Terrible Twos Have Arrived

Arrived in full force today. Screaming, crying, flowing snot. If this is any indication of the teen years, we are in a world of trouble. Exhibit A.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny was a big hit here. I'd been talking him up the way one talks up Santa because her behavior has been atricious due to being on a nap strike. The promise of the Easter Bunny bringing DVDs and lollipops has been enough to calm some of the anti-nap evil that's been going on.It hasn't eliminated it, but small victories. She woke up this morning calling, "Mommy, where's the Easter Bunny? Daddy come see the Easter Bunny!" As soon as I got her out of her crib she ran to the living room window, right past the giant basket, to see if the bunny was outside. Quick redirection put a look of wonder on her face. A basket filled with DVDs (Toy Story 3, Lady & the Tramp, and Oswald), several books and coloring books, stickers, and DumDum lollipops (small and perfect for a few minutes of blissful silence, and more importantly, stillness, without a sugar overload).

She has become quite the character. She has an imaginary friend named "Weenie," the dog from Oswald. Weenie plays with her, shares her lunch, and often comes in the car with us. She has a memory like a steel trap. Girlfriend does not forget a thing, and nothing gets past her. We made the mistake of telling her we're going on a plane to Florida in August and now every single day she talks about it, and will tell anyone she sees that she's on her way to the plane. She's often asked me if I can drive my plane to her school. (Mommy would love to drive something nicer than our 10 year old car to school, but a plane might be overkill.)

For all her awful behavior at the end of every day thanks to her nap strike, she keeps me laughing most of the day; drawing funny pictures,

telling me stories, singing, dancing. She doesn't stop moving or talking. I hope she holds on to some of the funny little things she says for a long while. Elmo used to be "Memo" but now she can say it correctly. "Meemo" is Nemo ("Finding Nemo") and I've taken to calling him Meemo myself. Everything must be done "all my byself" and my mother is not Grandma, but "Mlamlah." Instead of telling us, "I don't like..." she "can't like" whatever it is. But my favorite, by far, is if you ask her what Buzz Lightyear says, she answers with a very enthusiastic, "Bling bling and blonde!" She loves to help me cook, and eats things most people wouldn't imagine kids eating. One recent night all she would eat for dinner was mustard and pickles. She also loves hot sauce.

School is the highlight of her days, and often the highlight of mine. Grocery shopping without a sidekick! Drinking a cup of coffee without someone climbing on me! Blasting music in the car! Speaking of music, she does have good taste in that. She loves Dave Matthews, Adele, Zac Brown Band, The Gaslight Anthem, and P!nk, and can sing along with all of those and others. Have you ever seen a 2.5 year old stomping her foot in time to "Rolling in the Deep" as she pouts and belts it out? Hilarity. Two weeks ago I registered her for official pre-school. Three days a week, three hours a day. I can't believe she's ready for that. I know she's going to love it.

We're still here!

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in so long!

Sassy is almost 2 and a half, talking up a storm, actually having conversations. It's so amazing. She cracks my shit up daily. She goes to "school" twice a week for 90 minutes. No progress on potty training. She did so well at first and then... nothing. We're also at a really bad place when it comes to sleep. She won't stay in her room alone at night to fall asleep, so one of us has to lay on the floor while she's in her crib. The nights she falls asleep in a few minutes aren't so bad, but then there are nights like last night where she's up until 10. Not cool, kid. Not cool.

Potty Training!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted here. Life with a two year old is pretty busy, I guess! Sassy's speech evaluation turned out to be fruitless. She was so close to qualifying for help, but didn't. We were advised to have her evaluated again at 2, but in the last few weeks her speech has absolutely taken off. We even get sentences now, and she's become quite the little parrot. My favorite phrase of hers lately is "____ weh ah yooo?" This started about 10 days ago when we were at the beach with my sister's family. We all got back in our cars and were heading to meet our aunt, and Sassy kept calling out, "Bitbit (Elizabeth), weh ah yoooo?" "Mlahmlah (Grandma), weh ah yooooo?" Sadly, she's also taken to calling me, "Mommy" instead of "Mamma." :-(

