Best Easter EVER!

What a difference a year makes. Last Easter I was actually down because it was Kayla and my first Easter and we were all alone and didn't do anything special. I wanted family around and family traditions. I wanted to make sure this year was different.

OK, the week may have gotten off to a rocky start. I took Kayla to visit the Easter Bunny (EB) to have her picture taken. Being the wise, psychologically trained person I am I prepped her for a couple of days in advance by showing her Laurens picture with the EB and would say, "do you want to sit on the EB's lap like Lauren?" and telling her we too were going to go an visit the EB. She would say "yes" to my question so I thought it was a slam dunk. Until I got to the mall. As soon as she saw the EB it was, "up, up Mommy!". She hid her face in my shoulder and wanted nothing to do with "him" (do we KNOW the EB is a boy???). I got her to walk by him a few times and wave and even got her to sit on my lap next to the EB in the food court. Finally I gave up but got some great spring pictures.

On Saturday I told Kayla that we were going to see the EB and go to an Easter egg hunt. Out of the blue SHE said, "I want to sit on the EB lap". I sort of thought, "you say that now..." but she was good to her word. We went to the egg hunt at the YMCA and The Fountains and she sat on the EB lap BOTH times. Both events were fun but also a little frustrating. Parents let their kids fill their baskets BEFORE the egg hunt. I know its no big deal but it did aggravate me (parents not kids). It did make me wonder if I would be one of those nutty parents you hear about at sports events.

At The Fountains Mr. Conrad joined us. That was more fun. They had more activities AND eggs. Conrad and Kayla rode a train together and saw the EB. A clown painted a frog on Kayla's hand that lasted about 15 minutes and they got balloons. A lot of fun.

On Sunday we went to church with Lele, Megan and Jacob. Then we went to a very nice breakfast at the Hilton and guess who was there?!?! The Easter Bunny! Once again Kayla was very good with him. They even had an Easter egg hunt and I think there was Easter egg karma. Johan's kids gave ALL of their eggs to Kayla. It actually made me tear up.

That night I cooked Easter dinner at Lele's It was SUPPOSE to be WE cooked it but she cleaned which is even better.Megan and Jacob took Kayla swimming and we did ANOTHER Easter egg hunt! There was a nice woman there with a beautiful little girl and she invited us to hunt eggs with them. Once again, Easter karma! Did make me feel guilty about getting aggravated at the other hunts.

Of course we also did the whole, "look, the Easter bunny" came thing AFTER I had to recharge my video camera. This year I didn't go nutty. Basket had sunglasses (Kayla's favorite accessory), Hello Kitty shoes, a couple of toys and of course candy. Kayla actually got very little candy though. No, I didn't eat it! It is actually in a baggie in the kitchen so THERE!

So in total we had 5 Easter egg hunts and three visits with the Easter bunny. Exhausting but fun and memorable. Like I said, best Easter ever! Maybe next year I will work up the nerve to actually COLOR eggs.

Good News X 2!!!

OK, the first good news is I think that Kayla is officially pottie trained (I hope I didn't just jinx it!). She wears panties now and when I put her in a pull up (like on the trip to Nenes and Grand Dads) she keeps it dry. Even overnight and I cant even go all night! She tells me when she needs to go, doesn't have any problems with public toilets or automatic flushers like I have heard other kids sometimes do. She hasn't had an accident in over a week. Now we are working on "privacy" as in DON'T OPEN THE DOOR WHEN MOMMY IS IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM.

My second piece of good news is on a totally different category- my job. Long story short for those who didn't know...my company was sold. Pair that with a not so booming economy and you get massive reorganization and the inevitable lay offs. We have literally been in limbo "transformation" for a year and a half. The transformation continues but they are done with Human Resources (for now) and I am officially safe (for now). No one knows what the future holds but I am very grateful to still be employed in a job I love and that my gamble to not take a hotel job paid off. Now to help with my job security and the economy TAKE A VACATION! Everyone seems to be staying close to home which doesn't help those of us in hospitality. I am certainly not an type of economist but keep thinking that until everyone take a leap of faith and starts spending money, weather it be on travel, a new car or home improvements - more businesses will go under and the economy will never improve. But like I said, what do I know?

Kayla's pottie trained, Kayla's pottie trained......hopefully!!!

Memories....

What a nice evening I had with Kayla! I'm writing it down so I don't forget it. I actually prayed that I would be able to remember the moment when she was all grown up but then I started crying. OK, its probably one of those "had to be there" moments. Aunt LeLe fixed her shopping cart (I helped) so we took her baby and cart to "go see water". Half way there she parked her cart in the grass and took my hand and started walking with me. When we got to the lake I sat down and she came and sat on my lap. We took turns pointing at birds and cars. Then she got off my lap and sat next to me and then laid back in the grass and closed her eyes. I just watched her. Finally we got up and went home.

