Potty Training

I can't believe we are already posting about this!! Adelle is, roughly, 2 1/2 and she is learning how to use the big girl potty. We followed the advice of the Moes Family, and tried potty training Adelle in one day.

We got a bunch of things ready before we began, which really seemed to help. During the week I started planting ideas of going on the potty in her head by reminding her that some of her friends already do it, that we have big girl undies, and that she herself is a big girl. Here are the other things we got together:

• Snacks to munch on - Salty, sweet and healthy so she would drink lots.
• Juice, milk, pop, water - Anything she wanted to drink, we had!
• Stickers and a sticker chart for a visual reward
• Suckers for instant gratification
• Big girl undies
• Plastic undies for naps and night-time
• Her favorite doll - We used this along with one of her old medicine syringes. I filled the syringe with water and had the doll "go" and then run to the potty with her. I also had her go in the toilet and not have accidents.
• A towel and cleaner for accidents
• Big girl potty chair/toilet cover - We actually have a potty chair and a smaller seat to fit over ours. This worked well because sometimes she couldn't hold it in and HAD to use her little chair. We kept the little chair on a plastic mat where we were, and the smaller seat in the downstairs bathroom.
• A stool so she could get onto the toilet
• An apron for me to keep treats in
• Lots of enthusiasm from Mommy
• A photo album with pictures of special individuals - After going on the potty Adelle would get to call someone to share her news. We would flip through the album, or I would just ask who she wanted to call, and we did.
• Floor games and books - Nothing too distracting.
• A timer - You don't want to go too long in between visits to the bathroom.

We started our day with breakfast and turkey watching. We do this every weekend and Brian and I wanted to keep the majority of our routines. After we got back from breakfast I put undies on her doll and let Adelle "find" her! We talked about what she was wearing and what that meant, and I asked Adelle if she wanted to wear undies too. She said, "Yes, I do!!"  We put them on started the timer. I then started playing with her doll and made her have an accident. I ran from the accident to the bathroom saying, "No, No, No. We have to potty on the potty!" I did that a few times then asked Adelle if she wanted to try to go. She said yes so we put her on the potty and she went! I was really excited, gave her high-5s, a kiss, a sucker and then showed her the chart and the album. She put a sticker on the chart and called Nonna and Papi. They were SO excited!!

We kept this up for the rest of the day!!

We called lots of people and only cleaned up 4 accidents. Two were poo and I am not worried about them at this time - it's a different feeling! The other two were my fault because I don't think I was patient enough or persistent enough to make her stay on the toilet when she wanted to get off. Lesson learned!

She is doing SO well!!

So Funny

Our little girl is the cutest thing ever! I speak the unbiased truth, of course!

The other day, I picked Adelle up and started talking with her. She leaned back, hit my chest and said, "Boobs!" I giggled, which made her giggle, and she did it again. I told her she was right and proceeded to ask why she was asking. I know, she's only 17 months (TODAY) and really couldn't tell me. She did start babbling and making hand gestures then pointed/poked me again and said, "Boobs," calmly again. Apparently the conversation was over because I put her down and she immediately grabbed a book and read it to me.

About a half hour, and a dozen books later, she started to smell. I looked at her and asked her if she was poopy and she looked at me, smiled and quietly said, "Poopy!" with a sly look on her face. She smirked and started to pull on her diaper. I put her on the changing table and asked her why she went poo-poo and she repeated, "poo-poo" to me. I smiled when she said it because it was adorable and she kept saying it the entire time she was on the changing table.

When she got down I asked her if there was any more poo-poo in her diaper and she tilted her head, smirked, leaned in a little (like it was a secret) and shook her head no. She then threw her head back and laughed!

What a cheese ball!!

Ear Infection :(

Adelle wasn't feeling well on Tuesday when Brian picked her up from daycare. They went to see Nana and Papa but Adelle just wasn't herself. During the night, she was coughing, crying, and generally miserable unless we were holding her. She even spiked a fever of 102! We thought she was just teething because she was gnawing at her thumb and fingers, didn't want to eat anything too hard and producing a TON of saliva!! Well, when she decided not to sleep on Wednesday night, we took her to the doctor. He looked in her ears and said she had an ear infection in one and would probably get one in the other.

