Night pottying update

Definitely NOT NOT NOT done with diapers here, at least at night. Ava did well for the start of the night, getting up to pee a half-dozen times. But once she is asleep, she has difficulty waking enough to get up and make it to the bathroom before peeing. I heard her up in the bathroom at 2:30 am, so I went to check on things. She was cold and wet, as was the bed, so she'd obviously peed sometime earlier in the night. At that point I just pulled the wet stuff off the bed (had clean, dry sheets underneath), changed her pjs, and put a new diaper on her (with no protests this time). And last night she didn't protest at all either. I think she knows she isn't ready to go diaper-less at night.

Nap training continues to go well though. Yesterday she kept her bed dry by managing to get up after waking and walking all the way into the bathroom before letting lose. So she soaked her pants, but at least it wasn't the bed. I was proud she woke up and got up before going. That is a huge forward step. :)

Goodbye to diapers?

One certain not-yet-2.5-year-old refused to put on a diaper at bedtime tonight. FLAT OUT REFUSED. Hmmm... She's very well trained during the day. We're working on naptime, and she doesn't wear a diaper then anymore (but still has accidents maybe 50% of the time). But this was a first at night. I didn't think we'd tackle night training for a while. We'll have to see how this works out. I'm fairly certain she's going to be soaked at some point in the middle of the night, and again in the morning if she still refuses a diaper after getting changes. But maybe she'll surprise me.

"I don't want to!"

This is how my 2.5-year old says NO. We rarely ever hear the word NO around here. Is that weird? A toddler-near-preschooler who doesn't say NO? "I don't want to!" I absolutely love the way she says this. It sounds so polite, so mature (at least compared to screaming NO!). Ask her if she wants toast for dinner and she says, "I don't want to." I have no clue how we grew a child who doesn't say NO, but I love it and hope Alder follows in her footsteps.

Toddler cuteness

Despite the raging illnesses in our house, I've have seen glimpses of some darn cute kids lately. Ava is definitely in that phase where you wish you had a tape recorder going at all times. The things that come out of her mouth are sometimes hysterical, and sometimes amazing.

While at the doctor's office a few days ago, the doc came in and chose to start examining Alder first (both kids were sick and going to get checked out). So Keith started taking off Alder's clothes and the doc came over to take his temperature and Ava got REALLY upset...muttering that the "doctor is going to poke Alder". Poor kid has some obvious associations with the doctor and getting injections now. Anyway, it was both sad because she was so upset, but also endearing that she showed such strong concern for her little brother. (and no, Alder didn't get "poked" at this visit)

Today while playing on the floor with some blocks, I overheard Ava saying, "No Ant! You are supposed to be outside. You are not supposed to be inside. You better go outside!". Then she came and got me to help her take the ant outside. It struck me as amusing that she spoke to the ant so directly, as if she expected it to speak back. But I guess all her books and the few videos we let her watch do involve talking animals and bugs, so why wouldn't this ant talk back? Luckily she wasn't too attached to the ant, because I promptly squashed it.

Overall I'm really loving these stages with my kids. They are both just so fabulous. Next big challenges will probably be night potty training and FINALLY taking the pacifier away from Ava (still used at night only), and crawling for Alder and all the new challenges of babyproofing with tiny toddler toys around all the time.

Sick babies

We are weathering our first double-kid cold in the house. This is actually Alder's very first bug - not too bad making it all the way to 6.5 months! Anyway, it has proven to be fairly mild for both of them. There were slight fevers (under 100) and lots of snot, but it kept flowing so no bulb suctioning was necessary. Yesterday was the worst day. Today is looking slightly better. They both even slept okay. I kinda like this...a nice, gentle warm-up to what I'm sure (with the addition of daycare starting Thursday) will be a killer cold season.

