Want to go back to that

tonight shara said she wanted to go to bed by herself, unprompted. We were excited and i told her how proud i was of herand if she did,we could have a special treat tomorrow. Well, no treats for us. She really did try hard to fall asleep quicker than usual though. The other thing that was really cool was when we were about to go into her roomto get ready for bed she took off down the hall towad our bathroom. Alan started to go after her and i stopped him when i saw she was starting to pull down her pullups. I helpd her get on the toilet but nothing happened. I think she just missed it, but this is really encouraging. I wonder if my telling her about the waste created with all those diapers in the landfills had anything to do with it?

One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry

Today Shara & I went to Ward's Berry Farm to pick berries. After spending 1 1/2 hours trying to get out of the house, we finally did and had a very nice time. Shara learned she still likes blueberries - and ate more than we bought, or so it seemed. She actually liked the ones that were still a little purple and tart. After picking for about 1/2 hour (took some time to get our basket, get to the field - not wanting to walk in the grass because it scratched her legs, and there were bugs, etc., though she finally did walk herself and loved it! - and then find the ripe berries. I don't think we were in the ripest spot. There wasn't any direction about what to do or where to go, so we just kind of walked and found berries. We also found the raspberries along the way and I found a few ripe ones for Shara to eat.

After berry picking and diaper change, we went into the market and got some corn, rolls, cucumber and paid for the berries. Took that to the car and went inside to get a smoothie and sandwiches. The wait was rather long, but apparently the kid couldn't read the order takers writing and was calling the wrong name. While we waited Shara tried to run behind the deli counter, and other assorted things to do while being bored with waiting. She was really good though. She carried her sandwich ($3.95 for 2 slices of rye bread and 3 slices of turkey - nothing else!) all the way out to the side where they had picnic tables set out surrounded by beautiful flowers. She had fun watching the birds eating bread and then a little boy and his dad came and ate and there was always something for her to look at. She wouldn't have eaten anything, so I made her turkey and tomato roll-ups and she ate some bread in the car. One piece disappeared, and I don't think it was one she gave to the birds, so she may have eaten that at lunch. I had a very good grilled eggplant, tomato & arugula sandwich on a baguette with garlic mayo and balsamic vinaigrette. We shared a strawberry & orange juice smoothie.

After lunch we went and found the animals, but I was ready to go. It was really hot and windy, so all the dust was blowing around. Shara was clearly tired - it was 1:30 and she woke at 6:30, after going to sleep close to 10:30 last night. She spent the evening at Oma's while Alan & I went to see Harry Potter and eat some great Indian food at Kabob & Curry in Providence. After dinner we tried Cold Stone Creamery. I had been avoiding the place and with good reason. It was really good and super rich. Certainly nothing I could eat nightly, unlike the Plant Depot.

is it for real this time?

Shara went on the potty Wed. at school - actually pee'd, not just sat! She went into their bathroom and did it all by herself, she says. Her teacher did confirm that she went, but i haven't verified she was alone, but she could have been. The kids do go in by themselves. She still wants nothing to do with trying it at home.

Talking Buffalo

we visited bugaboo creek on the 4th with alan's family. shara wasn't very comfortable about the buffalo, which was the only moving/talking thing in the room, until the 4th time it talked. in between there was much obsessing anbout it, but once she was used to it, she loved it. but not the moose.

after we went to newport for a couple of hours of is it or isn't it going to stop/start raining. other than the weather it was a lot of fun. we were all walking own the sidewalk when shara took aturn into a nice clothing store and started dancing around, putting on a real performance. it was cute and i was happy there weren't any customers.

Yesterday was her 3 year old checkup. she did great. not too much fussing, even when they took blood. she's in the 40%tile for weight and 60%tile for height. big spurt this year. also, potty learning,traiining, whatever, is going nowhere.

Sleep Problems Again

Don't know what started this up again but i'm not happy about it. Sunday night Alan & I were relaxing with a couple martinis when Shara, for the first time left her room by herself at night. She screamed and Alan was gone with her for an hour. I fell asleep with her until I woke @ 10:30.

We have no clue why this is happening again. She's talking about Brutus ooo'ing at the fox. A fox was mentioned at lunch on the 4th, but not that fox nor even close to this context. I don't know bu apparently she was really traumatised by that incident last year.

So last night we went to Mansfield library to hear the Toe Jam Puppet Band - lot of fun, and didn't get to bed until late, so she was asleep when Alan left. She woke up at 4 am today, again left her room. I got up and tried to lay with her while she fell asleep, which she didn't. Tonight same story - tried to get her to go tk bed herself and when Alan left her to cry a little, it seemed like she was going back to bed, which she did, but to start throwing up. Alan's in there with her now after my attempts to lay with her until she fell asleep failed because each time I'd move she woke and asked if I was going. And don't think saying yes workd because it didn't. OK, Alan just left her room.

First Full Week in Preschool & Birthday Party

The birthday party was great. Everyone had a really nice time and we were so happy that the girls had such fun playing together and with the great presents we received. Caraboo was a big hit. Shara's learned to play it by herself, so it's been giving us many long minutes of entertainment. She's also becoming a very good at putting puzzles together. We're going to be making ice cream sandwiches today, after Shara gets up from her nap. We do have pictures, which I'll post here, but not of the party (took video instead) so if anyone has any, let me know. Maybe you can upload to flickr and I can just link? That would be nice.

The first week of preschool went really well. Monday I cried, but not until I left the room. She just looked so sad and was holding back her own tears, which really got me going! But from Wed. on, all was well and she was happy happy happy! And at night she was very tired and cranky, but as the week went on we could see she was getting used to her schedule and wasn't as cranky.

Yesterday we went to Hannah's for a little play party with a few other girls. It was fun and I'm always amazed at how different all the kids are from each other. Shara is happy playing by herself but did talk to the other kids when prompted - I told her to, "ask Hannah about..." and she would, but not on her own. She's not as independent as the other kids either - wouldn't go anywhere without Alan or myself and to be honest, it's not that bad. I'm almost happier that she is a little dependent on us still because she's only three and I don't want her growing up quicker than necessary. Where it would be nice is if she would want to loose the diapers and dress herself more. It's mostly lazyness, I've decided. If she wasn't so tired today from being up too late last night and still waking up early this morning, I was going to put her in big girl panties and just tell her if she pees she'll not have a diaper to keep her dry and to let us know when she needs to go, but I think this will have to wait. I can't do that to her when she's so tired and out of sorts. Shouldn't set her up for failure. We'll just take a whole weekend and do it right.

Balancing the checkbook.