Celebrating

Well, it's been a LONG road to potty training success for Abigail. We first began thinking of potty training back in July of 2005 when she was a little over two years old. Then last January she was doing great with it, but then she had her regression or whatever it was that caused such stress and turmoil in our home for the better part of the year. Since then potty training has been an exercise in futility and frustration for everyone in our household...until last month.


Something clicked for Abby last month and she began having dry days and going to the bathroom all on her own at times. Today I am VERY proud (not to mention relieved) to report that Abigail has not had a single accident for seven whole days!!!! She at long last earned her Princess Phone that Gramie gave her as an incentive almost a year ago. She is so excited, and I think she's feeling much better about herself. I am hoping this is "it" for her and we are past this milestone. If she can continue without any accidents for another couple of weeks she will get her final reward that she has been wanting for two years. Stay tuned for further updates!

First "Real" Haircut

We took Ryan to get an inexpensive haircut last Saturday, and Abby asked if she could get her hair cut too. Thus far I have done all her cuts, but since they were running a great deal at $4.99, I decided to go ahead.





She sat perfectly still and seemed to love the attention and care she was given! They just trimmed it up a bit and didn't style it at all, so the "after" picture isn't very impressive. I also think the spray in conditioner they put on her hair just left it limp and lifeless, but it actually turned out better than it looks.

Another Day of Adventure

Abby and Ryan were having a good time playing in the hotel room yesterday morning, so we took it easy most the morning and afternoon. We ate at the hotel's continental breakfast, then came back to the room and cleaned up a bit. A little before noon we decided to go for a walk and explore the area a bit. We walked the grounds of the hotel, located the pool, enjoyed their waterfalls/fountains, and then walked a litte bit around downtown Bellevue.


We ended up eating lunch at Wendy's and browsing through one of my favorite places, Storables. Then it was back to the hotel for naps and quiet time. Abby covered herself with about five pillows and went to sleep fairly quickly, while Ryan read his school book and rested. I enjoyed the quiet while catching up on my blogs.


After Abby woke up from her nap, the kids got their swimsuits on and we headed down to the pool. They had the whole pool to themselves the majority of the time we were there, and they had a blast splashing and playing in the water. After over an hour of swimming, we went back to the room and watched some PBSKids and eating popcorn.


When Daddy arrived, we drove to Seattle for a Mariners baseball game. Safeco Field is huge, but it has a pretty good view from just about anywhere, even the cheap seats (which is where we were). We have taken her to a couple minor league games before, but this was her first major league game and stadium. She couldn't believe how high up we were (yep, cheap seats!). Abby got a big kick out of the whole adventure, and she especially liked cheering and clapping when there was a hit or some other exciting play. She seemed to enjoy the game more than Ryan did, though I don't think she really watched much of it or knew what was going on most of the time.


Since she had taken a nap, she stayed awake the whole way home, which took about an hour. It was after 11:00 when we got back to our room and into bed. Thankfully, she went to sleep almost immediately, and slept the whole night through.

New Skills!

Monday was an unusual day for Abigail in that she gained several new skills all on the same day! First thing in the morning she got up, got herself a new Pullup out of the cupboard, put it on AND threw her old one away without being asked! That has never happened before, and I was frankly dumbfounded that she thought of it all on her own and carried it all out without prompting.

Then later she snapped and zipped her skirt up by herself. I can't remember her ever having done either of those before either. We got in the van to go the story time at the library, and she was able to completely buckle herself in to her carseat. She's done that once or twice before, but never without some prodding from us to get her to try it.

Lastly, that afternoon she figured out how to whistle! She's been pretending to whistle for months, but she's actually doing it now. In fact, Tuesday morning the first thing I heard was her little whistle before she even got out of bed. She's been driving me crazy with it ever since.

When she was very little she would often hit her developmental milestones all at once, very choppily. One day she couldn't push to standing--wasn't even attempting it--and the next day she was doing it as if she had been doing it for weeks. Ever since those early days where children gain so many skills so quickly, I haven't noticed her developing that way. But Monday she made leaps in her skill mastery!

