Wearing Big Girl Underpants!

Well thanks to Miss Amanda, Shara has been wearing big girl undies all day at school! She's doing great. The other night she ran into the bathroom, sat on the potty, and pooped! She was so proud of herself, as were we. She got stickers and more stickers. She hasn't had too many accidents, not that I'm an expert, but today she came home in the same outfit she went to school in and as she was coming back from getting the mail with daddy, said, "oh!" and ran into the house to poop. She's also continuing to go to sleep by herself at night.

Last night we made pumpkin squares and tonight we decorated them. I made the frosting and turned my back on her to go into the oven to get the tray of squares, and I hear the beaters go on and Shara say something like, "look!" It's a bit of a blur, but basically frosting all over the counter, floor, and wall. I said, "that's a time out!" and told her she needed to clean up the floor, and she really got upset, for real, not her usual pretend upset, and wiped up the floor. Then we discussed, and went back to making the cookies. We had fun - she helped a little with using the cookie cutter and I gave her 2 to frost while I frosted the rest and then she decorated by putting on a sprinkle of orange sugar. The best part was when she said, "I like baking, I like baking with you."

Big Girl Bike

Forgot to mention, the other night we picked up a bike that our neighbors put out on the road. It's a little two wheeler with training wheels. We're going today to get a bike seat, or cover, and a helmet. It's really cute!

Sleeping Well, Wearing Big Girl Undies, First Overnight - Wow!

The past couple of weeks have been very crazy. First, before I forget, last weekend we went to the King Richard's Faire. It was a lot of fun. We first saw the big cat show and I was a little freaked out by the Liger, but Shara didn't seem phased at all, with any of them. She was scared of the unicorn (person in a big costume) at the front entrance, and had a fit later when she was trying to ask me about the uniform and eventually I was realizing she was trying to say, "unicorn". Close, but off enough to fully confuse me. We all really loved "The Lost Boys Renaissance Rock n Roll", that we watched/listened to while eating lunch, and realized how silly some of the things we find funny really are. She couldn't understand why someone would drink mud. I said to make us laugh and she just didn't get it. Jousting was fun and brought up more questions that keeped arising for the next couple of days like, "why did the stick break?" - she was talking about the javalin, which I assume was a breakable one. This year it really seemed staged. I don't remember it being so obvious last year. It was fun anyway. Then we were ready to leave. Without a nap and not the best entertainment, it was rough near the end. Next year we'll look out for more performances. But then next year she'll probably want to participate in the "Princess Academy".

Something got in my head to last week to start pushing/talk about potty training again. I figured sleeping was good, she's settled in preschool, we've all been very happy, why not try and ruin everything? Well I did. I started asking Shara if she wanted to sit on the toilet or potty and asked her teachers if she had been using the potty at school and that night Shara wouldn't go to sleep by herself. She screamed and cried when Alan tried to leave and finally fell asleep and Alan snuck out. I asked her about it the next morning and she said, "Brutus didn't want to go to sleep last night by himself. He got sick in my bed, didn't get sick, just made sick noises." I asked her later if that had to do with my talking about the potty and she said yes.

I told her I was going to ask her teachers to ask her during the day if she wanted to go on the potty, but not make a big deal out of it, and that they should pay attention so we could do the jelly beans for her going on it. She liked that idea. I had also talked to her teacher the day before and we decided to bring in Shara's underpants and she'd put them on her and see what happened. So that did happen and Shara was fine about it. She did go a lot on the potty, had a few accidents, went to be fine at night, even said to Alan, "daddy I want you to go now". She's been having a few accidents at school and has been coming home in different clothes, but she's still going on the potty. This has only been going on for 3 days at school and she doesn't want to go on the toilet at home and has sat on her potty here, but isn't very excited about it so I'm not pushing. She also isn't comfortable pooping on the potty so didn't go for two days. As soon as Alan put her in a diaper the other night she went.

Last night Shara spent the night at Oma & Jidor's. Sorry Bubbe. I mentioned to her that Katie was going to be spending the week at her nana's because Dave & Kristin went away to do training together and all of a sudden, Shara was into spending the night. Today is Oma's birthday and I thought it would be a nice present for her. I hope so. We're going to be leaving in a few to pick her up. We miss her, but also had a fun time together. The house is certainly different without her presence.

My Little Dancer

Last week Shara did much better in dance class. She went in from the beginning and though she sat through stretching with ducky & giraffe, she eventually put them in a cubby and participated with the rest of class. I'm hoping today goes as smooth - we don't observe today but stay in the waiting room. All week she's been sashaying and princess walking. Last night we practiced putting on her ballet & tap shoes and she gave a nice performance, but I had to dance too.



Nothing too exciting has been happening. We had a really nice day with Bubbe, Papa & Liz out in Amherst. As we drove away from dropping Liz off, Shara said, "what a nice day this was". She was right. And then she was asleep for the whole ride home.

Mind is working fast

There are several cute preschool things Shara has been saying and doing.

• Last night Alan got a chuckle when he saw her sweater hanging up on the back of her chair, as ours typically are, but this one was inside out.
• The other day I was changing her and noticed her pants were on backwards. I asked if she dressed herself today and she proudly said, "yes!". Of course I replied with, "great job!"
• Alan & Shara have had a few hide & seek games outside. Shara stands near the house and counts while alan runs a little away. The rule is that he has to stay where she can see him.
• The other night we were saying good night to the cats and Alan called Brutus Brutal Toodle. That had her cracking up for the next 45 minutes. It was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
• Not so cute, but lots of potty talk. Even if I say the term "potty talk" she gets rolling.
• We bought a birthday card for Alan while out shopping last weekend and when we got home she ran up to him and told him we got a card and tried to show it to him. We also talked about a present for him and later, on her own, she said she wanted to make a project for him - art project. So after dinner we got her supplies (thank you Bubbe for the glittery glue. It was a hit.) and she had a blast. As she was working she said to Alan that this was for his present. I asked her if it should be a surprise and she turned to Alan and said, "it's a surprise".

We went to the NRT Harvest Fair last weekend and had a very nice time. Neat Sheets are a wonderful invention! She did not want to ride or even pet the ponies, but had fun looking at them and loved the cotton candy and the only thing she really asked for, aside from the cotton candy, was to have her face painted, which she got - a cat. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after us leaving.

Dance class ended very well. She wouldn't go in the room without me, so I did go in since another mom was in also. The two moms did more dancing than their daughters. I said to Shara, in earshot of the teacher, to remember at home she said that mommy & daddy would be in the waiting room and she would be sad in with the teacher. Teacher replied, "I have no problem with that". So I left and Shara was sad indeed. She followed me out and we stayed in the hall until the time to change into tap shoes. When we went back in, the other mom shoved her kid in, and Shara was already in, and the door got shut with me in the hall and Shara in the room. She cried a little, but had ducky & giraffe and I peeked in and saw she was standing there but not crying. Then she started following the teacher around and eventually she was actually doing things with the class. I was very proud & very relieved! She got her listening sticker and I hope that next week will go much easier.