It finally snowed outside this month. You have been very excited about making a snowman and finally it snowed enough to stick. It snowed overnight, so there were about 4 or 5 inches by morning. We got bundled up and ran outside. I was quite worried that this Mommy from the desert had a lack of snowman-making skills, but as it turns out, it was the “wrong kind of snow” – I am still not clear on what that means, but I couldn’t make the snow into a ball to even get started. Thankfully, you had a ball just knocking snow off everything and making snow angels.

You are having random memory recall now. For example, you (randomly) one day, recalled every detail of our experiment day in which we removed the M’s off of M&Ms. You said “We did a “speramint” (aka, experiment)! My friend shared his bike! I liked it!”

Your friends at school are a few months older than you, which means they are going to go to pre-school next year. But, in that cute way you have, you didn’t get the words quite right. You say: When I turn 4, I get to go to “pretty school” And when I turn 5, I get to go to “garden school”. I have been trying to find out what happens after that, but so far, you don’t have anything more to add.

The dirt from daycare continues. You have now started to fill your pockets with dirt and rocks. I cannot express to you how much I love this new habit (because I don’t). But, you play outside the way kids should and you come home happy and worn out. I can’t complain. (Don’t judge the dirty purple coat in the picture – I swear it gets clean regularly)

Potty training is going well. Still no “#2′s” at home, but all in all, going well. On the last day of this month, you even got yourself dressed. I picked out the clothes, but you took off your pajamas and dressed yourself – everything except the socks.

Which part of the brain most describes the toddler in your life?

3 years old is bringing out an attitude that I was expecting at 2. It’s as though the big hairy “terrible two’s” is to woo us into believing it isn’t that bad. Then three happens. All I have to say is WTF??

OK, it isn’t ALL bad. There is still a lot of great stuff, but this month the attitude has been a doozy.

To start this month, we started with your birthday. Because you are my girl (and I do love birthdays), you got two parties. The first with all of Daddy’s and my friends (and your friends too), then another with your friends. You got some great gifts that you love, but the biggest hit was a Princess dress up outfit (as seen in the photo). It comes complete with tiara, clip on earings, a “dress” (aka, skirt) and a purse to carry (what else?) cookies (plastic cookies that were not that interesting before, but now is the only thing to complete the princess ensemble). We have come to an agreement that you can wear it after you eat, and before you play with anything else that is sure to get all over it. This thing is not made well, not sure how many trips through the wash it can handle. I appreciate your cooperation in keeping it as clean as possible.

The next biggest topic for this month is that poop is an issue for you. There is some block in your brain that refuses to let you poop in the potty. You will only do it with a diaper. Even worse, this was a challenge for a while also. There was a period of a couple of weeks in which you didn’t want to poop in the potty, so you just went on strike from pooping. At all. Of course that didn’t end well. Daddy and I spent those two weeks trying to convince you to eat the natural laxative foods. Convince a kid who won’t eat much of anything at all. That also didn’t end well.

Finally, we got to the point where you would poop with regularity, but still refused to go in the potty. So we thought. It seems the at home potty is problematic, but the one at school is totally fine and you poop there all the time. I ask again, WTF?? We are stumped about how to handle this one, since trying to convince you ends in pooping strike, so if you could just fill us in on the problem, that would be great.

Speaking of the digestive system – you are eating! Not a ton, but with regularity. I will choose to ignore the fact that when I stopped obsessing over your food intake (because doc said you are on track and growing perfectly), you started eating as I expect a 3-year-old kid to eat. Instead, I am going to credit our superior parenting skills. (go with it, it is better that way.)

I was also really hoping that you would give up the binky. Daddy and I have discussed various methods of getting you to give it up with the lowest amount of drama. You only get it in bed and to date it isn’t effecting your teeth – but I now wish I made you give it up at 1 like the doc suggested. This is going to be much harder than I planned. The plan we developed is that you can exchange the binky (which babies get) for freedom (we will remove the baby gate from your door while you are in there). You are VERY excited at the prospect of being able to come into our room any time you want – but not excited enough to give up the binky. We are even using peer pressure against you. We know which of your friends have given it up and remind you of this at every opportunity. When you are a teen, I will appreciate your lack of willingness to bend to peer pressure, but for now, it isn’t working for me. If you have any tips, that would be grand. I am not against bribery with M&M’s.

