My three

I'm glad I have these three in my life. As crazy as they make it... they hold me together in SO many ways. I'm grateful for this opportunity I'm having to be a mom. (Though I am constantly messing it up!)

Life with a two year old.

*Don't read this if you don't want to hear about Daphne's boring potty schedule. You've been warned.

Two year olds not only have a TON to learn in this crazy age of life, but they also insist on doing it all on their own. Thus, the terrible twos. Some people say 3 and 4 is hard too and sometimes even harder. I can agree on some accounts (ahem... Makiah...), but really the fact that these two year olds are put through so much just makes it, well, terrible. Poor things. Poor moms. And dads. Goodness. Temper tantrums are a huge part of our lives around here (for all three girls (yes I said three, me too)). Daphne is, well, two. Makiah is, well, Makiah. And me? Every now and then I loose it too ;) But Daphne is the hardest to handle in the temper tantrum area right now. We are working through it, trying not to give in to stop the crying and trying to teach why things happen the way they do. Daphne is sweet and after a good cry she will share again and say sorry. We love her.

A few days after Daphne threw away her binkies she was still doing awesome with nap time. I let her nap in Makiah's bed to see if she would actually sleep without her crib. She did great! So we converted her crib to a toddler bed (yeay!). She still naps every day and has not come out of her room during a nap once. Whew! It's been so nice.

No binky, check. No crib, check. No diapers?

This is not what it looks like. I won't say I'm potty training... Because I'm not. This is all her idea so I'm just playing along. What else do you do when a kid refuses to wear a diaper?

This is how the first day went...

Daph woke up, insisted that she wears underwear. I had some shopping to do so I bought Dora underwear instead of diapers. We get home, she puts on a pair, sits on the potty a few times and then wets herself (expected, I'm totally ok with accidents. She needs to learn somehow). Then came nap time = diaper. She woke up with an attitude, didn't want underwear, wore a diaper the rest of the day.

Second day... Woke up, asked for underwear, peed I'm the potty(!), stayed dry all morning, wore a pull up because we had somewhere we had to go, sat on the potty while we were out, had an accident, wore a diaper at nap time, refused to take it off after. Again, she had an attitude when she woke up. No underwear.

This morning she went in the potty again!! But then we had to leave the house, so yeah. Diaper. well see how moody she is when she wakes up today...

I totally know I should take away the diapers completely, stay home for 2-3 days and not use pull ups during the day. But I'm not potty training so it doesn't matter :) hehehe.

When I trained Evan I started when he was two (when everyone potty trained, so I thought). I pushed him. I studied every method out there. I tried every trick. A year and a half later he was potty trained... but he still had a hard time, even through Kindergarten he struggled with a few things. With Makiah I didn't push. I waited and pretty much she begged me to potty train her. I kinda did what I am doing with Daph and she taught herself. Within a couple weeks she was good to go and never struggled.

I love what I learned from the two times I potty trained before. I learned to ignore the pressure from other moms (even if it comes unintentionally its there). I can potty train when and how I want. Mommy debates don't affect me anymore. I'm in no rush to have her potty trained by a certain age and I see no reason do try and do it in a day (or two or three). There are great methods out there, and I know a lot of people who swear by them... but they aren't for everyone (especially this over anxious mom). Daphne is interested, so as long as we're at home she can do what she wants. I'm sure at one point it will either click for her like it did for Makiah, or I can take a week off from life to get her trained quickly, if I have to. For now I'm ok, and she is having fun not potty training.

Bye-bye binky

All my babies used a binky. At 18 months I cut the tip off of Evan and Makiah's binkies, I'm all about stopping habits like this just cold turkey. But with Daph it's been different... She is my baby. And really, things like binkies are really for mom and her sanity, right? Evan and Makiah stopped napping at 2 years and I've always been convinced that it had something to do with taking away their binky or their crib. So I've been holding onto both as long as possible, and guess what? Daphne still naps!

On Wednesday I gave in and decided to be done with the binkies. She became obsessed with them to the point that not only did she need one for her mouth, but as many as she could find and carry around. She had names for each one and would ask for specific binkies at different times. It was getting annoying and even to the point that they didn't calm her, they just caused more stress.

I only could find two so I cut of the tips and gave them to her when she asked for them. the next five or so minutes went something like this...

Daph: Uh-oh! My binkys broke!

She still put them in her mouth and tried to convince herself that she still liked them. She didn't.

Daph: Evan broke my binkys. I sad.

Me: You are a big girl you don't need your binky. They are broken, do you want to throw them in the garbage? They are yucky now.

Daph: They are yummy! (puts them in her mouth, takes them out) my binkys broke. Kiahs broke them. Mommys broke them. I want a new binky.

Me: Do you want to throw them away?

Daph: my binkys broke. I throw in garbage.

