It had such potential....

So when I am doing my make-up in the mornings, Layla likes to brush her teeth. She sits on the bathroom counter and plays with an assortment of toothbrushes. When I do my hair she just begs to have stuff put in hers as well, but she just doesn't really have enough to keep a hold of anything! I'm already chasing her shoes, necklaces and scarves and don't feel like adding teeny tiny hair things to my hunt every evening.

She was really enjoying this hairband thing but then started to make the wierdest faces and got highly uncooperative (= Just thought you'd enjoy some terrible photos (= The funniest thing is the picture in the bottom left is actually her SMILING! That is the look she has when I ask her to smile. How sad is that. She has the cutest smile but doesn't seem to understand how to "fake" it yet (=

Family in town!

Mom comes from a family of 8 kids and we all have a good time together. Harold, Helen and cousin Charles drove in from California to stay with us for about four days. Helen is one of mom's older sisters. The second picture has Clyde, mom's older brother, and Selva his lovely wife. We've had a GOOD time together and Layla has really taken to them all (=

Girls Hanging Out...

This is Lilly - a sweet little girl just about Layla's age. We've had some fun times together!

'Hello! Hello!"

Even though we are not officially potty training her this week, she is still wanting to come to the bathroom and sort of do her business. The FUNNIEST thing that has started to happen however, is that when she poops in her diaper before she gets to the toilet, I take her diaper off and show it to her and how we are getting rid of it etc. That's not the funny part. She looks at me in all seriousness "touch? touch?" and I say no and then she leans in real close, wiggling her index finger and says "hello! hello!" Too funny. She seems completely unaffected by the SMELL of the thing which is even funnier. Of course, this is the girl who will chew garlic and onions.....

She is noticably more relaxed and happy today since we stopped the 30 min cycles to and from the bathroom. Glad she's happy.

Today we were talking with Tom on Skype and Layla was in the bed pulling the covers up to her chin and flopping back on the pillows (this is good for about 20 mins of activity!) and I had the computer turned towards her while I was talking to Tom. Soon she started to say "Out Mama. Out Mama" Waving her little hand with great purpose. I couldn't believe she was wanting to be alone with Tom on Skype to play!

She does this "Out Mama' or "Out Baba" when you put her to bed and she is done with whatever shinanegans you are doing. It is too funny to be dismissed by her!

Giving it a rest

Well we've tried a week of potty training and I think we'll give it a rest. Layla is cooperative and willing to try, but can't seem to make herself pee even though she tries (= I know she has the concept down, but it just seems like now isn't the time for some reason. Plus, mama is tired and daddy comes home in two days and then we have house guests for four days so it is time to hit the pause button (=

I spoke on a panel today at a conference. It was nice to get out of the house. The panel was about educational experiences for americans who have grown up overseas. It brought back a lot of memories (= I calculated that I've lived in the US for 17 years now! wow.

Anyway. Tom is back overseas and loving it, of course (= He's staying with our neighbors across the street and having a great time. Hopefully getting more sleep than he was getting at his other friend's house....he slept with the TV on! (they were all sleeping in the main room...guess that main room is also the common sleeping place for guys...)

He's back on Tuesday and we're excited! Layla has just started saying "dada. sad" and doing the furrowed brow action that she gets from Tom. You would never imagine an almost 2-year old could look so sad and worried! She is just too precious. Chubby Chubby still as well!

What I've learned so far about potty training

If the little one does not drink, she doesn't pee, not matter how much she may want to. Even though Layla begs and begs for juice the rest of the time, she hardly drinks it when offered now!
Get a pillow for your back as you'll be spending a lot of time on the floor in the bathroom.
Trying leaving them alone to see if they prefer that.
Have a roll of paper towels, Lysol-type cleaner and carpet cleaner handy.
Use a WATCH with a timer on it. Trying to locate the kitchen timer when you need it is nigh on impossible, especially if you live in a larger house or in a house with two floors!
Prepare to be pooped after entertaining your little one for 10 minute increments all day. Have a little reward for yourself after they go to bed!!!
Do keep a log of some sort to help remember how long it takes from them drinking enough liquid to needing to pee. Key fact.
One of those "over the lap" desks that can sit next to them while on the potty is a great place to put things for them to easily reach. It is also a good place for them to look at books since their laps are so SMALL.
If you are playing outside and you and your little one see two birds caught in a net, your little one may get scared enough to wet their pants. Make sure Grandpa is holding them, then you don't get pee on you.