Back to bragging. This month there were HUGE strides in your writing/coloring. You can color a picture in the lines (when you choose to – which is not always the case) and you can write the first 3 letters of your name and the last several. You can read 6 “sight words” in addition to recognizing your name, Mommy and Daddy. You can type your name (when we let you touch the computer) and I am certain you are a genius! You also drew a picture of Daddy. It had a circle for his head, eyes – something like a nose, and something like a beard. Not only a genius, but an artist – I am so proud!

On weekend mornings, you are usually found making breakfast with Daddy. Two weeks ago, you measured all the dry ingredients of pancakes by yourself. Your favorite activity is still swinging  and you will swing for as long as someone will push you. I look forward to the time when you will be able to swing on your own.

This month had a lot in it. Daddy and I love you more than you know and we wish you the best. If you can help us out a little in the attitude and pooping departments, that would be great.

Love, Mommy

Admittedly, the “experiment” was more – look and see what this does. But the scientists were 3, so we let it slide a bit. We did these “experiments”…

- One that I didn’t know about at all, that was pretty cool was the color symphony in milk. Here is that picture.

- My favorite was making the “M” from M&M’s float – here is our picture.

- pan of baking soda and the kids added vinegar. The grown up scientists got vinegar with food coloring (no need to try out how well it stains)

- The at home lava in a cup (we used green food coloring), but I didn’t know this worked with just salt. I’d heard about using Alka Seltzer, but we didn’t have any on hand to try it out)

The one we didn’t try (didn’t have the right soap) is the exploding Ivory soap. We will be trying this out…

I would recommend these things to do for you, if you have young ones. Or if you are just around the kitchen table drinking with friends.

Since your last birthday you’ve been having tea parties with your toys. This month you got to join Mommy for a real tea party. You were really excited at the idea of it, but when it came time to actually sit with adults, you found other things to do.

Your desire to have a birthday got stronger. We’ve been having a countdown of sorts for a while and finally the last birthday of your Godfather came and went and you knew that your birthday was next. Every day for two weeks we got a notice that your birthday was coming. I wondered what you expected to happen when you actually turned 3, but you certainly had big plans.

Developmentally, you are still really smart, a good thinker, potty training is going well (except that whole refusal to poop thing) and you still won’t eat. I am learning to embrace this until a doctor tells me otherwise. I promise it is better than before, but that is all I can promise.

Now – on to the Christmas season and you. First, you loved the “Aaa-bent calendar” (aka, advent calendar). Each day you would ask what number we are so you can open that drawer and find a chocolate treat. Each day I would explain who Santa was and how he was going to come visit if you were good. As the month went on, this got better. Eventually you were genuinely excited about his arrival. We made Christmas cookies with your friend and you decorated with about ½ a bottle of sprinkles per cookie. Later we made a gingerbread house and you were all too happy to put candy on the house with lots of icing (sampling a few along the way). It was a great looking house, but we made sure not to actually eat the slobbery side.

Much to my amazement, you actually took a picture with Santa on our first visit! OK – you took a little coaxing, but it was done on the first visit. I LOVE these pictures and will want one every year. I hope you continue to get more comfortable with it.

To continue to confuse Halloween and Christmas, we went to a costume party with our dear friends. You got to dress up as Tinkerbell again and I was a pirate. I was excited to be able to go as a matching costume, but you didn’t seem to get it. Eh, maybe next year.

Daddy and I went so far overboard with presents that we actually had more than enough for Christmas, your birthday. We have a few things reserved for future gift-giving occasions. The big hits for gifts this year were a huge doll house from Daddy and I and a princess doll that Santa got for you. You drag this poor doll around by her hair and all the old toys are new again by making them characters in the doll house.

Finally preparing for New Year’s and your birthday you were SOO excited that I don’t think you slept much.