Potty training is going VERY well! We bought one a few months ago after we moved, and left it out for her to explore for a while, but it was nothing but a toy to her, so we put it away. Then a couple of months ago we bought the Elmo potty training DVD, but she showed no interest in that either. Thankfully, that was put away, too, because it's probably the WORST DVD ever. I'd rather watch 24/7 Barney. Last week when we came home from vacation we put the potty in the bathroom. She knew what going potty was from us talking it up and seeing us go, so she sat on it, fully clothed, right away. After a few tries at that I took her diaper off and let her try. The first time she went, I think was complete luck, but we praised and clapped and "good girl!"ed it up. She did it a second time the other day. Today she told me she had to to peepee, so I sat her down. We'd been having a bad day all around, so I didn't buy it, and didn't have patience for it, but within a few minutes she told me, "Peepee coming!" and a minute later, there it was! No rewards, no bribes, she just seems to be getting it!

My biggest fear after potty training? Brining her in public bathrooms. *cry* I thought about that more than once on our vacation. The railroad station where the stall was up a step and barely had room for a roll of tp, the rest area bathroom on I-95, the public bathroom in Ptown, the bathroom on the harbor cruise boat. Ugh. I don't want to go in some of these places, let alone deal with a toddler in them.

Words!

Miss B hasn't be very quick to talk. In fact we just had her evaluated last week after putting it off until we moved. She had maybe 5 words then. All of a sudden she's got a ton! Off the top of my head she says:

hi
bye
momma (omg! makes me cry! she said daddy for the longest time but no momma)
daddy
dog
bird
snow
Elmo (or really, "mo")
bowl
light (dight)
eye
nose
hand
baby
bath
butterfly (comes out as bye-eye)
night night
yes
book
ball
no

Wow! It's even more than I thought now that I list them. She hasn't been very receptive to signing, either, even though I started teaching her at 6 months. She's a funny little bugger, too. We have conversations like this:

"Did you toot?"
*nods* "Doot!" (She hasn't said "doot" since, so I don't count it as a word.)

Cracks. me. up!

Leaving my baby!

April is going to be a big month for leaving Miss B behind. We're taking a much-needed three night trip and leaving her with my mom for 4 nights. An early flight necessitates the extra night. I'm a little worried about my mom having her for 3 full days because that's a lot of running after her. I'm also going to miss her so much! I've only been away from her twice overnight and it felt so weird. Both times she was with my mom and we were just a half hour away at home. This time we'll be a three hour flight away. Yikes!

The week after that I'll be away overnight again... by. my. self. I am going away for a girls' weekend. Getting on a plane. Meeting a friend as soon as I land at 8am waiting for another friend to land an hour later, and then the insanity begins. Sassy is staying home with her Daddy. I suspect they'll both be going to sleep at the same time, especially since I'll be leaving before they're up in the morning. I wonder how many texts/phone calls I'll get. ;)

Moving Day is Near!

Do you know how hard it is to move with an 18 month old underfoot? Holy crap! We're moving locally, so we've had the luxury of being able to go back and forth between the two places for the last 10 days, but it hasn't really been easy. I spend a few hours here in our old place packing, then head over there after B's nap to clean and put stuff away. I can't really bring anything between the two while I'm alone because once I get to the new place it's a flight up, and who knows how far away I have to park, so I can't just leave her in the car or inside while I run back and forth. I have to wait for the hubs to come home, or for my mom to come over.

But, the pressure is on. The movers are coming on Saturday. I just spent some time packing, and I think I need to run out for more boxes in the morning, then come home, and pack like a crazy woman. Friday morning I'll be over at the new place waiting for cable to come.

I think the people underneath us at the new place complained about us already. Bitches. The rules of the co-op (like a condo, but a little different. They're pretty much only popular in NYC.) state that we have to have 75% of the floor covered with carpets. The previous owner left his carpets, and they are pretty much covered, but a baby running around in an empty apartment with no furniture is going to make noise. I called the management company for some issues, and when she asked me what unit number it was, she snapped, "Oh! You know you need to have those floors carpeted!" I felt like she was accusing me of something, and why mention carpet when I was calling about a broken window and a door that isn't up to code unless someone said something. It was her tone. Whatever. I told her the previous owner left the carpets, and if it was fine while he was here, it's fine for us.

Who could be hating on this kid, anyway?