Celebrating a First!

We introduced the idea of potty training to Ellie on Sunday, just a few days ago. As I mentioned in another post we think she's ready. When we ask her if she wants to go potty she runs down the hall yelling "yaaaaaay!" She gladly sits on the potty. Sometimes it's just for a few seconds and sometimes it's for a while where we have a snack, read books, and talk until she is done. We ask her at least 2 times a day at home, during the work week, if she wants to try. We ask in the morning and once or twice in the evening/night. And, as of Tuesday (January 29th) Growing Kids Academy said they would help her too! They have real toilets like you would see in any public facility but only their toilets are tiny for the little kids!!! I'm excited that the potty training effort will be reinforced and encouraged at school too, this should really help.

Today marks an important day in Ellie's potty training. I am so happy to say that at 8:40am Ellie peed in the potty!!! Success!!! We've had our first official potty achievement. Ellie and I high-fived each other, we yelled "yay!" together, and she got her yummy yogurt drops as a treat. Afterward, all she wanted to do was run around naked and eat yogurt drops. Not exactly in the plan for our morning routine. I finally got her dressed and hurriedly tried to get her to come over and get her coat on so we cold leave-- but she decided to play "nigh-nigh" where she goes limp in her chair and pretends to snore. I say "Come on EllieBelle! We HAVE to go now. Wake up! Wake Up!" Only for her to become even more relaxed, crack a smile, and repeat her "snoring". This girl....

Once we got to daycare, I shared our exciting potty news. I had already sent Randall an all caps text telling him what our big girl did. I also called my mom right away because I just had to talk to someone about it right away and Randall was already in class. And, really, my mom has been getting the play-by-play of Ellie's potty adventures since we bought the seat. She has listened and responded with encouragement and excitement so I'll make myself feel better about nagging her and say that "she deserved a call to tell her about a successful morning with the potty." ;) I pretty much told everyone that would cross my path or listen- Randall, mom, daycare, my office mate, coworkers, my hairdresser, the Facebook world...anyone really! And, because I have such awesome people in my life, our news was not belittled or scoffed at, each one of the people we told had a warm and knowing smile. Many people even shared a comment or anecdote explaining their experience and reinforced how exciting it really is when little ones have success in potty training. Even Facebook friends came out of the woodwork to "like" Ellie's accomplishment or give a shout out. We really are blessed with awesome people in our lives!

Later on in the evening one of Randall's former soccer players who has become closer to our family over the last year and a half asked if she could come over. We said sure, and as it turned out she had seen my celebratory post on Facebook and went out and bought Ellie a present for going on the potty! It was a Beauty and the Beast tea set. Absolutely perfect! Ellie loved it and immediately wanted to play with it.

Ellie is becoming a big girl that's for sure--and she knows it! This morning when I went into her room she handed me her paci and said "baby." I said "Yeah, pacis are for babies. Are you a baby?" she shook her head and said "no," and then I said "Are you a big girl?" and she responded by nodding with a wide open mouth and wide eyes, the way she does when she hears something she really likes and agrees with. I'm fully aware that this is just the beginning of it all when it comes to potty training, and I know we have a long way to go, but it really is great to be able to celebrate life's simple joys like this first in Ellie's life with so many people who love her. What an exciting day, start to finish!

19 Months Old!

Today our silly little girl is 19 months old! Today was nothing spectacular but it has been filled with moments that entertained us, as usual. And of, course more moments we want to freeze in time.

I think the time has come to begin potty training, I think Ellie is ready, if not we'll take it slow! Randall isn't as excited or motivated to push Ellie in this direction because it means she's growing up. I'm conflicted on the matter because I know its time and I want to help her, it makes me proud and excited to see her so proud and excited, but it makes me sad for a fleeting second that she's becoming a big girl.

Anyway, I decided to buy her a potty seat instead of a fancy potty chair because some children have a hard time transitioning from the little potty to the big potty. Potty training is a big enough deal, once they've mastered it, why throw a monkey wrench in and change seats? So, I cut out the middle man and got a "Wee Pod" seat which had tons of awesome reviews and was half the cost of a potty chair. It's one solid, molded piece of a plastic/foam-like material so it's comfy for kids to sit on. I like that it's one piece so it's easier to clean and I don't have to worry about bacteria lurking because there aren't any seams or crevices.

Last night was attempt #1 we tried to sit on the potty in Ellie's bathroom right before bath time. I showed her the new potty seat and I told her it was a place to go pee pee or poopy. Then I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She humored me and said "yes" and seemed amused by her new seat. After a few moments she reached out to me as if to say "alright, enough of this, it's bath time!!!" I know how much Ellie loves her baths so I didn't want her to associate the potty as a bad thing that kept her away from her beloved bath time. So into the bath she went and when she was done she showed interest in the potty again. Yay!!!! She pointed to and patted the seat. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty again and she nodded with a big smile. I sat her on the potty-- nothing. She pointed to the seat and said "mommy, mommy, mommy" and reached out for me. I got her down and said that yes, mommy uses the potty too and I modeled it for her. She squatted in front of me and promptly peed on the floor. Not so awesome, but at least she knew what we were talking about!