Swimming Lessons

Our homeschool group offered an opportunity for swimming lessons for kids three to five, so I thought we'd sign Abby up. Ryan had lessons two years ago, and did not enjoy them, to say the least. During those lessons it was all I could do to keep Abby from jumping into the pool, so I knew she would love swimming. Sure enough, she has really enjoyed her first several lessons, and is learning quickly. She won't open her eyes under the water yet, but other than that she's doing everything the instructor asks her to do.


We're actually in the district for the pool, so we're thinking about getting an annual membership. It will give us something else to do during the long rainy season (it's an indoor pool), and it will be good for them to learn to swim.

By George, She's Got It!

Well, she doesn't quite have it perfectly yet, but she's getting it! I have been trying to potty train Abigail for well over a year. It has been an ongoing saga in our home and an enormous struggle for everyone involved. On top of the expense and messiness of diapers, Abby would get horrendous rashes. She would scream during diaper changes because she was bleeding and raw even though I liberally applied diaper rash ointment and used the sensitive skin wipes. Thankfully, ever since her illness back in September she hasn't had another rash. I think the fact that she ate virtually nothing for almost a month broke the cycle of rashes she was in.

However, she still wasn't getting the hang of potty training. I have been setting the timer for every 20 minutes and putting her on the toilet (makes for a very unproductive and exhausting day/days). She would go every time I put her on, but still she would have accidents in between! We'd both get so frustrated that I'd quit for a while and try again in a few weeks or so, but it was always the same thing.

We have learned that sometimes Abby needs an enormous amount of repetition in order to "get" some things, so I decided I was going to have to somehow just keep at this until she got it. So I said a lot of prayers, and began again this month. I have been doing exactly the same thing only I haven't quit after a few days or a week of seemingly fruitless effort, but we just kept on doing the same thing day after day after day. It's been three weeks now, and something has finally clicked with her!! She has had several days of being accident free, and she at long last is thinking of it on her own without me having to tell her 30 times a day or more.

My house hasn't been cleaned well in three weeks (who can do anything when you're in the bathroom every 20 to 30 minutes?!), I have done mountains of laundry (I couldn't use Pull-ups since she wasn't distinguishing when she was wet), and Abby's poor little hands are painfully chapped from the frequent washings, but we see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am so proud of her, Daddy is so proud of her, and Ryan is proud of her too! And I can tell she is feeling pretty happy about it herself.

In fact, today was the first time ever in her three years and nine months of life that she has woke up dry! She even was able to stay dry for close to four hours this morning without being able to use the bathroom all that time (long story for another post)!

First Time Trimming Tree

As I mentioned before, this is Abby's first Christmas where she has really been able to participate much in the festivities. If I remember correctly, we put Abby to bed before decorating the tree on her second Christmas (about 20 months old), and last year we didn't have a tree due to moving. So Daddy and I held our breaths to see how she would do. She is kind of like a bull in a china cabinet and when she's excited, she just bounces off the walls (and I mean that literally).


However, once I convinced the kids to wait a couple of minutes for me to get the ornaments out of the boxes, they both did great. Abby needed some help with some of the more fragile ornaments, but overall she did quite well with a little guidance on where to hang them. Most of all, she was just exuberent with joy. Abigail loves beautiful things, so as the tree became more and more adorned, she just oohed and aahed over the tree.

First Fish

This weekend we divided up the kids for several hours on Friday and Saturday so that we could spend some one-on-one time with each of them. On Friday Abby stayed home with Mommy, and we baked cupcakes for Ryan's Preschool Presentation. We also potted some plants, played puzzles, and had some great conversations!

Then on Saturday Daddy took Abby fishing. Ryan and Daddy got skunked the day before, but on Saturday not only did Abigail catch her first fish, she caught a total of four! They both had fun, and Mommy was glad they were tiny Blue Gill that they released instead of bringing home!

First Babysitter

I can't believe I forgot to get a picture, but somehow I did. Last night Abby and Ryan had their first evening with an actual babysitter (as opposed to friends that we've known for a long time). Marissa is their gymnastics coach, a sweet girl who is a senior in high school. Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner for their anniversary, and the kids played with Marissa for a couple of hours. Apparently they had lots of fun playing hide and seek, time machine, reading books, etc. Abby couldn't hug her enough as she went to leave!