A sense of history and place

As I've gotten older I've realized I have a deep appreciation for family history things and items that are passed down. I am sure this comes from growing up overseas without much interaction with family, and then suddenly moving IN with them at the age of 16 (=

My grandparents (on my dad's side) both came from farms/ranches/dairies etc. As you may know, living with old foks gives you a lot of stories from the past. I was thinking about this today when I was cleaning up the house and realizing just about every room had some family thing in it that we were using.

In Layla's room is the bed my grandpa made for my aunt - he had to make it extra long because she was so TALL!
Our breakfast table was in my Great Grandpa house,
One of the actual yokes used on cattle on my Great Grandpa's farm is hanging in our garage.
The foot board and head board for our bed was made from wood off the farm.
Our nightstand is an old victrola cabinet my Grandpa converted into a night stand.
Layla uses the toys my Great grandpa and my aunt used when growing up.

Anyway - just a few thoughts. It's been fun to be surrounded by so much family history that is so usable!

Potty Training Attempt #1

So my mom and I have been talking about when to start potty training Layla. Did you know that in the US in the 1930s it was COMMON to start potty training at 3 or 4 MONTHS?!?? Stunning! Apparently that is how most other cultures do it. I know in China they just have split pants for the kids and don't use disposable diapers. (great thing given the huge number of Chinese people there are and all the diapers that would be!). I'm not sure about the Middle East, I must say I don't really remember seeing any diapers on kids! I know they were in the stores though....

Anyway, Lj is 22 months old now and I figured it was time for an attempt. I'm not that bothered if it doesn't work but I think it will. She is such a child of routine and order (not all the time, but enough to be a part of her personality) I figured that she would pick up the process if not the full thing.

So we started on Saturday with what I call the "blitzkrieg method". Just stick the kid in panties and for two or three days have a routine where they practise sitting on the potty for 10 mins then get 10 mins of play; off and on off and on until they first successfully use the potty. After that, they only have 5 mins on the potty and 10 mins of play. After one or two tries she did really well with sitting for 10 mins! I was shocked. The achilles heel of this method is that the kid has to drink a lot to make it work. Layla wasn't drinking at ALL for some reason so she is a rockstar "sittter" and not much else (= Day 2 was more of the same, but I started letting her go for 20-30 mins at a time without any practising, because she just wasn't drinking enough.

Day 3 was today and we had 5 wet panties by 930am! I was thrilled that she was peeing. I didn't care where. Lots more practise and then I thought I'd try something new. Both times she peed in the afternoon it was when she was alone in a room. So I put the potty back in my bathroom (I've had it out near her the last few days because this house is so dang big to carry a peeing kid at breakneck speed) and told her she needed to sit on the potty by herself until the timer dinged. The timer has been a HUGE help. She is very aware of it and talks about it all the time. So believe it or not, she actually sat there until it dinged! I just can't believe it. No pee, but hey, sitting is more than half the battle!

So the big success was after we got home tonight from having a quick bite to eat. She had been ancy at the restaurant and I could tell she didn't want to wet her diaper. She didn't pee in her diaper at all which was amazing to me, but after sitting her on the potty by herself for a few minutes, TA DAAAAAAA!!!!! So exciting. She was very unimpressed until she remembered that she gets blueberries!

So we'll see what tomorrow holds, but that's a big step forward. Haven't even thought about poop yet. One thing at a time.

So, more than you wanted to know, but here it is for posterity's sake (=

What I love....

About being a mom at the moment:

It's way more fun than I was anticipating
The rush of freedom that I feel every evening when she's down for the night and I feel that the night is all MINE!
Rocking with her just before naps and bed - hugging, snuggling, singing etc
Thinking about her next stages - we're looking into potty training now!
Feeling proud about her accomplishments
Watching her run around and just be silly and happy
Reading to her and putting away half the books because they seem too scary or something (=
Picking out her clothes in the morning
Putting lotion on her naked body as she runs around on the bed squealing at nighttime