Wonder Woman

So many things I could say about Halloween, but I'll try to keep things succinct.

• This year Baby has really figured out trick-or-treating. She shouted it with glee at every house. She rang the doorbell herself, then scrambled to be picked up before people came to the door. She kept asking for more candy, then before people were done with their niceties she was asking to walk to the next house. The biggest hit was at the convent - the little Sisters loved her!
• The Halloween Horror story is that she's cutting her next set of molars, which explains why The Hater and I have been walking around looking like zombies from lack of sleep. After this round of visitors we're going to have to revisit the sleep-training books again.
• She loves being a "super hero" and will strike a pose with one fist up in the air and run around declaring her hero status.
• The Hater (Batman fan) and I (Superman fan) were going to compromise on a Spider Girl costume, but I had my heart set on Wonder Woman. The Hater looked again and we were both tickled to find it.
• We wonder if this is the last year that we'll be able to get away with eating our favorite candy out of her stash.

"Daddy, can I sweep in youh big giwhl bed?"

She's still my baby as long as she can wear footed pajamas, right?

This is such a fun age that I now get all the jokes about putting a brick on their head so it's harder for them to grow. Every single day is my favorite day, even the really long ones.

so thankful

There are two things I have really wanted for my home after I win the lottery:

One, an eight octave rosewood marimba.

Two, an old upright piano.

We didn't win the lottery today, but the day has closed with a new addition to our family - a 1940s Janssen console piano. I think we're going to name her Barbara after Bryan's grandmother. She's a beaut! The Hater has now clenched Husband of the Year for making the free piano happen!

It's a nice, dark wood, and I'm not going to have to paint it. After Baby went to sleep I immediately pulled out the oil soap and wiped her down - and now the house smells yummy and Barbra shines in her new corner.

This was a family piano and the lady who was looking for a home for it said that her grandparents purchased it in the 40s. Three generations of their family have learned to play on this piano. I assured her that it will be well loved and well used.

I've been doing the happy dance for several hours straight. I've been secretly hopeful that someday things would work out and we'd get a free piano - and voila, here we are.

I'm know a gal who knows a guy who tunes pianos. I'm going to email her tomorrow to see if he'd be interested in seeing if this is tunable. Apparently the family said they tried to have it tuned twenty years ago and "it couldn't be tuned." Fingers crossed.

Baby was so excited. She kept saying, "My Pee-no! My Pee-no! No, Daddy, I can play. I the teacher." We had to set the timer to give her some time to play before bed tonight.

It's tearing me up because I want to sit and play so bad I can't stand it, but it's more important that Baby get some good sleep tonight. She's been having sleep issues for several days.

And so begins the next exciting, yet slightly out of tune chapter in our lives.

nuttin, honey

We've been up to armloads of nuthin. And not touching ant hills.

The potty still consumes our day. She's doing great at day care, but fighting us when it's time to sit on the potty at home. At this point she's pretty much staying dry (in the same pull-up) during day care, but then not making it long after we've been home. She's still not telling anybody when she has to pee - and most times doesn't tell us when she has to poo, either.

I'm not worried. Right now we're majorly counting our blessings that the only thing we're really working on is the potty -- and not sleeping problems, aggression/punching other kids, or developmental delays. In the world of toddlerdom we've got it made.

She's such a sweet girl, eager to sing us songs and please us. She requests cheese at every meal. She loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me", "Rocky Top", "Where oh Where are you Tonight?", and "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" She lowers her voice and tries to talk in a mean tone when she thinks she's not going to get her way. She screams and cries the entire two minutes whenever she's in timeout, and when the timer goes off the tears come off as quickly. She loves Zoloft; and Zoloft is not quite as terrified of her as she used to be. She loves helping to put food and treats in the cat's bowl. She recites the Lord's Prayer at bedtime and God is Great at mealtime. About two minutes into any phone call she asks if it's time to say goodbye yet. She likes to pick letters out of words and to eat Cheese-Its that have letters on them. She wakes up around 6:30 every morning and goes to bed around 7pm with one afternoon nap to recharge.

And tomorrow I plan on rocking her world with a flu shot. But I've called ahead to make sure they're not the same prefilled syringes with the 2-3mm needle like we had at work because those hurt like a booger. Most of us still have welts on our arm four days later. I emailed ahead to make sure they didn't have those at the clinics. I was told that this year they don't, but next year they were going to change to that. Hopefully other clinics won't be making the same change, but we'll cross that bridge next year. Tomorrow we get through the old fashioned flu shot.

Beautiful full moon a week or so ago.

I like it dark in the mornings when I drop Baby off at daycare. Mostly because when it's mostly clear in the skies we can see the moon or stars. And then she sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to them. Super cute if you're into widdle staws. And I love it when she says, "It's not a big moon, Mommy, it's a cwescent."

outside the (juice) box

me: What is your favorite kind of juice?

Baby: Yogurt. It is yummy.

swim with the fishes

Be careful what you say you will never do as a parent.  Last night in desperation I told Baby a lie I swore I never would say.  I am ashamed, but hopeful that it will help the process.

It's time for another potty update.  Because I know you're hanging on the edge of your seat, just wondering how this process is going for us.

(Is that enough suspense-building?)

I talked to Baby how in Finding Nemo they learn that all drains lead to the ocean, like the toilet drain where Nemo tried to get flushed to escape from going home with the very scary Darla.  And she needed to put her poo poo in the toilet so it could be flushed to the ocean and feed the fish.  The fish are hungry, so hungry, and it's our job to feed them our poo poo.  Nemo needs bites; Dory needs bites; the starfish need bites; all the sharks and fish and dolphins and whales need our poo poo bites.

Yesterday after we first went over this seeding lie we had one successful poop in the potty.  Today we're batting zero.

She's also finding that it can be fun to sit on the potty and just hang out.

Last night it was time for supper, not potty time.  She wanted the prize for pooping in the potty, or so we thought.  After about 20 minutes of her sitting on the potty by herself I convinced her to come eat supper.  After supper I put her in the bathtub.  After she was washed I was about to rinse the soap out of her hair it happened.  We were all three surprised and The Hater started running around in circles, needing a direct command.  Baby was scared.  I tried not to laugh.  We had both floaters and sinkers among the bubbles and toys.  When I let the water out of the tub she said, "Go feed the fishes, poo poo!"  So then we got to talk about why it was better to put poo poo in the potty, not the bathtub.

She was cleaner before we tried to give her a bath.

At day care this morning the boss lady told me she thought it was time to start putting Baby in time out when she pooped in her pull-ups and not the potty.  I wasn't ready for that - I'm still not completely convinced that she is aware of when it's time to go poop.
. Or at least I wasn't until last night when she straight-up no'd me and said she didn't want to go to the potty because she wasn't done playing with her blocks. Good times.