Back in the saddle

Last night, we got down RC's training toilet again. This whole "no potty" thing from a kid that was showing most of the signs of readiness is really frustrating for us.

She seemed pretty happy with it. She would sit on the lid, but had no interest in sitting on the seat. We talked about how it didn't have buttons or beeps or lights or water. This seemed to really help her.

We offered her a haichu if she'd sit on it. This is her favorite candy, second to chocolate. No dice.

Every time we went into the bathroom today, we talked about the toilet. This happened a lot because there was a TON of laundry to do. She seemed to really latch on to the fact that there were no buttons and no water. This seemed like goodness.

Tonight before her bath, we got her stripped down. She was sitting on the lid very readily. She still didn't want to sit on the seat. Well, one time she sat a little too slowly and I was able to lift the lid before she got down. She sat on the seat.

We CHEERED! I got her haichu and she ate the whole thing in one bite - none of this little nip and not wanting any more. She stood up and sat down over and over again.

After a little while, I told her she could pee there before her bath if she didn't want to pee in the water. Lo and behold, she did.

Eureka! We're back on the road. I feel crazy excited for all of us that we've started to work through this. Parenting pride, man - it takes you far.

'Obot

RC has a new thing. Every day, we have to build a robot out of Legos. Sometimes they can be very simple (Chrys got away with 3 blocks one day). Sometimes they have to be more complex (many of mine end up so big with legs, arms, tummies, that they can no longer maintain structural integrity).

She decides when they're done, usually by no longer handing the builder Legos. Oh? You thought she built them? No. She coordinates and observes and sometimes tries to add Lego antennae.

Her favorite seems to be to use the door thing as a mouth, the arch as a nose and the wheel base as eyes. She likes arms, hands, legs and feet, but they don't have to be much most times.

Once this 'obot is complete, she will hug it. Usually, this causes it to fall to pieces. She "uh ohs" and it gets rebuilt. They often get kisses, too. They really just make her day. She'll carry them around for as long as they remain stable. After they fall apart too many times, she's ready to move on.

The girl <3 her 'obots.

No Potty

RC was making huge strides in potty training. She pooped pretty regularly. She didn't often pee, but had managed once or twice in training pants. We were considering making the move to full time training pants and seeing how it went.

Then I turned on the toilet seat.

I've mentioned before that our toilet seat here can be a thing of delight. It has a bidet. It has a "wash" feature. It's heated. I wanted the heating as it's starting to cool down so on it went.

RC likes to play with the buttons.

One day, she was going potty while I moved laundry into the dryer. I heard the sound of the nozzle extending. I thought I heard another click that signalled it going away. She knows what the stop button is and that it stops the water.

Then I heard the screaming.

I threw open the semi-closed door (the washer/dryer sits next to the WC and you have to move the door to open the dryer) and saw her trying to scramble off the toilet as water shot up her back. If she hadn't been hysterical, I probably would have laughed. It was funny.

What's not funny is that now it's a struggle to even get her in the same room as the toilet. She sure isn't going to sit on it. Well, we've worked up to sitting on the lid in her diaper and waving at the inside. This will not be an easy journey.

*Sigh* I hate square one.

Remember this face?

Yeah, that's her on 4 July 2004 after tasting her first strawberry. She wasn't impressed. In fact, I think I wouldn't hesitate to describe her emotion as disgusted.

My how things change...

Late last week, they had strawberries at the store again. They're a spring fruit, or at least that's when they were widely available, so I was surprised to see them. These were a bit small, but dark red and reasonably priced so I picked up a tub knowing it would make Chrys' day.

Well, Friday, RC found them in the fridge. She comes running up to me with the tub in hand - bewwy bewwies bewwy eat eat mouf. I told her I understood and that I would prepare one in just a minute. I asked her to put them on the table for me. She wasn't that patient.

Next thing I know, she's maneuvered past the tape on one of the sides and has freed one of the precious berries. She pops the whole thing in her mouth. I asked her to give it to me so I could wash it. She shook her head. I asked her if she wanted the leaves cut off. She spit it out.

I cut the top off and gave it back to her. Back into her mouth - whole. She chomped it down. "Mo Mo EAT". I prepared another one. I put them away at that point and she didn't complain.

I guess I need to stop using the little drawer in the produce section of the fridge. I already had to pull the kiwis out of there - man, was she mad at me for that one. Fortunately for me, her dada's finishing off the bewwies right now. He did leave her a couple though. I'm sure it will make her day tomorrow.

A story from the archives

Thank goodness for random notes in my purse to spur memories of things I needed to write about. Granted, it's been so long that it took me a good 5 minutes to remember the story based on what I wrote down, but...

On 10/15, Ryanne and I went to a bazaar at the kindergarten that some of our friends' kids go to. It had the typical little fair games - ring toss (she got one on and won some stickers), fishing (they were out of tickets, but one friend let her try it anyway as long as she didn't keep the prize). They had kids craft booths, the homemade crafts for sale room, the garage sale room (for lack of a better description).