She has discovered the TV

Ava has finally discovered what a TV does. She is sitting beside me right now, glued to Alice's future as she wanders through Wonderland. I can't believe I managed to have a kid who at nearly 28 months, only JUST decided she enjoys watching TV. Now when she was younger, we kept her away from the TV. I didn't buy into the Baby Einstein craze. She watched maybe 15 minutes of TV her entire first 18 months. But at some point I sorta started hoping she would take an interest. Not that I want a TV hog, but there are occasions that you just want to be able to plop the kid down in a safe place and now they are happy and entertained. So here we are, finally. So far the daily limit (no more than 1 hour average per day) isn't causing any tantrums. She has asked for "Alice and Underland" each morning lately, but on the days that isn't an option she seems okay with it. I know my mother-in-law has introduced a 30-minute ABC Winnie the Pooh video to her that she enjoys. And we've watched Finding Nemo once or twice. But so far, that is it. Thank goodness she doesn't know we have like 5 cartoon-only channels available on cable. I'm sure that day will come soon enough...

Another nose bash

This time it wasn't mine though. Ava was running around at a friend's house this afternoon and she tripped over my foot. She fell, nose first, into the edge of the brick fireplace. Oh god...it was the most intense mommy moment I've had so far. I was SURE she broke her nose. I thought we were gonna be in the hospital. I don't know how, but she seems to be okay. She did scream for quite a while, but she let me gently prod around her face and nothing seems amiss. Wow. And no, she didn't get cut. Thanksfully the corner of the fireplace is rounded and the brick is smooth. So we got away with just a few drops of blood coming out of her nose.

I knew I hated those fireplaces.

The brilliance of indoor parks

I can't believe we didn't join last year. Man. Whoever came up with this idea deserves a medal. Yesterday I took Ava and Alder to preview one of the local indoor parks. Brilliant! Ava was instantly in love and she talked about it all day, even though we were only there for about 20 minutes. It is cheap ($40), it is open every weekday, everyone gets a key, and there are lots of toys, climbing structures, and slides to wear the kids out for naptime. My only complaint has to be the somewhat limited hours (9:30-3:00), which I assume is a function of the building the indoor park lives in (local fire station).

There are two parks in Corvallis - one for younger kids (~6 months to 3 years) and one for older kids (~18 months to 5 years). I've chosen to join the younger one this year. I think it is all new enough that Ava will stay engaged this year, and this way it is more appropriate for Alder as he grows this winter. The trick will be negotiating their naps so we can come and play, since they will be on opposite nap schedules for much of the winter. But I'm confident we can do it.

Man, the brilliance of indoor parks...especially for the rainy Pacific Northwest. I think I'm in love.

Playground jungle

I unleashed my mommy defenses on a grade-schooler on the playground today. The kid was pushing Ava, as she STOOD BACKWARDS at the TOP of a very tall curly slide. I just had these images of Ava flying off the top of the slide, head-first, straight down into the dirt. I couldn't help myself. I just yelled out, "DO NOT PUSH HER" and boy was I loud. The mom of the kid I was yelling at heard me and came over to see what was happening. I immediately apologized for yelling at her daughter, but she thanked me and said it probably taught her a lesson being yelled at by another parent. I felt really bad...but really...my 2-year old wasd about to be shoved backwards standing up off a very tall platform. It terrified me. And then later another kid followed Ava around hissing at her. Lovely.

I don't think I'm ready for the playground bullies to be unleashed on my innocent little toddler.

Two Toddlers

Just a quick note to say that yesterday ROCKED because our buddies Franny and Max (just 23 days older than my Ava) came to visit. Not only is it awesome to see Franny, my friend for 12+ years (oh my god), my mother companion, my moved-across-the-country-at-the-same-time buddy, it is just amazing to see Max and Ava falling in love together. I think they are best buddies. They TRULY play together. It is awesome. We broke out Ava's new birthday present, which is a giant system of pop-up houses and tunnels akin to a gerbil maze. They loved it...until my toddler pooped in it (potty training in progress here). Then they still loved it after we cleaned the mess. I can't wait to see these two toddlers grow up together. Franny and I talked about the growing up part, and how they'll probably hang out, attend parties together, and possibly (gasp!) even hook up at some point. Yeah, the conversation ended right there.