You are finally three years old (big girl, dontcha know) and we love you more than anything in the world.

Love, Mommy

Dearest Bean,

This month you spent reinforcing to us that you loved Halloween. A small reason could be that you still had candy at the end of the month from your huge bounty on Halloween evening. This was proven by you still shouting “Happy Halloween” several weeks later. You made Mommy proud.

This month you have had great progress in potty training. You are spending several days a week at school without a diaper (except nap time). We are thrilled with this, but because you have this progress in the forefront of your mind and because you like to use these terms with great frequency. You love to talk about poop. All the time. Sometimes Pee is fun to talk about, but mainly poop. Not that you will do that for us at home on the potty. Ever. But apparently you do at school and all your friends are doing it (go peer pressure!) it is a topic to discuss all the time at home. You have proven that you have great control because when we try to catch you at a time we know you have to “go #2”, we take you to the potty and you will refuse to go. So much that you actually had a problem with constipation this month. NOW I get why prunes are such a popular food for toddlers… I never got why, now I do.

Also related to potty training, you are focused on your body parts. Particularly those people don’t discuss in mixed company. However, we refused to come up with fake names for the body parts. A vagina is a vagina, etc. You focus on it so much that sometimes it is confused with the state in which you live.  One morning you looked out your bedroom window and proudly said “I live in Vagina.” It is moments like this that remind me why sometimes the hardest part about being a parent is not to laugh. I failed at this task and you began to repeat it. Over and over again.

In other developmental news, you still love puzzles (always have). Daddy got you a regular puzzle (I think it was an 18 piece puzzle) and you mastered it after Daddy showed you how two pieces worked. You took a little time to figure it out, but it was mastered within an hour. Because of that, we found other puzzles for you that were designed for kids 4 or 5 or older and you figured them out. Of course WE know you are a genius, but it is nice to have this reinforced from time to time.

There is a great petting zoo nearby where we went to feed the animals. You fell in love with the overly friendly camel and thought the sheep and house cat were great. You were less than impressed with the albino wallaby – maybe later in life you will understand how unusual this is. You did squeal with glee when you were feeding anything that would actually eat out of your hand. Thankfully the animals were used to high pitch squealing (or are deaf) and they stuck around.

Thanksgiving came and our houseguests included a boy around age 6 who taught you how to play hide and seek. I think this was my favorite part of your learning. Since then, you have been playing with your dolls (I wonder how skilled they would be at finding if they could move on their own.) You did avoid eating (as usual), but overall it was a great dinner. On Black Friday you joined us for local festivities and you were so excited to see the Grinch! You were even willing to take a picture with him. Santa you won’t take a picture with, but the Grinch you will… hmm. I think you are my kid.

With Thanksgiving over, we decorated for Christmas. As we decorated, everything started to click. You were so excited for Christmas to come that it made Daddy and I so much more excited about Christmas with you.

We can’t wait for Christmas with you and so much more.

Much love,

Mommy

Your month has been packed full of excitement.

Early in the month, we went to the local zoo. You’d been before, but this time you were really excited to see all the animals. In fact, you are still talking about feeding the animals and seeing the alligator (your current favorite animal, tied with the giraffe you fed). It did take you a while to warm up to the idea of actually feeding the animals. You giggled when Daddy was helping you feed the giraffes, but when we got to the deer later on; you finally fed one who was excited at the chance of getting food from you. Of course, the deer was less excited when it happened. As soon as she took food from you, you  SQUEALED with excitement. It scared the deer, who bumped her head on the fence trying to escape the very loud noise coming from a very little person. Yes, we got it on video and it may be played at your wedding – be prepared. I wish the zoo were closer to us. Seeing how excited you were makes me want to take you every weekend – but alas, it is far.

We travelled to go see the family. The Grandma’s and Grandpa’s were so excited to see you, see how big you are and how smart you are. While there, you decided not to eat. I don’t know what kind of anorexic thoughts you are having, but it started to make me worry again – but at least the family could see why I am worried. Everyone stood firm on the “don’t worry plan”, but you ate so very little while we were there you actually lost a ½ pound. This is the wrong direction for a growing girl. Thankfully when you got home, your appetite returned.

