Frick or Freat!

Isa has finally started to understand the concept of holiday, although she doesn't quite understand that they're separate events. Thus, when asked about Halloween she would sometimes respond "Santa!" or "Happy Birth-o-ween!". The idea of dressing up in a costume and getting candy- that she totally understood.

Isa had a glorious time going trick or treating (or, as she would say "frick or freating"- haven't quite gotten the tr sound down yet). It was touch and go at first. A few children showed up really early and so Isa got to see the huge stash of Tootsie Pops I had hidden in a bowl up high. She flipped when I wouldn't let her eat one before some dinner. She finally choked down about 1/4 of a quesadilla and I decided not to push my luck.

The rest of the evening was wonderful! As usual, she charmed the pants of most everyone. A few blocks over one house does a huge haunted house experience which Isa wasn't too keen on. We (obviously) didn't go in, but even the scary music coming from the house was too much for her, so we quickly moved on. She even enjoyed helping hand out candy to others after we got home and amazingly didn't flip when I took the bucket of candy away after her allowed 2 pieces.

Let the candy-eating begin!

My little ladybug

The take!

And now the sugar has kicked in....

... only to crash back down, along with Auntie Autumn & Uncle Ben.

Move over June Cleaver

Not only does Isa clean the house while wearing heels, she does it in the (nearly) nude! All she needs now is a string of pearls.


On a more serious note, 2 years ago I was sitting in my office when the phone rang. It was an area code that I didn't recognize, but I got calls from cancer registries in other state, so I thought nothing of it. Turned out to be my agency calling. I started to get a tingling feeling in my stomach when Tami said "Are you sitting down?" I asked if I needed to be and she said "I know who your daughter is." Just thinking about those words still brings tears to my eyes. From that point, I think the only words out of my mouth were "Oh my God." Over and over again. A few minutes after hanging up the phone, I got to see the most beautiful photo I've ever seen:

And here she is now, shouting "Tada!" and looking shockingly like the big girl she is rapidly becoming:

Why I need a nap

Wanna see something cute?

All I could get her to make was one of her funny faces and my camera batteries died soon after, so this is the only pic of her first time in her new real ballerina leotard, tights, and shoes (which you can't see). I'm bummed that we can't take photos or video in our Mommy & Me class because she is beyond precious. She ADORES it!

(And yes, that is a single ponytail on top of her head. As if you needed further proof that she has an overabundance of hair....)

Potty training part 3/4

Sooooo........

Last Thursday was a total bust. In hindsight, I should have scrapped the idea of potty training altogether after the morning started off on a horrible note. Yep, hindsight and all that.

The morning started at 5:15 when Squiggy came into my bedroom and projectile vomited all over the floor. As I was cleaning that up, Isa woke up yelling "Mama! Mama!" I went in to her room, she stood up in her crib and promptly asked "Mama's room?" Ordinarily if she woke at that hour, I would throw her in bed with me but there was still kitty puke on the floor, so that wasn't an option. After some rocking I got her back down and continued to mop up the floor. Fun, fun.

By 6:30 Isa was up for good. It was a cranky morning (for both of us). Finally, sometime around 10, she was in a good enough mood to change into the big girl underpants. We had a good hour or so of sitting on the potty every 15 minutes and checking for dry pants in between. Then she had an accident in the kitchen. Cleaned Isa and the floor, changed her into clean underpants, and we practiced multiple times hurrying to the potty the next time she had to go pee. Less than half an hour later- huge flood on the living room floor.

And that was the end of potty training. Mama was just not ready to deal with any more bodily fluid clean-up. (Or so I thought- the cat puked all over the bathroom about an hour into naptime and I got to clean that up too!)

I thought I had two big aces up my sleeve for potty training- Isa LOVES her big girl underpants and she HATES to be messy. For example, I have to keep a washcloth at the table because she wants her hands cleaned numerous times during each meal. So I thought that she would really dislike having an accident and that would help motivate her to use the optty. Alas, while she has mentioned quite a bit that she got her big girl underpants wet, it doesn't seem to bother her.

Honestly, if she didn't try to scratch my arms off on every other diaper change, I wouldn't be so motivated to try potty training this early. But she does, so we'll give it some time and try again. (Hopefully the kitty will cooperate as well!)

Potty training part 1/2

Today after ballet class, we headed to Target. Initially the trip was to get a few things for me and try to find a leotard and tights for her. No dice on the leotard or tights, but I decided it was time to buy big girl underpants so we could start the potty training process on Thursday.

Isa was THRILLED with her new big girl underpants. She clutched them the entire way through the store, on the ride home and then carried them around the house. I had explained to her that she would get to wear them tomorrow and kept harping on the fact that you have to use the potty when you wear big girl underpants. I planned to re-read the potty training book I had tonight and be all ready for training in the morning.

Isa B had other plans. As soon as she woke up from her nap she demanded to wear her big girl underpants. So I decided to go ahead and try. She did great when we were at home- sat on the potty on regular intervals (although nothing happened) and in between we would check the underpants to make sure they were still dry. Unfortunately, we had plans to have dinner at a friend's house and (obviously) Isa wasn't taking those underpants off! I asked her every minute on the car ride over if the pants were still dry- happily, they were. They remained dry from 3:30 until 6:30, when an accident happened. By that point, we had both gotten distracted and I hadn't reminded her to try the potty in quite a while.

Tomorow we have nothing planned, so we can stay home and really focus on using the potty all day long. I already have pull-ups to use at nap time and she'll probably stay in diapers at night for quite a while as I have no plans to move her out of the crib anytime soon. But I'm hopeful that we'll be able to move to big girl underpants during the day from now on.

Isa B has been throwing major fits during diaper changes for a while now, so I'm looking forward to being done with them. At the same time, diapers are the last real "baby" thing we have and I'm kind of sad to be officially moving into little girl-dom.

Here she is- in all her big girl underpant glory!

I am a girl

Sorry for the long absence. I feel like I've finally started to pull myself out of the funk I was in for the last month. Isa's doing better behavior-wise (with the exception of meltdowns at nearly every meal), which helps immensely. The rest of my world is slowly falling into place again as well.

Happily for me, Isa has turned out to be a lot like me personality-wise. She's a thoroughly independent and outspoken gal who happens to also be a complete girly-girl. She likes watching baseball and football, but does so while holding a baby doll. I firmly believe there's no reason you can't have a closet full of heels and a basement full of power tools!

.

Here she is showing off her feminine side:

Tea parties with Grandma & Papaw

We started Mommy & Me ballet classes, which Isa adores.

Whenever the music stops, she immediately says "More? More dancing?".

I need to get her a leotard and tights but for now the tutu will suffice.

One of her favorite costumes- the tutu and princess crown.

This girls LOVES the phone (both real and pretend).

And finally, here she is showing off several girly-girl skills in a single video. I have to admit that she does a stellar job walking in some fairly tall heels! Once she gets the hang of the heels, what does she head straight for? Her purse, of course.