Paige lately....

1. In the last few weeks, Paige has improved her getting dressed mood by about 50%. She used to freak out when it was time to get dressed, but now she tolerates it, and only runs away about 60% of the time rather that 100% of the time. I would try to persuade her to pick out her own clothes to make it fun but it never worked. Now it helps a little bit. I either pick out neutral pants and then let her pick a shirt, or let her pick out a shirt, and then I pick out matching pants. If I want her to wear something specific, I will force her if i have to. ie. skirts for fancy occasions, etc.

2. She has been talking a TON about her baby sister on the way. We were at the mall yesterday and decided it would be nice for her to get a "stuffy guy" for her baby sister, since Paige has a million, and her baby sister needed one. We went to the disney store and Paige picked out a piglet and an elephant from the Winnie the Pooh show.

3. For her age I think she is very easy going, pleasant and patient. On our way to the mall yesterday we were almost there and I realized we had not heard a peep out of her. She just sat and looked out the window for 30 minutes. In the mall she just walks around with us and, and as long as we are reasonable about how long she can be expected to stay in stores, she is fine. We have been to 4 restaurants lately--2 lunches and 2 dinners (trying to get out while we can!) and she has been perfect while we sat for over an hour. Just colouring, actually eating her food, and having fun. She likes to pick out her meal, and always has a ceasar salad. We go to Second Cup every weekend, and as long as she has a bit of a muffin and a chocolate milk, and we pack some colouring and some dinosaurs or ponies, she can sit for over an hour and doesn't actually want to leave.

4. Getting to bed is usually no problem and she sleeps all night as long as she doesn't wake up to use the potty.

5. "Quiet time/mommy busy time" is dependent on the day, if we have been out all morning she will often want to play with toys while I am busy. If we have been very active at home, or she is a bit tired (obviously not enough to sleep!) we will read books in her bed before she plays with toys. This whole thing is going better.

I'm so happy that she has been so wonderful lately as it will make things easier when the baby comes, and if the new baby causes any new issues to arise with her, at least we are not dealing with a ton of other ones!

Here is Paige showing off her decorations on the stairs which consist of all of her winter gear. And she is wearing her new rain boots for the spring.

Names....

I was shocked the other day when Katharine and Amy were here and Paige came up to me and asked me a question and referred to me as "Carol Ann" rather than mommy. She has never done this before and I have never told her my name on purpose. She obviously copied Katharine and Amy.

Then later in the day Paige wanted to show Mike something, but he was out at the gym. She said, "I have to show this to my father when he gets home". I think she has learned the word "father" from her Franklin books.

Ouch

My stomach is steadily growing 1 inch a week! Ouch! and Itchy! I find I need to sit down often as my body cannot carry this torpedo around!

Go Canada!

Doing "hands and feet"...

Snow time

Today we played outside after lunch. It was the first official time we have gone outside all geared up with the intention of playing in the snow. Usually she tries to play in the snow every time we go out, but she is never dressed properly, and the weather isn't always very nice. After getting her out of the snow before and after our play group I promised her we would go outside after lunch. We were out there for a very long time. Since it was sunny, it felt quite warm.

Oh--we made a small snowman out in the backyard (the biggest I could with not being able to bend over very well to roll the snow!), which was full of bunny poop. Attractive!

Video Game

Paige is getting freakishly good at Nintendogs. We have been playing this quite a bit, I hate to admit. She knows how to do most things herself, but often tries to give Abby (the dog) multiple baths and overfeed her. She also buys tons of stuff at the pet store.

Me: Paige is getting really good at this game.

Mike (technologically inclined): Good. I want her to keep playing it.

It reminds me of Mike's business partner Jules who has a teenage son. He said he doesn't discourage video games and says, "Keep playing son, it's the way of the future!"

haha.

Basement fun...

Mike works from home quite a bit (the office is in the basement), but when he snuck out to randomly lease a new car (??) Paige and I went to the basement to practice riding the trike. Right away she was better than she ever was in the fall.

Mommy's little helper.

Helping tidy up toys? Forget it. Helping with meal preparation? oh yes!

Paige asks to help whenever I make anything. This involves pouring cereal, spreading peanut butter, putting frozen strawberries in smoothies, etc. Sometimes it is a real stretch to get her to help when it involves meat or a knife. For instance I made coconut chicken the other night and obviously did not want her to bread the raw chicken. So I got her to help "spread out" the french fries on the pan. She would not leave me alone until she could help with something. She just prances around saying "I want up up up up up!! I want to help you!!" So I just make something up that I pretend is a big help.

In the pictures above she opened up the peanut butter jar and spread globs of peanut butter on the bread and stuck the 2 halves together (yes they were cut into hearts...I copied this from my mom who would do things like that for me when I was in High School...how mortifying).

I'm happy that she is getting into the helping mode now before the baby comes. It's nice having someone pass you a towel after a shower. She likes to do things like that.

Quiet afternoon fun...

We played NintenDogs on my Nintendo DS for about 20 minutes. In the top photo she is brushing the dog's fur. We also gave the dog a bath, threw a frisbee around for it, and took it for a walk. She obviously thinks this is fantastic.

Tummy update!

EEk! Let's get this show on the road!

Quiet time not working...

I have come to realize that quiet time is not working. "Quiet time" has turned into "loudly playing with all toys in bedroom". It's almost completely pointless. We have evolved through 3 stages:

Stage 1: Quiet time implemented. Read nicely in bed for about 20 mins.

Stage 2: Needed to play with a few toys on the floor, maybe 3 or 4 at the most. Sometimes music listened to on the CD player.

Stage 3: Needs to hand pick toys, and bring in "lots of them" into the room. The aftermath is an extremely messy room. (see paige's "cheese" picture below taken after quiet time)

Through every stage I have brushed her teeth and then read books before she reads or plays with toys. I am debating just reading books now and not bothering with leaving her in her room afterwards. I have been trying to research quiet time, and the problem I have just realized, is that with quiet time you are often dealing with a 3 or 4 year old who can understand the concept. With Paige it is probably just doesn't make any sense, which is why it has evolved the way it has. I still need time to myself, but maybe I can try to do this while she plays independently, rather than try to have that 30 minutes and then have to clean up the huge mess. Also, I am thinking that once the baby arrives I will need 20 mins here, 20 mins there, etc etc. where she will need her to occupy herself when I tell her I am busy. A 30 minute scheduled time may not work so well anyway. I think it may need to be abandoned.

Paige's "Cheese!" face...

We only get accidental smiles on camera...all posing ends up the same...this face.