And she did it herself, she threw them away! We cheered for her and have been calling her a big girl every time she talks about it... Which is often. When she wakes up, in the car, when she is sad, at nap time and bed time.

She is fine though. She has a blanket obsession and sleeps with any blanket in sight and still asks for more. She also loves books and she also rubs her belly button when she is tired. She has many ways to comfort herself.

Yeay for no more pictures like this with a binky covering up her cute smile...

And more smiling pictures like this...

As for the crib, she actually knows how to climb in and out with a chair. Sometimes she sleeps on her mattress on the floor and does great. I'm holding onto the nap time though, so she still sleeps in her crib for naps. We'll get there... I don't want my baby girl to grow up.

Daph Says and Does

This started out as a small post, but then I added more and more of the things Daphne has said and done recently. She is a little jabber mouth and just goes and goes non stop. We love this little girl! She is now 2 years and 4 months old. She still uses a binky and takes a nap each day, she is my baby girl. She sleeps in her crib at nap time and on her mattress on the floor at night. She is ready for a bed... but mom isn't. She wants to be big and do everything that the kids do. I want her to stay small.

Words and phrases she says...

"Ohpps daisy" (she must have heard me say oops-a-daisy, which I really didn't notice myself saying until she did)

"I had it first!" (Even if she didn't, she just says this when she wants something.)

"Oh man!"

"Heeey!" (When things don't go her way.)

"That's silly"

"Is that good?" (wondering if what she did is ok or right).

"Why?" (My two year old is already in this phase where she asks why all the time.)

"Be-be-ball" (volleyball or basketball)

"I-unt-some" (I want some)

Me: Where's Kiah?
Daph: At school.
Me: Where's Evan?
Daph: At bus.
Me: Where's daddy?
Daph: At work.

Last night at bedtime I lost my temper with Daphne. She hadn't napped that day so we were both feeling a bit on edge and tired. I raised my voice at her and she yelled back and said "Stop it! That to loud!"

She plays a game where she pretends to sleep, when she wakes up she yells "I awake!" Usually she does this in the car when we pull into the garage. As soon as I notice she is asleep and say something about it she "wakes up."

"Me" instead of "my"... "I want me horsey binky" (she has a few binkies, and she is always specific with which one she wants). Or "I want me hat" (She insists on wearing a hood outside.)

She is quick to share with others and say sorry. If she whines for something and I ask her to say please she signs it and says "pweeese" with the sweetest voice.

We went to a restaurant recently, usually I order her drink for her but after the older kids chose theirs she pulled out her binky and told the waitress "I want choc-o-late milk."

She is obsessed with "taking" noses and kisses and eating them. If we take hers she gets upset and says "Give it back!"or "Heeey!" And takes it back. Dad tickled her feet and she said "Heeey!" and took her "foot" back and put it back on her.

Names... She is so good with names. Kiah was the first name she got down after daddy and mommy. She didn't learn Daphne or Evan right away. She said "Bebe" (or baby) for Daphne and "Boy" for Evan. Now she says "Dap-ne "and "Eben." She knows friends names including most of the kids in nursery. She'll point out kids at church and call out their names :)

Sometimes she'll pretend she is someone else. For awhile she would call herself Dora and she thought it was silly when I called her Boots. Now she likes to pretend she is Baby Peach from Mario Kart.

She likes to pretend she is a baby, she has a cute pretend baby voice and she'll even fake a temper tantrum. I think she gets this from Kiah who does the same thing ;)

She is sweet to us when we are sad, she'll get us tissues and give us hugs and kisses. Even if she is distracted by a movie or toy she will stop and take care of someone if they are crying.

Things she loves:

Food...
Strawberry milk
Gogurts and yogurt
Hummus
Strawberrys
"Treat snacks" (Fruit snacks)

Baby dolls
Jumping on the bed, couch, or trampoline
Playing house/pretending
Play Doh
Nursery at church
Books
Dogs and other animals

TV/movies...
Dora, Boots, and Diego
Peppa pig
The Croods

Photo Overload

Way back in November Daph turned one. Then finally in January I asked Kim to take Daphne's 1 year photos. Now that it's April I am FINALLY posting them. 

Makiah came along and we got some cute valentine/sister photos. I thought about bringing Evan... but I didn't. He had school... blah blah blah. I should have just brought him along, but I didn't. Oh well, it's fun to have sister photos :)

I love these turned out! The ruffle, all the white, pretty light, adorable chair... cutest baby ever. Love them. Love her.

Sledding

I'm posting photos way out of order... but that's okay. This was the last day of winter break and the last day of this snow :) We went sledding just in time! 

First time sledding for Daphne! It may not look like she was super thrilled about this, but she LOVED it :)

The hill was small enough that we didn't get tired going up and down over and over, and it was big enough to have some fun! The kids have been wanting to go back ever since, but we haven't had enough snow :(


Sledding 2013 from Jessica Bateman on Vimeo.