Edmonton trip...

As we leave for Edmonton next week there are a few things on my mind...

1. Edmonton is cold. Paige needed some new fall clothes. I got her a few tie-over things in case we get a mixture of warm and cold weather. A couple of cute skirts with leggings, and a few long sleeved shirts. She also only has sandals, so off to the shoe store we go (she needs new shoes anyway).

2. Paige has to sit on her own seat in the plane. I may have mentioned this to everyone, oh 100 times before. Paige is small. Plane seat is huge. I cannot see how this will work. I have a small Hey's suitcase that will be filled with new toys, books, and treats. And there is a tv on the back of her seat. Still, we have to get her out of bed at 5:00 in the morning, and the flight is 4 hours long. I suppose it's better than having to hold her like we have the previous 8 flights....assuming she will remain buckled into her seat. But why can I picture her wanting to undo her buckle repeated times and then asking to go "down DOWN mommy DOWN!" then of course, "Pee on potty!!!"

3. Paige has to be very very well behaved and walk down the aisle at Janice's wedding. I'm sure it will go basically fine, and Mike will be there to take her right at the end. But I will be happy when I see what really happens!

4. Even though we have gone to the cottage all summer long and packed up all of our stuff a million times, I have a very bad feeling that we will forget something major. That is why today I will start packing!

First haircut!

My friend Janice's wedding is in Edmonton next week. I am a bridesmaid and Paige is the flowergirl. I'll be getting my hair done and thought that Paige could do with a proper haircut to even it out. I stupidly almost took her in last week and then realized it was the last week off before school starts. When I took her today we were able to get in about 45 minutes later, which was great. I took her to Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, and she didn't fuss at all. I remember when I worked at Civello and people would bring their kids there, which was totally ridiculous. We would have to prop them up on a phonebook and charge them a million dollars. I don't know why on earth they didn't just go to a kids place for both their kids sake and their own sanity. At this place she got to sit in both a car, and a plane (i took the pictures with my cell phone), we got a certificate with a little mesh bag with a lock of her hair in it, a balloon, before and after pictures, and 6 hair clips. This is the best picture I could take of the "after" with my own camera at home. They did a little style with out-of-control hair clips, but that's ok. It's nice and even. Oh--and her major bandaid is off and her cut has healed nicely...she only has a Dora bandaid on because that was the only way I could bribe her to let me take the other one off!

Last summer cottage trip...

We have completed our summer of cottaging. Now with our trip to Edmonton next week and various other things, we won't make it back up for a while. At least the summer went out with a bang....the weather was actually nice! Not that we were swimming or anything, but we can't be particular anymore. It was certainly the "lazy days of summer" as we sat and read, played cards, ate deep fried mars bars (interesting), and had campfires. Even the mosquitos are dying out and their bites are only a fraction as itchy as they used to be.

Paige went to the river with Daddy and Grandpa and used her Dora rod.

She doesn't relly have the technique down yet...looks like she's trying to flyfish.

She feeds the dinosaurs rocks...the t-rex is the daddy, the brontosaurus is the mommy, and the triceratops is apparently the grandma. This is what she told us.

Paige even had a part in a band! The 2 clarinette players are my aunt Mary Jo in the middle, and our cottage neighbour Barb on the end. Paige was on the recorder. I will eventually post a video of this!

On the last day Paige didn't nap, and consequently feel asleep when we left the cottage at 7:15pm. She slept the entire way home and we transferred her to her crib when we got home. She woke up early and woke up a few times in the night though...

Our trip to the hospital....

This morning I asked Paige to point to her Ow-ie for the camera. She pointed at this small scrape on her leg...But this is the real "Ow-ie"!! Yesterday Paige was handing me puzzle pieces from her letters puzzle. I asked her to go get some more and off she ran. All of a sudden...CRASH! WAHHH! I ran over to find her sitting beside this stupid table with pointy edges (that has now been moved into the basement), with a deep gash and blood. It was so unexpected as I anticipated going over for a hug and comfort. I panicked slightly and after patting the blood away I realized I couldn't treat this at home, but really what was I supposed to do? So I called 911 and the ambulance came.

When the ambulance got to our house they said she may need stitches or a type of glue. They told me that they would take us to the hospital. By this time I wasn't that worried since it had stopped bleeding and she was acting quite normal. As we waited for the ambulance by the front door, she was telling me she needed to pee on potty and wanted to go upstairs. Quite normal behaviour. But in the rush of leaving the house I didn't bring her shoes, my glasses or a phone. Once I figured things were ok I used the paramedics phone and called mike so he could come get us from the hospital eventually (because how were we going to get home after this ordeal?).

In the ambulance Paige continued to be normal and cute and as we passed the park, "oh there's the park!". When the paramedic said, "do you have a boo boo?" she pointed to her Dora bandaid on her leg which is covering a mosquito bite that she scratched. So, again, totally oblivious to the situation. She got to sit on the stretcher, but it was raised up with a special car seat style strap. I got to sit on the bench next to her. When we arrived at the hospital she said, "Going to Booze's house!!". I think because I had been telling her in the morning that we would be going there soon she thought that this was part of the trip?

Once we got to the hospital we had to wait for a bit while everyone oohed and aahed and said she was so cute, and talked about how it was so cute that she said the ambulance was like an ice cream truck (I had pointed this out to her to increase the excitement factor of the whole journey). "What's that?", "Who's that?" she kept asking. I think the cuteness factor combined with the gash with slowly dripping blood kept us out of the general waiting room and right into the "Fast Track" area. Even so, it took about an hour and a half until the doctor came, and no word of a lie she was perfect for the entire time. Because she didn't have shoes I wouldn't let her walk on the ground (hospital emergency room? ew.), so I just held her or put her on the little bed. After a while she wouldn't sit on the bed saying it was "dirty" (it had that paper liner on it). But she kept entertained with my wallet, a snack that happened to be in her bag, a bottle of water that happened to be in the bag, a trip to pee on the potty, and eventually a pack of stickers that I also happened to have. (You notice I forgot everything else, but luckily had a very well stocked bag just sitting at the front door).

When the doctor finally saw her he said the cut wasn't big enough to warrant glue or stitches unless I thought that she wouldn't be able to keep on this special tape. She is great with hats normally, so I thought why not give it a try. He said this was the best thing in order for it to heal naturally. We just can't get the tape wet or take it off for the next 4 days. So, much better than stitches. As the nurse was putting on the tape I heard Paige whisper "flower girl". In the ambulance i had told the paramedic, "oh no! she is going to be a flower girl with a big scab!". So Paige was obviously listening, but did she think that this whole ordeal was "being a flower girl!?" I hope not!

As we left the room I stopped at the payphone to call mike who was literally walking in the door. We went to the car and she fell asleep right away (she had missed both lunch and her nap). Now I am so nervous about this cut/bump on her head and am constantly worried she is going to bonk it again! We took her to DQ last night for ice cream and then today I went with her to the toy store to buy a little ambulance. They didn't have the ambulance, but I got her a puzzle with an ambulance in it.

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).