Accident Free (for 2.5 days)

*Note - I am sure I am about to jinx Carly and myself for tomorrow by typing this tonight, but that is for us to deal with tomorrow. Dave and I are VERY proud of Carly tonight!!

On Sunday Carly woke up from her nap with a very angry diaper rash. In hopes to air it out, we coaxed her back into panties. (She hasn't enjoyed wearing them since an accident filled morning in November when she was sick). With the help of peanut M&m's, Carly was accident free for the day.

Yesterday, Carly and I stayed very close to home due to me not feeling well and her rejecting her afternoon nap. She again willingly wore big girl panties and was accident free. (Peanut M&m's were involved again.)

Today our plans were quite different. Our morning was filled with gymnastics and an errand that was about 35 miles away from home. So off we went in Pull-Ups and a plastic bag of Peanut M&m's. Impressively enough she remained dry through our ENTIRE morning. I was very nervous as she asked for her water bottle in bumper to bumper traffic about 15 minutes away from our destination, and again when she drank about 7 oz of milk during lunch prior to our trip home.

Tomorrow we are off to tour a local preschool and to our library's toddler story time, with Peanut M&m's in tow.

Swimming Lessons 103 - Session 2

Carly was especially giddy as she began swimming this morning. She really enjoyed using the floating noodle as a horse and then under her arms while she kicked her legs and scooped her hands and arms through the water. She was also able to use a kick board for a portion of our time, which after a few moments she tried to mount like a knee board. (Water sports soon?) Towards the end of the lesson the kids were given an opportunity to jump into the water - which Carly really liked doing last week (and all of last summer). Today she was more interested in practicing her independent entrance into the water during this time. I'm slightly fearful that next week she will walk into the pool area, sit down, and roll herself into the pool before the rest of our are ready.

Now Taking Auditions

We are now taking auditions to help with Carly's bedtime routine. In order to audition you must be able to sing "Jesus Loves Me," "This Little Light of Mine," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "I'm A Little Teapot," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and "The Alphabet." (In that order.) Then, be able to recite The Very Hungry Caterpillar from memory, while in bed next to Carly and then again from her rocking chair.

No Turning Back!

Well, it's official - Carly is out of her crib! Tuesday night was rough, Wednesday's nap didn't happen in her big girl bed (but rather her crib), but that was the end of our troubles. She still stalls at bedtime but no longer asks to go back to the "baby room." (She was stalling at bedtime when in the crib too.)

Today, David even raised up the crib's mattress to its highest setting and re-installed the mobile - so there is really no return now!

Swimming Lessons 103 - Session 1

Carly officially kicked off the 2012 swimming season this morning. The water temperature was nice and refreshing compared to the sauna indoor swimming area (at least for this pregnant mommy). This year Carly did not begin her first lesson with tears. Instead, she was very eager to get straight into the water and was not interested in the attendance and introduction portion of our time. During her lesson this week she worked on entering the pool from the side alone, blowing bubbles, kicking, scooping/reaching with her arms and hands, and how to use various flotation devices.

Big Girl Bed

Carly is currently on night 2 in her big girl bed! Last night was rough until shortly after 9pm. She got out of her bath all excited about sleeping in her "blue" room with daddy raa (a large stuffed tiger David gave me the first Christmas we were dating). We went through her normal bedtime routine in her big girl room, I placed her in bed just like I would have her crib, and walked out. In less than 90 seconds she was out of bed, bolting out of her door, giggling. She, Dave, and I struggled between Carly's big girl room and nursery for over an hour. I thought our night was ending with her in her crib, crying "No Blue Room!" I bolted to the grocery store in a thunder storm (I did give David the option to go in my place), when I came home David was standing in our upstairs hallway, the nursery door was wide open, and the house was silent. I then learned that while I was out, he was able put her in her big girl bed and convince her to STAY in it. She fell asleep and slept through the night until 8:15 this morning. Unfortunately, she did fall out once - but it didn't seem to phase her. I heard a thump followed with a few whimpers. I woke Dave - who BOLTED, then thankfully slowed down before entering her room. He scooped her up and got her back in bed before she even woke up.

Sound asleep!

Unfortunately, I did not have his magic touch today during nap time. Her "excuse" was needing to use the potty. On her third trip out of the bed I decided her "big girl" bed time was over - it was already 1:30. I placed her in her crib, slightly expecting her to scream and eventually end up back in her big bed. She fussed for only a few moments before passing out!

As a result of our afternoon, I didn't have high hopes for tonight's bedtime routine. Thankfully I was WRONG!! We did our routine, added me telling her a story while in bed with her, and then from her rocking chair (David's two tricks from last night) and she stayed put when I walked out! She talked to herself for just over 30 minutes but never left her bed! I did sit at the top of our stairs listening closely for about 15 minutes.

I'm not expecting this transition to be only smooth sailing from now on, but we are making progress!!