Well, at the kids craft booth, they had these necklaces made out of paper clay. This stuff is really interesting - it's very light, but very malleable. Fyoire played with some when she was here and built me a Radish Spirit (that bit the dust a couple of weeks ago after too many tumbles from the bookshelf and encounters with RC - sorry). It's also pretty delicate stuff.

Well, RC laid eyes on one of these necklaces shaped like a bear. She loves teddy bears and wanted to play with one. The first one she grabbed, she broke the head off so I went to pay for it. The lady was horrified that it was broken, wouldn't understand that RC did it and that's why I was buying it, and replaced it. RC was thrilled. We got in the car and she got her new necklace.

Almost immediately, she beheads it again. Then, she's playing with the body and I catch arms and legs and body halves flying around the backseat (via the mirror). Suddenly, I hear "Oh NO-oh, Bay-uh." I look in the mirror and can't figure out more than she's terribly upset. At the next light, I peek around and see her holding two halves of a bear head - one per hand - with the empty string around her next. She was SO disappointed that she'd done in the last of the bear.

She wore that string for the rest of the day. There was no way we were taking it off before undressing her completely for her bath. We didn't put it back on the next day. I figured there was no reason in bringing back bad memories of the death of the bear - "oh No-oh."

Ryanne vs. the park

Now that we're in the weather sweet spot, RC and I have been going to the park again. Yeah...that and my need to let her run herself silly (see previous post). It's very interesting to me to see the differences in how she plays from 6 months and a year ago.

Now, she can get on the swings herself. She's playing with pumping her legs, but does really well holding on tight and letting me push her pretty high.

She has also figured out ladders. She had the steps on the slide mastered in the spring, but now does the straight up rung ladders. She also liked the run curved ladders. She is pretty cautious - moreso today because I think she's more tired than she was the other day - but gets up and to the platforms and does it repeatedly. Sometimes she asks for my hand to help stabilize, but not usually. I always spot her, but she has only slipped once that I worried about.

She can go up the steep concrete slopes that are between the two levels of the playground. I haven't seen her try down yet, but her brakes still aren't very good so that makes me nervous. Up, she does really well.

She can get on the bouncing animals by herself and make them move a bit.

She can climb into some portions of the fire trucks that used to be too tall.

She can move through the train engine with more ease and confidence.

It's really cool to watch! Especially because as she gains more confidence, she plays harder and playing harder means sleeping harder. Ahhhh!

Death of the nap

Ryanne moved to a "big girl" bed two-three weeks ago. She's sleeping on a futon on the floor in her old room and the PnP is put away. Bedtime goes wonderfully. Naps are a nightmare. It started the first few days of just moving later and later.

Now, she won't nap at all ... until we get in the car to go get her daddy. Then she's out like a light. She times it well and passes out about 5 minutes before we pick him up. This gives Chrys and I about 40 minutes of time in the car to just sit and chat. It's nice. I appreciate it.

On the other hand, I really miss my 1-2 hours of uninterrupted me time. For a couple of days I got her to play in her room for about 30 minutes so I could just veg and relax. These days I can't even seem to get that. Maybe I just need to try harder. The 'sanity meter' in my head says I need to try harder.

My big girl can do this

That's what I told her tonight. Chrys is at a business dinner so this was our first shot at me trying to get her to sleep without nursing. She dug into my shirt and asked for milk. I told her that she could get to sleep without it; she's done it for so many nights.

I told her I'd hold her close, we'd cuddle and I'd stay there until she fell asleep. I did just that. I laid on my side with an arm over her. I pulled her into my chest and nuzzled my nose into the crook of her neck next to her ear so she could hear me breathing. She smelled so sweet. She asked to hold my hand so I did that with the one that was under her head.

We sang. She knows many of the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and sang along with me. She sang some of it in Latin with me, too. She picked up the chorus of "Sunshine on My Shoulder" by the end and was trying to sing that.

Then we were just quiet. Holding hands and looking at nothing. After a bit, she was solidly out and I got up without waking her. It was the greatest moment with my daughter. It's one of the first we've had where I've really know she's not so much a baby anymore.

You know what...my big girl CAN do this and so can her mommy. I think I'm going to really enjoy this new stage.

Banned substances

A while back (early summer), RC seemed to be having an allergic reaction to some food and I suspected tomatoes. She would get nasty diapers, horrid rashes (sometimes with open sores), bumps near her mouth - it was awful. I've been very cautious about her intake for a while now and haven't noticed anything strange.

Well, they had some decent looking kiwi at the store the other day and, realizing I hadn't bought any of my daughter's favorite food in a while, I picked some up. RC ate two yesterday morning.

It wasn't but a couple of hours before they began their tirade on her system. Those stupid seeds make it pretty easy to track the culprits. She's having massive digestive troubles, the bumps are back, the rash is back (and really annoying her).

I'm feeling pretty dense for not realizing the connection earlier. I guess I should just be happy that it was pretty obvious this time. I wish it wasn't to one of her favorite foods. Oh well...I guess we'll take it slow and maybe one day she'll be able to eat them.