My poor baby girl!!

We got her the amoxicillin, bubble gum flavored of course, and she ate it like a champ. Within about 30 minutes she was down for the night. She fussed a few times, but she was actually sleeping! Friday morning, before I went to work, I was giving her the amoxicillin again and when we finished, she made the sign for 'more'! ADORABLE!! I told her that she could have more of it that evening, but not right now. She let her hands fall to her sides, started talking and walked away.

She did so well on Friday with Brian that we decided to keep our plans this weekend. Nana and Papa took her last night and will have her until Sunday. This will give Brian and I a chance to clean the house and get some sleep! I am sure we will be able to fit in a date or movie though ;)

I hope this is the last ear infection Adelle gets. It's really tough to stay sane through it because I couldn't take her pain away and she wasn't able to tell me what was wrong. I know that she will probably get another one, or two, or three, but I hope at those times she will be able to tell me about it!!

Get better soon Sweet Girl!

VERY Mobile Little Lady!

So Adelle started to take a few steps around Christmas. We got a few pictures and a video, but I'm having a hard time finding them. Anyway, she was taking as many as 11 steps up until last Friday. Something happened to our Sweet Girl over night on Thursday because on Friday, she was walking around like she had always done it!!

Even since then she has gotten more sure of herself, sturdy, and more mobile. She is just tooling all over the place! She will sometimes start to crawl again, but then I think she remembers that she CAN walk so she gets up and starts walking again.

She is so adorable because she will walk to a toy, squat to pick it up, stand back up, turn around and start walking again. Her little legs, and her strength, just amaze me!! Soon she'll start running!! Oh my, sometimes, she will get off balance, lean forward, and kind of run to where ever she was going. It's super cute!!

Sigh... she's getting so big!

Adelle Turns 1!

We can't believe our Sweet Girl is 1 already! She is getting SO big!! We went to the doctor today and she is 2ft 6 1/4in tall, she DEFINITELY doesn't get that from me, and is 18lbs 15oz. She is eating lots of veggies, some fruits and meats, but she LOVES spaghetti, something she DEFINITELY gets from me! :)

Here are some pictures from her first birthday. We celebrated on Sunday, her actual birthday, with our family! Bruce and Sharon, John and Dottie, Angie, Dale and Lila, Maria, Becky, Pat and Zoe, and Ben and Melissa. We were just missing Great Grandma Dolores, and Danielle, Mike, Isabelle and Gabe but we celebrated with them a few days earlier. It was so much fun!!

Here are some pictures:

Merry Christmas!!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with laughter, love and warmth. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas - Round 1

My Grandparents, Marilyn and Mac, were very much in love. They had a BEAUTIFUL and romantic love story too! Well, that love story resulted in 8 children, my Mom is one of the 8. The love story was instilled in their kids, so those 8 ended up having children of their own, which is why I am 1 of 22 grandchildren. The grandchildren range in age from close to 40 to 21 (I think) and some of us have children of our own! Adelle is 1 of 21 great-grand children.

Needless to say, we all can't fit into one person's house, so we get together at a dining hall (kind of) each year a couple of weeks before Christmas. That way, everyone can have their own traditions and we still have this one - getting together and seeing everyone.

It was a blast! Angie and Dale organized it this year, Brian and I get to organize it next year, and we had a lot of fun! It was Adelle's first time being around everyone and she did such a great job!! The only thing we didn't like was not being able to put Adelle down for a nap. There wasn't a place, so Brian went out to drive around with her. It worked out, but that is something to think about for next years' planning....

Anyway, here are some pictures from the event!

Snow Day

So there was a blizzard today - Adelle's First!! And I'm talking about an, I-can't-open-my-front-door-or-get-out-of-my-driveway blizzard! It was crazy!! We really wanted to bring Adelle outside and stick her in the snow to take a couple of pictures, but we couldn't see a whole lot and it was so windy we didn't think it was worth it. Sometime in the next couple of days, if it warms up, we will though!

Anyway, here are some pictures to warm your heart!









Here are pictures of the actual snow. Mind you, we have an association plow and shovel for us (who actually only plowed our driveway once) and I was already out there once myself to clear half of the driveway. Those drifts by the front door are up to my waist and the one in the driveway is up to my upper thigh!!