Egg

Carly has really been enjoying the 7 books we checked out on Tuesday from the library. Three of the books are non-fiction and two of them are "summarized" to her as she looks at the photographs. Today when she turned the page of her Penguin book to a penguin sitting on an egg I asked her what the Daddy penguin was sitting on. Our child for FEW words said "EGG" and then proceeded to tell me that a baby would come from the egg (by of course just saying the word "baby" when asked what would come out of the egg). She may not be saying a lot, but she sure seems to be retaining a lot.

Swimming Lessons 103 - Session 1 (Kind Of)

Today was supposed to be Carly's first swimming lesson for 2012 (her third year of swimming). Unfortunately the instructor's child was sick, so our lesson for today was postponed. Here's to next week.

...Two, Three...

Carly and I went to the library this afternoon and selected 7 new books. Tonight after dinner she agreed to sit down and look through these new books (instead of reading her regular 3 Dr. Seuss books). We read or talked through all of them (3 of them were non-fiction animal books with A LOT of text but GREAT photos), after which I commented about how many books we had just read. I recommended counting through the books so that we would know how many books we just read and had check out from the library this week. I pulled the first book and said, "one." Carly then continued with "two" and "three." She paused for me to help her with four before continuing on with "five" and "six." Seven stumped her too. But either way, I was impressed that she paused wanting help with four and continued on without me for five and six, especially since we don't regularly count beyond 5 in our home with her. (We only count to three as part of our behavior system and then give her a 5 minute countdown anytime we need to transition to another activity/event.)

**After counting these books, we then read her regular Dr. Seuss books... but she wasn't interested in counting up to 10 after we finished.

24 Weeks

Carly and I went for my 24 weeks OB appointment this morning. Thankfully, she was a very good girl again today during majority of my visit. There is a lego table in the waiting room, another child had left two or three pieces on the floor earlier in the day. I asked Carly if she would pick them up before we started to read her books since she had already told me she wasn't interested in playing with the legos. Instead of picking up just the pieces on the floor, she picked them up and broke down the current lego display to put ALL of the pieces back in the net basket attached to the table.

All of my measurements were fine and the baby's heartbeat was 143 beats per minute. All of this was good news for us and for the doctor when we was finally able to come in. Unfortunately, we had a mom before us who had A LOT of questions (we could hear her through the wall) so he was slightly delayed in coming to ask if I had any questions.

I return on February 3rd for my glucose screening and then begin going for check ups every TWO weeks. I am slightly amazed that we are so close to being due for a check up every TWO weeks. We have plenty of time to get ready for this little boy and come up with a name, right?!? We won't be that far along in February....

Just Like Daddy!

For those of you who know my husband, then you know that he always has a pen tucked in his dress shirt pocket or in between the buttons of a polo shirt. If he is casual enough to be caught in a t-shirt, then the pen is probably in his pocket. This habit of his has cost us two loads of laundry and I have learned to search his clothing VERY, VERY carefully prior to adding it to the washing machine and the dryer. Apparently, I now need to search Carly's clothing too!

Amazed

Carly has changed a lot over the past three weeks. And looking back it amazes me how much change can happen in such a short period of time (especially since the three weeks prior to that seemed rather uneventful.)

Carly has begun to say many, many new words and put them together in complete toddler sentences. "Orange Juice", "CHEESE," "write" and "Mommy read" are the words/phrase that stick out in my head the most, but she has added at least one word a day over the past three weeks or so.

She has also begun rocking herself during our bedtime routine. She sits in her chair, holds her dolls and rocks, while I sit on the floor with her blanket - ready to welcome her into my arms and place her up in her crib.

While sitting in my lap today, Carly began calling out letters she saw in a nearby newspaper ad. The advertisement was for a furniture company and she pointed and said the letters O, M, A, E, C, B, D, T, and G. She also began telling me words that began with each of the letters.

It May be Time

I'm starting to think it is about time to move Carly out of her crib...

~ Today when she was upset I placed her in her crib so we could talk eye to eye. She immediately threw her leg up over the rail and placed her arms in position. Thank goodness nap and bed times come when she is physically exhausted.

~ During today's nap she asked for Elmo and "Blue" (aka Cookie Monster) to join her in the crib. At the moment she is sleeping with 2 baby dolls, a giraffe, a ducky lovey, a monkey, a BK crown on her head and now Elmo and Cookie Monster. (Oh yeah, and tonight she wanted an extra pair of pajamas in with her.) She would also love to sleep with her three stuffed tigers, thankfully David and I thought quickly and told her tigers were too big for a crib and would have to wait until she got a big girl bed.

~ She currently is excited that her next bedroom is painted BLUUUE!

~ During our Christmas travels she began rocking herself in the rocking chair, instead of letting me rock her. She typically gets out of the chair and into my arms when she is ready for her crib.

~ My due date is less than four months away...