Your favorite things to do at Grandma’s house were playing with the big ball and throwing it up in the sky (and having it land on your head). You especially loved playing in the sand. Grandma and Daddy even made you a sand box where you added water… a lot of water… and you were introduced to mud pies. I was kind of hoping to keep you a little cleaner than you get at daycare, but you loved the sand/mud so much at Grandma’s, you got about as dirty. Thankfully it didn’t end up in your hair (although it is still a mystery how that happens with such frequency at daycare). You liked seeing their dogs, but they were a little shy around you. Your favorite dog was your Aunt’s dog (who is VERY friendly and gentle).

Speaking of visiting your Aunt – you still love playing with your cousins. Watching you light up while you play with them is amazing and it warms my heart. You loved playing with bubbles, chasing the dog, playing house, building things and just watching what they did and emulating them. They also had a lot of fun with you. While visiting, we went to Mommy’s favorite zoo. There, you were so very excited to see EVERYTHING. And, of course, your Aunt was impressed with your smarts (naming all the animals you knew).

During the trip home, you loved the car we rented. You called it “your car” and we obliged. Thankfully you were OK with leaving it there. It would be hard to explain that kind of a carry on. You were AWESOME on all the flights and very long car rides. You also watched more movies than the average kid (yes, this is one of those things I swore I wouldn’t do and do it anyway.) I was especially grateful for you being a great kid on the trip home, since we were traveling alone.

Finally we made it home and life was getting back to normal, when the very abnormal happened. We had an earthquake! This was the first earthquake in well over 100 years and measured 5.8 on the rector scale.  You were at daycare and it woke you up. Then you and the rest of your class were whisked into a central area. Of course I called right away and everyone was fine – a little scared, but fine. Daddy was at work and I was at home. It was a very odd experience and I wonder how long it will be before you forget it – or if you forget it. There were some more aftershocks that also scared you, but thankfully there was a big one that you slept through.

Then, not to be outdone by another force of nature, we were offered up Hurricane Irene. Thankfully, Irene didn’t have much to say and left us with some wind and rain, but nothing of note. You even got to go to a pool party the following day.

Only time will tell what the future holds for you, but you have some good stories to tell from this month alone. Daddy and I love you so much and we are very proud of you.

Love, Mommy

Because the clothes I get are only going to last a few short months, I really hate paying for brand new wardrobe every six months. I am not sure who pays $40 for a top and knit leggings for a child who will wear it, do unspeakable things to it, then grow out of it – all in the span of six months, but I assure you, it is not me. Instead, I buy nearly all of her clothes at consignment sales and various other sources of used kids clothing.

Not only do I buy used clothing, but I also sell all of her clothing back to the people who also feel it is a crime against humanity to pay $40 for clothing kids do unspeakable things to, only to outgrow them in a matter of months.

It is kind of like a rental program, similar to that of Redbox or Block buster. It will cost you a certain amount of money to use it for the following six months, but if you return it in good condition, you can get some of your money back. If not, you keep it – for the full amount of your purchase price. (or you pawn it off on some sucker with a kid a year younger than yours).

There are similar consignment options for adult clothing, furniture and any number of things, I suppose. But hopefully there are fewer unspeakable things done to those items. Hopefully.

Do you buy used stuff? Is there a limit to what you will or won’t buy used?

My Dearest Bean,

This month has, yet again, proven that one of the hardest things about parenting is not laughing. I am going to jump right into this letter to you with some potty humor. Not that kind. you know. Humor about the potty.

Potty training is eh… going. slowly. You are VERY excited and proud to be wearing pull ups. There have been a few days in which you have been dry, but the poo has been an issue. For the first part of the month, I managed to “catch” you at a time when you “have to go” and yet you refused. Refused. One time, you wanted to “go to the potty” (which about 1/3 of the time simply means that you want to wash your hands). When I took you, I got the impression that you had to “go #2″. I tried to get you to “go” when you replied with “I can’t. My poo poo is broken!” with the most worried face I’ve seen. I couldn’t help myself. I had to laugh. What you meant is that you didn’t want to “go” on the potty (for reasons that are beyond me), but you opted to go with “broken”.

