funny...

This morning when I went into Paige's room she said, "I go see Booze (Jen), James, and Abby at Booze's house!" I said, yes, we're going in a few weeks. She says, "James, Booze, Abby, all the kids!" I said, "Are james and booze kids?", and she says, " not kids anymore!"

Such a funny thing to say!

Last night Paige wanted to pee in the potty at 5:00am. I brought her in the bathroom and by the light of the very dim nightlight she sat on the potty with her soother in her mouth and her hands on her knees and yawned and yawned and finally went. Then she went back to sleep. She still wears a diaper at night, but I guess she was awake enough to know that she was about to go and didn't want to go in the diaper. I bet this happens all the time now.

A trip to the zoo

We had told Paige the day before that we were going to the zoo and she would see giraffes, snakes, gorillas, etc. So she was very excited to see the animals which we had mentioned. "Go see giraffe" she would keep saying as we headed in that direction. She had never seen a giraffe before, and this was the first time that she had seen any of these animals outside (we have always been to the zoo in the winter). Her favourite exhibit was the baboons and she wanted to stay there for a long time. Not sure if it was because she liked them the most, neccessarily, or whether it was because she could see them through the glass on her own without having to be held. The day was a perfect temperature and we spent about 4 hours there before she was getting a little crazy, meaning time to get into the car and sleep on the way home.

Daddy's Birthday weekend at the cottage

We had a great time at the cottage over the long weekend with Mary Jo, Robin, and Evan.

The weather even cooperated and it was somewhat sunny for the 2 days we were there.

Recently....

For the most part, people who don't know Paige think she is much younger when they see her. She is still quite small, and has such a baby face. I get a kick out of people's shocked expressions when she talks to them in full sentences. Today Paige said to a mom: "Hey-he has Thomas on his shoes!". The mom looked amazed. She thought Paige was no more than 18 months. Someone once asked if she was "around 12 months". Ah well...the story of my life growing up as a young looking kid....but nice when the big 3-0 is next year.

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As Paige continues to play for hours on end with her dollhouse and various toys she feels that it's neccessary to empty out every single one of her toys in order to have the full experience. If I try to put anything away, forget it. She yells and takes them all back out. I haven't vacuumed in ages as there is never a time that she isn't sleeping where the floor is free to vacuum. Today I can hear her chatting away as she is supposed to be napping, so I'll have to jump on the chance.

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Soccer class is a bit of a bust since the activities we do are more suited to older kids. The class only goes up to 2.5 year olds, but the lesson plan seems to be severly skewed. Sure Paige can count, jump, and tap her feet on a ball.....but can she "jump THREE TIMES, tap with the INSIDE OF HER FOOT TWO TIMES and then run in a circle" all in a sequence? Nooooo. My teacher friends tell me this isway advanced. I have to help her with every step along the way, as do all the other parents. For this age group where it's all about doing things by themselves, you can see all of the kids getting irritated that their parents are forcing them to stand up, physically moving their feet around, etc. Paige just wants to run around, and likes physical challenges that she can accomplish by herself. She asks to go home every class, and I have heard at least 2-3 more kids say they wanted to go home as well. Gymnastics, on the other hand, gives her enough of a challenge, and lets her accomplish things by herself, while learning to stay with a class and wait her turn. She loves that class.

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Potty training is going really really well. I stopped with the potty chart stickers since we would have filled up 4 charts or so by now. She never wets a diaper unless it is bed time (and also because she has had a few accidents in underwear--she is still not good at telling me when she needs to go unexpectedly). But if I put her on the potty before bed, after bed, before going out, etc. she will usually always go. We even risked 1 walk in the underwear, and tried to use a public washroom...didn't have to go in the public washroom, but also said it was "too big" so I might have to get a portable potty seat.