Charlie had a playdate on Thursday with Jenn Fletcher's baby boy, Holden, down in Del Mar. Another new potential boyfriend for her. They had so much fun together. Charlie kept trying to "hug" Holden. I choose to call it hugging but it probably would be better described as "tugging". She just wanted to give him a little love. We only got to stay a couple of hours but it was well worth it. Mommy and Jenn got to have some quality time just hangin' out. Can't wait to go back!
After 5 days of potty training, 2 new teeth for the little one, and what seems like an endless process of weaning Charlie to formula, Spring Break is finally coming to an end. What do I have to show for it? Well, we're not completely potty "trained" yet (but we're getting there), a third tooth is rearing it's little head, and Charlie is still not weaned at night. I had such high hopes for this week. This too shall pass, right? Oh well, back to the grind tomorrow. Ryan starts a new session of swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays and dance class starts on Wednesday. Back to school for Ryan and back to the gym for mommy because Charlie is finally old enough for the daycare center at the gym.
You guessed it... Charlie is sitting up! She can now sit up for a half an hour at a time and is loving it. Gotta tell ya, it sure is making it easier for me to run back and forth with Ryan to the potty.
Since we are all stuck inside during this beautiful weather in order to stay close to the potty, Ryan has gotten creative with the toys in the house. She has adopted Charlie's swing as her own. I guess she thinks this is a good alternative to being at the park. ha-ha. Potty update: no accidents yet today and it is 8:45 a.m. That's 5 less accidents than yesterday at this time. We're feeling pretty good about it.
Today we started potty training Ryan. Wow, what a day so far. Thank goodness for naptime right now. To warn you, the remainder of this post is a little graphic so if you are eating lunch or would rather not read about my daughter's urination and defication process... stop reading now! For those of you with the stomach for it, I'll continue... In preparation for this moment, I have read every book and talked to all my mommy friends who have been through this experience to get advice on how to do it. This is what I have come up with... Ryan gets to wear her new princess or Dora panties (she helped pick them out) and every time Ryan goes potty she gets to put a sticker on her chart, a sticker on her hand, one M&M, and we do the potty dance. The lyrics go, "Ryan likes to potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the ti-ime" (To the same tune as the eighties hit song that has the word "party" instead of "potty"). Now, if she poo-poos on the potty, everything is the same except that she gets one of her Easter Eggs (with candy inside) instead of just an M&M. If she sits on her potty and at least tries, she gets a sticker on that chart. I have to reward the tries too because it's hard to tear her away from her toys. Is this all a little excessive? Ya, maybe. I don't know. It's working (kinda, I guess) for the first day. Here are the stats for the day so far. You let me know what you think if it's working or not...1) Before 8:30 a.m. we had to change panties 5 times. Rough start.2) At appoximately 8:45 a.m. Ryan alerted me to the pee-pee that she did behind the toy chest (thank goodness for hardwood floors)3) It's now 1:30 and we have had a total of 5 pee-pees in the right place and one poo-poo.4) We have had a total of 4 pee-pees in the wrong place and one poo-poo (that was a fun one to clean up)All in all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome so far. Let's see how the afternoon goes after her nap. Any more advice for me?
This is my favorite sentence of the week. Translated into adult language, "I forgot my pillow!" Picture Ryan running back to the couch at bedtime screaming over and over, "got my pile! Got my pile mommy!"
We have figured out a way to save a little time during our nighttime routine. Ryan and Charlie take their baths together. Ryan loves it. She helps to wash Charlie too. It's amazing how there is enough room in there for both of them with all those toys. Thanks to GiGi (G.G. = Grandma Grace) for all those toys! They are a big hit!
Having to wear hightops certainly hasn't gotten in the way of Ryan's fashion sense. She now has all different kinds of hightops in a rainbow of colors. There is no doubt that she is our daughter. She loves shoes as much as her mom and she will not let them get dirty just like her dad. Kendall (next door neighbor, same age) was gardening in the dirt and wanted Ryan to "garden" too. She hesitated, pointed down, scowled, and said, "new shoes" She would not join her friend Kendall until daddy changed her into an old pair of shoes. That's our girl. For all you mommies out there, we found colors for hightops at www.zappo.com
Yesterday was Charlie's six month well check at the doctor's office. Besides the FOUR shots she had to endure, we found out some of Charlie's statistics. She is still in the 75 percentile for weight. She weighed 17.1 pounds. And she has increased in her height from the 75 percentile to the 95 percentile. I don't know quite where our children get their height (certainly not from me) but we may have a future basketball star on our hands! You can just call her Kobe! We are happy to report that she is a healthy little girl doing all the things she is supposed to at this age.