Finally, by late in the month, Daddy had a successful Poo in the potty! This was met with praise beyond measure. It was met with your very first breakfast made of dessert (home made cherry cheesecake). It was met with a whole sheet of your very special stickers. It was met with high fives all day long. It was not met with a daily adventure to try again. We’ve had some more success, but not anything close to consistent.

Because your Mommy is a total sucker, I got a “potty watch”. This is a count down timer that sings every 30, 60 or 90 minutes with the idea that when it sings, you go to the potty. Your friend has one and it is working well at school, so I am a sucker and got one. The problem: when we got it home, set it for 30 minutes to try it out, you flipped out. It went off while you were playing and you melted down and had a crying fit about your watch singing “London Bridges”. I cannot explain why, but I did feel bad when I laughed at your crying. On to the next plan, I guess.

This month you also expanded your diet. Not only are you eating what I have deemed to be a normal amount with regularity, you are eating things like Mac ‘n cheese. Corn on the cob. Chicken that isn’t a nugget. It is wonderful. But, you have turned into a squirrel. Squirrels are known to hold food in their cheeks for a long period of time. This is what you do. The first time I noticed it, I hoped you would chew and swallow. but it was a couple of hours before you did. How silly did I look at the restaurant saying “chew. Sweetie – chew. Come on, chew”? It apparently was so much fun for you that it is now part of my regular conversation with you over food.

This month we had a lot of visitors, including your Aunt from New Mexico and cousin from Seattle. With their visit came your very first trip to the beach. Much to my glee, you LOVED it. The first night we were there, we took a walk on the beach and you walked right into the waves and got soaked (even though we were not planning on swimming). You had so much fun making sand castles, chasing and running from the waves and kicking the water. I am very excited for your next trip (maybe even this year??)

We made our first trip to the movie theater to see Winnie the Pooh. You were not all that impressed with the movie, but you ate your weight in popcorn and were thrilled to watch a movie while eating this salty treat. In hind sight, I would have fed you something resembling dinner before the movie instead of trying to convince you to eat something not nearly as tasty as popcorn after the fact. Live and learn.

We are boldly going into the three’s and we have a lot more in store for you before we do. Just know that we love you, even when we laugh at you.

Love,

Mommy

This morning we had plans to play with her BFF and other friends at the spray park. We were leaving so early, that I thought we were going to get there a little too early, so I went ahead and changed the Bean into her swimming diaper and swimming suit so we could play in the water a little faster (and kill a few minutes before leaving the house).

The universe had other plans.

We went out, got the Bean buckled in and looked at the car’s tire… it was flat. It had enough air that I was willing to limp it down the hill to get air in the tire. I made my way to the local tire shop and they were able to get me in “right away”. Bean and I entertained ourselves in the waiting room. I pulled her on my lap to read something and all of a sudden, my leg was wet.

Did you know that swim diapers are meant to only contain solid material and not liquid material? I didn’t until today.

I asked the guy if I can get the diaper bag out of the car. He said it was fine, the car was still outside so I could help myself. A quick glance at the clock made me wonder what he meant by “right away”. Frustrated w/ a wet child, I just got the bag.

We went to clean the child, wash her shorts in the tire store sink (FYI, the bathroom was not as clean as I’d wish – but I bet they didn’t plan on my doing laundry in their sink). I put her into a diaper that would hold both liquid and solid (but hoping it would need to do neither because she would be magically potty trained, just like that.) (No such luck.) Then we waited another few minutes to learn that there was nothing wrong w/ the tire. No holes. No nails. No screws. No nothing. Just fine. (Except for the little detail that it was flat this morning.)

We were now an hour and a half late for the play date at the spray park, but the child had talked about it non stop to everyone in the tire store – it was not likely she was going to forget if we went home. So we went, she had fun for the few minutes her friends were there, and for several more after they left. Her shorts still smelled a little like pee and we got home in time for nap and for mommy to start drinking wine.

How do plans get so off course?