This morning when Ellie woke up I walked into her room and she was serenading her stuffed animals with a cat song- a simple "meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow..." She learned a new animal noise this weekend :) Only her "meow" has an 'L' in it so its really like "meowl". When I got her out of the crib I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty again and she nodded and ran to her bathroom saying "yaaaaaay" and clapping. Sweet, she's excited! She sat on the potty and smiled but nothing happened. That's ok, we'll keep trying. I'm glad for her excitement about something new.

After I put her new diaper on we went back in her room and I stood on my knees picking out an outfit for her to wear. She watched me go back and forth on my knees for a minute and then ran out of the room to find daddy. A few minutes later I called her and called her. I could hear Randall nicely coaxing her to "go see mommy!" I kept calling and getting a little annoyed that she wasn't listening only to get up and look into the hallway to see Ellie slowly but surely making her way to me-- walking on her knees and smiling as big as she could! Haha, too funny!

After church we went to Nana and G-Diddy's house for lunch. They bought Ellie a new tea set and had a tea party set up for her when we arrived. We all had a turn being served by our fabulous hostess, Miss Ellie. She is very gracious and makes wonderful pouring sounds as she serves our tea and cream. After lunch we stopped by Grandma and Grampy's house for a quick visit. We got to play with them and Aunt Geri, and because Hunter was spending the weekend with his father Ellie even got to play with Legos! She thought the Legos were great. She made herself laugh so hard by picking up handfuls and dropping them back into the bucket from way above her head. She also liked stirring the Legos and hearing the clicking and clattering sounds and watching all of the colors swirl. Did you know that Legos aren't just blue, red, black, white, yellow and green anymore? I didn't! Ellie particularly liked the lime green and light blue ones but there is also orange and probably every other color under the sun too.

Ellie crashed hard when we got home, but not before obsconding with mom and dad's anniversary balloon. They just celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary :) After nap time she had a good dinner, we played in her kitchen (she insists that you wear a Krispy Kreme hat when you play in the kitchen), and she did her best to start a game of me chasing her around the house. She knows how to have fun! Before bedtime I asked Ellie if she wanted to try sitting on the potty again and she got a big smile on her face and nodded, jumped off the couch, and ran saying "yaaaaay"! I put her on the potty and waited but nothing happened. She reached out for me and I got her down and put a fresh diaper on and celebrated with her and daddy that "Ellie tried!! She sat on the potty and tried!!" I'm totally ok that she didn't actually use the potty, we'll work together at this, a little at her pace, a little at mine. Another month older-- and another month full of love, smiles, and laughs!

Ellie's First Snow Day

Believe it or not, Thursday, January 24th 2013 was Ellie's first time in the snow. Sure we've had flurries before then but this was her first real snow where we could bundle her up and let her explore. Unfortunately, it was the type of snow where all of the schools got out but UMW and most other businesses just had a delay before the normal work day would begin. This was the first snow day Randall had in two years so it was pretty exciting all around. After a false alarm the week before we were happy to get some real snow. Granted it was only 2 inches, but hey, it was enough!

A few weeks before we bought Ellie a snowsuit in hopes that we could use it this year, and if not this year then next year. It was size 2T so hopefully we could make it work both years if we had the chance. If we couldn't at least it was on clearance! As I left for work I asked (well, probably told) Randall that he and Ellie had to get out there and play! Randall said he wanted to wait for me to get home so I could experience her first time in the snow too. But, I knew we planned to go out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants that night and it would be too much to squeeze in any really quality play time. And really, I was afraid that if they waited the snow would be completely melted by the time I got home.

To my total excitement, around 1:00 I got a full stream of pictures of Randall and Ellie's snow adventure. I loved it! A little sad that I missed it but really happy they could enjoy that first snowy date together. Randall did an awesome job capturing pictures and videos. His great documentation made it easy to live vicariously through them.

They suited up around 12:20 and lasted until 1:00. Talk about endurance! They visited neighbors, played in our yard, and even took a trip to the neighborhood playground when Ellie had her heart set on sliding after she saw a neighbors' playground with a slide. Randall did his daddy duties keeping her warm. You can't reason with an 18 month old very well but he eventually got her to keep mittens on and even a hat! That's true success--Ellie hates things on her head-- hoods, bows, clips, hair bands, etc. He said she really wasn't so sure about the snow at first, wouldn't keep mittens or hat on, and didn't want to explore very much. After her first fall where she touched the snow she suddenly accepted the mittens and kept them on ;) And, I'm guessing after a while out there and a few more gusts of wind the hood/hat wasn't a hard sell either.

The pictures and videos were all that I could have wanted short of being out there with them. Below are some of my favorites. The snow didn't last long at all so I'm glad they went out when they did! Randall got an additional snow day the next day but only because of back roads being hazardous, not because of more snow. I missed my best buddies while I was at work those days but I'm so glad Ellie will always have her daddy home to play with! She's a lucky girl--and have I mentioned that she really loves that guy? :)