The funny things a 2-year old will do...

I can't imagine how standing or sitting right up close to the television screen would be comfortable. However, Analayne must think it is because she is notorious for getting too close and she becomes mesmorized. Apparently this is a very common thing amongst preschool aged children, since many of the mothers of Analayne's friends have also shared with me that their children do this exact same thing! I guess its especially good that I don't really let her watch much more than 30-45 minutes of television a day. Sitting too close to the television screen must be a "written rule" in the beloved toddler rule-book (written by the lasik surgery guru, Ming-Wang!).

We are potty trained...and other updates from the week!

Okay...Okay...Okay... I realized that not everyone really cares about potty training but indulge me for a few minutes...please!

About 2 weeks ago I began reading up on potty training tactics. However, I must make a "disclosure statement" and let everyone know that I am not really one of those Mommy's who "goes straight by the book" when it comes to my child. It is extremely helpful that my educational background is in child development and child life, but as a mommy I just like to take one day at a time. I do find that I can learn great amounts of interesting information from reading the works of some trusted research and utilizing some great resources (T.Berry Brazelton & the American Academy of Pediatrics...to name a few). However, only so much can be retained or truly put into practice when it comes to the individuality of each child! I try my best to be "as in touch" with Analayne's growth, intellectually, physically, emotionally, developmentally and spiritually and I think that the most vital way to help her grow and develop at her own pace is to watch her cues!

With that said, I started watching her closely and noticed that she was showing interest in learning how to use her potty. She could say vital words such as "pee-pee" and "poo-poo" and her attention span was capable of lasting several minutes. She had also already shown me (many months previously) that she knew how to relax her muscles to allow herself to pee-pee, a vital part of being able to sit on the potty and get something to happen! However, even though these cues were evident, Russ and I would need to create a potty training game plan.

I bought a baby doll that had a potty and could go "pee-pee" and I created a sticker page for the refrigerator. In addition, I bought her some tiny panties with Elmo, pink horses and some with kitty-cats on them. I also created a "prize" system, based on getting two little M&M's or Skittles after each successful attempt---which has worked really well (as she now cares very little for the candy but still wants to go potty). To top it off, I became the worlds best cheerleader! Imagine me proclaiming with delight something like this, "yeah--- you did it. You can pee-pee in the potty." This plan has been very successful for us and within a day or two she really had the hang of it all. Today at church she even told her teacher "pee-pee" and they grabbed her up ran to the restroom and she proceeded to show off her new trick! We are proud parents and our budget is all the better for it too. YEAH Analayne...Way to GO!

Other FUN and Interesting moments that occurred this week:

**Analayne locked her mommy out of the house on Saturday. I was running to the mailbox (which takes me less than 10 seconds) and she decided to come to the door to watch but locked the glass door. When I got back up to the door there she was standing in front of the glass with nothing but her undies on. I tried for quite sometime to get her to unlock the door. She tried but kept turning the knob the opposite direction. Needless to say, I figured it all out and got back in the house...but it took about 15 minutes. The lesson I learned was... take her with me to the mailbox (or get a full time nanny to watch her 24/7). I'm opting for the nanny's help but Russ said, "that is not an option." I guess I am the nanny! Oh well...I tried :)

**Analayne proclaims at least 100 times a day the phrase, "Daddy go to work." Just in case I ever forget where Russ is during the work week she can remind me.

**Every time the phone rings, Analayne thinks her aunt Candace is calling and wants to talk on the phone. This gets really interesting when a real-estate client or the southwest airlines representative calls and they can hear her adamant desire to talk to Candace in the background. On that note...I want to take a moment to thank my friend Camille for being willing to "talk" on the phone with my 2-year old. With 3 kids of her own, I am sure she would rather not hear another preschoolers chit chat but since Camille has a heart of gold, she endures and does so with an energetic spirit. Mimi you should also get an award!

More to come in the weeks ahead!

A Little Time Out

Lets talk about whining and crying...Whining and crying for no apparent reason drives me insane (ironic because I know how to whine really well). When I was little I know I drove my parents crazy. I would whine and cry every time my brother said something mean or wouldn't let me play with him and as I recall he picked on me and didn't let me play with him very much, so my whining and crying must have been heard alot (sorry Chad...no mercy on this one). However, I am thankful that my parents tried to guide me by helping me learn to ignore some of the worlds external annoyances and verbalize what I could not ignore (its still a work in progress, except now my sweet husband helps me keep my tone down!)

As for my dear sweet daughter, I too have to help her learn to verbalize her frustrations. She is learning language (and has an exploding vocabulary) but she still needs our help to express her feelings (and 2-year olds have lots of feelings). So to help her "get a grip" I implemented time out last week. I am using the bottom two stairs on the staircase for her time out spot (its perfect because I can still see her from almost any angle of the den or kitchen, but she can't always see me and there is absolutely nothing to do anywhere near the staircase--so its rather a boring place). She learned really quickly what time out was and therefore in a 6 or 7 day time period she has only had to sit there three times! This is how the scenario sounds, "Analayne, no more whining. Use your words." When the whining persists, I tell her she will have to sit in time out and I pick her up and carry her over to her spot and say, "Analayne, when you are finished crying and whining you can get up." She sits there and continues on for about 20 seconds and then just stops puts a smile on her face and gets up and comes to me. I greet her as if I am excited to see her and we move on. Which brings me to thinking....if time out works so well, maybe everyone in the entire world needs to sit in some time out to get a grip. Next time I am losing my cool...I am heading for the stairs, literally!

Our new chef...

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

My New Car....okay it's a cozy coupe!

We finally found a used cozy coupe car that we could afford! I have always loved this type of ride-on toy. Its been in production for many years. As far as I am concerned, its a classic! I can remember my friend, Kate having one when I was little. We would ride around their back yard (they had a gravel drive way) and since their large backyard sloped, we had the perfect running start to a nice ride that took little effort on our part. I realize that there are battery operated
ride-on cars now and I am not oppossed to Analayne getting a toy of this kind at some point, but there is just something about toys that don't do all the work for you!

Analayne loves the door of the car. She gets in and out of the car and smiles so big! Since its so hot outside (and we just cleaned the wheels with a clorox wipe) we are allowing her to ride it around the house. This morning when she woke up she immediately drove her car from the front door area to the kitchen so that she could get her cup of milk (now thats the life...isn't it?)

Russ's truck is still in the shop. We encountered a major problem that involved the speed sensor. So even with his incredible knowledge, tool collection and master skills he was forced to take it to the dealer. Mostly because the problem is due to the fact that it involves the speedometer cluster and only a few places are equipped to handle something as tricky as dealing with your milage and the sensor that perceives the mileage of the vehicle. Well, the dealer is also been at a loss and they have mis-diagnosed the car twice and have ordered the wrong parts etc. Since we are now entering week 3 of his truck being in their technicians hands they finally gave us a rental car. Now if we had just been able to find Russ his own cozy coupe car (he, he, he...)