pull up

After Adler turned three and we had to make a mad dash out to buy more diapers, we had a talk. That she is now a big girl and we really needed to stop wearing diapers at bedtime. I know this is mostly my fault as I did not want to deal with it and have to clean up the dozens of messes. Unlike her sister who was potty trained in less than two weeks. Rigby was great and had very few accidents. Adler, on the other hand, took months and there were multiple accidents at home and school. She was still waking up in the morning with a completely full diaper. So I left the diaper (only at bed) last way longer than it probably should have. It has now been weeks since Alder has had an accident at school, she had a dry diaper a few times in the morning, and she turned three. So we started telling her that she really needs to be a big girl and stop wearing a diaper. We put the pull up on and put the potty chair in the bedroom for late night potties. She has been doing it now for 4 days and no accidents. I think she was finally ready and that is what is making this a success rather me trying to force her to do it earlier. She had had to get up normally about 5am to pee. She goes in the potty, but instead of going back to sleep for another hour she comes in and wakes me up. She wants me to clean it up right away and then thinks it is breakfast time. I try to get her to snuggle but that normally only lasts about 20 minutes before she is full blown restless and I have to get up and start the day. Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed that we continue to have success and we can hopefully drop the pull ups soon. ***update since this was originally written. she has had one accident now. I still think that is really good.***

homework folder

Rigby has a homework folder (see her post.) Alder normally gets very annoying once we try to sit and do Rigby’s homework. I have to sit next to Rigby and read the instructions on most pages. So I guess Adler thinks I am ignoring her. So to help combat this I have printed out a dozen or so “homework” papers off the internet for her. I put them in a folder and now she too has homework. Most of hers are coloring papers. Some have some matching, but I try to make them instruction free as I have to dedicate the time to Rigby. She does a great job. She sits still and concentrates and works though each paper scribbling on all of them. She does it with a multitude of colors and really tries to cover the entire character outlines. I know she is not to the step to be able to color in the lines but I am impressed that she works hard to make sure the outlines are all covered and now is using lots of colors to accomplish this. I think this will bode well for her later when she really does have to do homework. We will see.

Monkey Joe's

A continuation of birthday celebration daddy got the girls tickets to Monkey Joes. The premise sounds great. It is an indoor bounce house with arcade. Dad got a deal on Groupon. We went on a Saturday which I knew was not the greatest idea as there would inevitably be birthday parties. And there was about 4 of them. Well it took forever to get in as you have to go through this huge waver process. The supervision was a few high schoolers and the did not really care or watch anything. I tried to direct the girls to bounce in the houses that were less populated. But there were bumped heads and ouches. Alder got lost in one of the bigger ones and I had to go in and get her. The arcade was about 2x as expensive as Chuck-e-cheese. There were lots of tears shed so to me this seemed like a giant bust and we all left frustrated and unhappy. We then hit two different toy stores (GW.) so that cheered us all up a little. After a quick errand for daddy we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. When we got back in the car Rigby and Adler were both very grateful saying thank you for a great day. That was so kind and nice and amazing to hear (they had already forgotten about the tears.)

year of the Dora

This year was full of Dora the Explore. She got a Dora doll that sang happy birthday and gave birthday wishes. She got a mini Dora that has removable pants (I have no idea why but those pants are off more than on) and a baby Dora. She also got a back pack full of Dora hair accessories. One is a pretend curling iron which is a hot commodity at our house. There have already been many a fight over it. She got a few sets of jammies that have room to grow. And a wooden Melissa& Doug fancy birthday cake. Then a Frozen chalkboard and stickers. All are great and all have been used or warn already.

birthday recap

Adler had an amazing birthday. She got a pancake breakfast with extra chocolate chips. Sissy and I sang to her. Then she got to open her birthday cards. Both Rigby and Adler got light up wands. Rigby and I left Adler at home watching cartoons as the had the morning off. She promptly took her light up wand in and woke up daddy and nearly blinded him. (ha ha) they spend time together before her 3 year doctor checkup. At the doctor everything looks fine, except she STILL have respiratory distress, but no meds. (errrrrr) Doctor predicted that she will probably only be about 5’5” about mommy’s height. She then went to school where after nap time she got to celebrate with her 30 other classmates her birthday. They got mini-cupcakes, fancy napkins, and a box full of mini birthday stickers. After school we went to Aunt Kathy’s house for dinner and ANOTHER birthday cake.

happy birthday

can't believe my baby is three.

needy

Adler has been a lot more cling-y these days. I don’t know what has inspired this. I don’t 100% dislike it as I get extra cuddles, hugs, kisses only down side is that not always in the most opportune times. I try to stop what I am doing as I know time is fleeting that she will want me to do any of these things. I cant believe my BABY is going to be three. That is not possible.

pest

Alder can be so stinking good. Rigby and be wonderful, but if you put the two of them together these days they make you want to pull out your hair. One or the other is always pestering the other touching, taking toys, ect…just something to bother. Then the other whines, cries, screams and that is where I want to run away. UGH!!!!!!!

So excited

Adler has really grasped that her birthday is coming up. She is so excited that we will be bringing cupcakes to school. She keeps requesting cupcakes AND a cake for her party. I know that is because she sees me cart loads of home baked goods into my work when it is “birthday” time. She will proudly tell you she is going to be three and hold up her little fingers.

passing it along

I think that Adler is mostly over the cold/virus that we sent her to the doctor (and did not get drugs.) So that is the up side, the down side is I think she passed it along to her sister. Rigby now has a horrible croupy cough. I have been treating it with Benadryl and Motrin same as the doctor suggested. She has not had the fever but the cough sounds nasty. I hope she kicks it soon.

girl friend

One of our friends had a daughter that was 2. She is about 6 months younger than Adler. Both of my girls were up in her face and trying to engage her the minute she walked thought the door. She was more the shy type so it took a little while and a few suckers to warm up but eventually they were playing like best buds. I think this added to the fun of the night for the girls.

Halloween Night

So the girls got dressed up in their Freak Show costumes. Rigby was a Live Fiji Mermaid and Adler was the Tattooed Girl. They went with a Fortune Teller (Grandma) and a Snake Charmer (Poppa) to the local mall to trick-or-treat. They got yet another bucket of candy. Then when they got home mom/dad’s party was just starting to kick off.

MAC counter girl???

I am sitting here working and Adler is playing with her baby dolls. She is playing make up. she is telling me how to put on the foundation, blush, eyeshadow, and to brush her eyebrows in the same direction. I guess she listens to me more than I thought when we do our morning routine.