our latest milestones

ellie is almost 2 1/2 and i can see that we are reaching some new milestones. for one, our little monkey girl has somehow figured out that she is agile enough to get herself out of her crib. addison, our good girl... always playing it safe... had never attempted to break free from the wooden bars of her crib. but fearless little ellie has no qualms about throwing her legs up and over the top of the crib. it's only happened twice and they happened to be during fits of anger when she was taking a time-out in her bed. but to my surprise, i walked into her room to what i thought was her calming down in her bed. but i enter and she was standing OUTSIDE of her bed. i couldn't even get mad about it... in fact, i had to hide my laughter because she surprised me so much and i thought it was just so funny.



the proof. where she stepped on the bumper to climb out.






"yes, i'm a little rascal!"


another big milestone for us is that ellie has mastered the potty chair for pee pee! she has been consistently using the potty chair before bathtime every night. it was routine and no problem for her at all. but i had not been very good about encouraging it during the day time. okay, i was being lazy! i sort of dread potty training. it's a little nerve-racking for me... and don't forget the fact that it can been a messy process! but about a week ago, i decided, okay, let's do this. she seems pretty ready. so we gave it a try... i had her wearing regular underwear because i felt like she may be less inclined to want to wet herself. well, we were doing pretty good, but naturally we had some accidents... one of which was a big one where it was like slow motion. she started peeing... couldn't stop... and it was getting everywhere (even as i lifted her up and raced her to the toilet). she peed on addison's foot, on the rug, on her slippers that she was wearing, on the coffee table, on me. it was a wet mess! after that day, i decided to give the training a rest. but suddenly a day or so later. she decided that she want to use the potty chair again... and from then on we haven't looked back! (well, except for poops and nighttime). but it's been great!!


"i'm a potty training champ!"


and our third milestone is that miss ellie started an "All By Myself" class. it's only once a week and it's only for an hour and half. but it's our introduction to preschool which she will be starting next fall. today was her first day and there were some tears, but overall she did okay. boy, i have to say that 1 1/2 hour of freedom for myself felt darn good! i ran some errands without interruption and without having someone want to touch or ask for something... without having to unload and load 25 lbs. of wiggly, stubborness every time i get in or out of the car. it was peaceful and slow and relaxing! i''ll have to take a picture of her next week with her backpack on.

but here is a picture of my two squirts. i found them one morning like this.... in my bathroom... reading books. ahhh, what a lovely sight! now if only they were this good all the time! ;)