What have I done?

I've been working out on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Ryanne goes to school. Today, I took ear buds and listened to my iPod. It was awesome.

I left it on the center console in the car when I went to pick her up. She spotted it. She asked what was on it. I told her it was my iPod and it had headphones in it.

She asked if she could listen to music. I turned on her playlist and handed it to her. She put the ear buds up to her ears and got SO excited. She listened to it while I ran errands (and got stuck in traffic). She wasn't bothered that Corin was screaming at the top of his lungs. She kept telling me the songs she recognized. She got it unlocked and was skipping tracks and playing with the volume.

"Mama, is too woud"
"Turn it down"
"I don know how turn it down"
"Rub the big circle"
"It's wouder"
"Rub it the other direction"
"*gasp* It worked! It's quiet."

It was awesome.

When we got home, she wanted to take it inside so she could keep listening. She was holding it like it was her 'precious' and wouldn't put it down. She even took it to the bathroom with her.

I wonder if I'll ever get my iPod back without having to buy her one.

Too many changes

August was a big month for Ryanne. She started pre-school (mother's day out). She moved to the teacher class at Little Gym (no more mommy and me). I think it was a little rough on her.

We went through about a week where she was just plain mean. She was kicking and hitting everyone - me, kids at school, kids at gym. I got complaints from the teachers. I was tired of it. It was ugly.

We talked. We talked about it until we were blue in the face. She cried. She screamed. She kicked and threw fits. I told her it was all ok. I told her she could be mad that I wasn't there with her for all of this anymore. She learned to be 'fwusterated'.

She stopped hitting. She stopped kicking. I get compliments on how well she's listening and adjusting. We made it.

On the flip side, she plays for really long stretches all by herself. She does it at home, too. She will get out her PlayDoh and play with it for 45 minutes or more. She'll color. She'll play with her doll. She plays with her dollhouse. She's learning to tell stories about her day. She's 'reading' books based on the pictures (really cute when she reads the color book she got for Corin to him). She's memorizing everything - books, songs, stories. She sings me songs. She does things she's learned at school (saying "spiders, spiders, spiiiiiiiderrrrrs' as she tickles up my tummy). It's amazing to see this independent little girl developing, and quickly.

She crawls into my lap. I lay her over and cradle her. She tells me she's not a baby and tries to sit up. I tell her she'll always be my baby girl and she tells me she's a big girl. A part of me misses my baby, but the rest can't wait to learn more about the girl she's becoming.

Death of the Japanese spoon

Ryanne broke her "Japan spoon" today. She was carrying it to the breakfast table to eat her yogurt and I heard the telltale chink of porcelain breaking as it hit the floor. She was crushed. This thing was her pride and joy. If it was clean, you can bet she was eating with it. She adored it.

"Oh no"
"What happened, honey?"
"My Japan spoon"
"Did it break?"
"Mama, you need a gwoo it"
"I'll try" (followed by many desperate minutes of trying...and failing...to put it back together with super glue)
"Mama, fix it"
"I can't, sweetie. It's broken in a place that I can't get it back together." (the handle broke about halfway up)
"Mama, I need anodder Japan spoon" (as she runs to the drawer)
"Ryanne, we only had one porcelain spoon. That was it."
"Nooooooo, mama, my poon"

There were tears. Lots of tears.

Yeah...guess who's googling "porcelain spoon" and hoping for a miracle. The biggest problem is that it's not one of the standard white Japanese soup spoons. Stupid thing was free at the porcelain shop I always went to in Arita. I think it was for coffee. Curses.

Another haircut

We got another hair cut yesterday because she was starting to get bit mats again. We went back to the salon near the house, but got a different stylist. She took off about 2 inches so it's chin length now. I think the back is almost the same length as the front bangs (at least stage one; there appear to be even more growing in as her hairline gets more and more established). She looks like such a big girl now.

It's so freaking cute!

Big girl bed

Today, she decided she REALLY wanted her big girl bed. We've tossed the idea around and discussed it some in the past, but she never really showed any interest.

We tried to talk her into waiting until tomorrow since we weren't going to have time to move the bed into her room tonight. Plus, the last time she went to a bed without rails was disasterous. She ended up needing us to stay there with her to get to bed and as soon as she woke up, she was out of the bed and in ours.

Well, when we got home from Kity's house, she had an absolute fit as we got her ready for bed. She needed her big girl bed tonight. She wanted to sleep in it. Just taking the rail off her crib wasn't enough.

I convinced her that she could try it out in Corin's room (where it is now). I figured that if she doesn't stay, we don't have to move it. If she does, we have avoided doing two transitions (from crib -> toddler bed/crib sans rail -> big bed). We talked about the rules and how she has to stay in the bed and sleep and not get out of it until morning.

I started putting the white sheets on it because I hadn't gotten around to washing her big girl bedding. More meltdown ensues. We decided that, since she's never shown any sensitivity to fabric chemicals, we'd just put her new sheets/comforter on it and wash them tomorrow if it works out. She helped me make the bed (help is relative, really). She was in hog heaven.

Chrys says she curled up and was very happy. We heard some tossing and turning and a bit of kicking when we figure a cat jumped up on the bed, but no cries, no trauma, no getting in and out of bed. She told me she didn't even want any of her animals/lovies/blankets out of her crib.

At this point, she must be asleep. The monitor is quiet and it's crazy late - even for a little girl that napped today.

The only flaw in my plan - Chrys says she gasped (with delight) when the lights went out and she saw the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. I hadn't planned on having to get more for her room, but I figure it's a pretty small price to pay.

All worth it

All the crankiness, the whining, the arguing, the hitting, the whatever that she does that drives me NUTS is totally undone when she falls asleep cuddled in my arms while I read her a book.