At bedtime I read her her stories. Then she said, "sing Mommy" and we sang some songs. When i say "we" I mean I sang and she sang every 3 - 5th word which was very cute. When I put her down she asked, which she has done before, "Mommy sleep Kayla's room?". It breaks my heart!!! Part of me wants to say yes but then I'm afraid it will happen EVERY night. That and I don't go to bed at 8 PM - yet. Yesterday we went to Blizzard Beach (and had a great time). When we came home for a nap she said, "sleep with Mommy?". Well I tried. She tried. It didn't work. she is a wiggle worm and I am too light of a sleeper and I need my weekend nap! I just worry that a time will come when we are traveling or something and we HAVE to sleep together and I am going to be totally screwed!

Two Quick Thoughts....

1) I am about the throw in the towel with the whole potty training thing. Kayla is such an easy going kid (YEAH!!!) she could not care less if she has a poopy diaper. In fact, she now thinks its funny to poop in her diaper. If she needs to go when you put her on the toilet, she goes. If she has to go and she is NOT on the toilet, she goes.



Yesterday I thought I was a child care guiness and told her we were going to play a game. We were going to see if she could go the W H O L E day without going potty in her pull up. She got all excited and when I would ask what game we were playing she told me and was still excited. I began thinking of the title of the new best selling potty training manual I was going to wrote. Well two wet diapers and one stinky diaper later I gave up on the game idea.



Ms.Krissie thinks she is just lazy and wants to try putting her in panties all week and seeing if that does it (along with a lot of laundry).



2) Who knew a 2 year old could be such help? Now don't go calling the child labor police on me. If I ask her to get something or throw something away, she actually does (most of the time). Yesterday she held the dust pan for me. Today she even cleaned up a spill she made. She is such a good Mommy's helper!



Last night we went to Brock's and Kayla played with Jaimie and Kenny the whole time. We both had a great time. She LOVES playing hide and seek. Luckily I can find her pretty easy....for now.

Checking In

Hello! After massive technical difficulties and a mild addiction to Face Book I am back! Lets see whats new....well Kayla's new phrase is, "Oh man!". The kid is a parrot. I really have to watch what I say. Sunday I said, "Oh my God" for some reason and heard that for the next 2 hours. What she says all the time that I like is "Mommy's baby" when she is talking about herself. Now what I don't like is anytime she has something new like a book or socks she asks, "Nene buy?" NOOOOOO - Mommy buy!

I think I lost credibility last weekend. On Friday I told her, "after school Nene will be here." Well Mama got sick and didn't come up. Then on Saturday I said, "today we are going to see alligator" because I had free passes to Gatorland. When we got there with aunt LeLe the line was so long and there was not one parking space. I pointed at an alligator mural and the open mouth of the Gator and said, "we saw alligators, wasn't that fun? Lets go to BJ's". I wonder if Dr.Phil will still be around when Kayla's ready to rat me out.

I haven't been traveling except to a conference in NC. Now I have a trip to Miami (just for
the day) on Thursday, a two night trip to Clearwater the week of 3/23 and then a 2 night trip to Miami 3/30. At least the last one Mama and Mark will get to keep "Monkey Pants". Kayla actually likes staying over at Miss. Krissies and will ask if she can sleep over. On Sunday she asked if Miss. Krissie could sleep over here. I explained Miss. Krissie has Clark, Brooke, Mathew and 2 doggies so NO she could not sleep over. She took the news well.

Potty training is still going. She pees if you put her on the spot but doesn't really tell you when she has to go. Really, what was wrong with diapers???

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend with NeNe and Grand Dad. We had Tomoko and Fabrice over for dinner on Thursday. Friday I took off work and Mama and I went shopping and had lunch while Kayla was at school. That night we went to happy hour at TGI Fridays.

Saturday we had a field trip out to Forrest City to see the house we lived in when I was Kayla's age. Problem is we couldn't remember the street address so we went to the house we think it was. The people were very nice and let us in but they had renovated. We had a HUGE lunch at Jason's Deli and then home for a nap. Problem is after doing nothing but sitting ina car all day, Kayla wasn't sleepy. She never fell asleep and my parents paid the price when they baby sat that night. From all accounts, she was a terror! My folks had hung the phone up wrong and I couldn't get through. I was at the movies with LeLe and Megan and almost came home but I figured they were capable adults and everything would be OK. I did get to see another just OK movie - "Last Chance Harvey".

Mark put my clock and new shelves up while he was here too. I like having them around, I just wish they lived closer. I have to figure out when we can go visit as it is our turn. Now I don't know if I should wait until Kayla is fully potty trained but that could be YEARS at the rate we are going. She had some progress at day care and has pee peed twice over the weekend but that's it. I think I need to move to 45 minute potty breaks. I'm also interested in hearing more about this "potty training in one day" approach!

Let the Potty Training Begin!

So, I was thinking while Ms. Krissie only has 3 kids it might be a good time to start potty training. I mentioned it to her to see what she thought and all the sudden Kayla was wearing pull ups at day care. Today I bought Pull Ups and as bribes "lollys" aka lolly pops, Skittels and spice dots.

Apparently the way the whole thing works is you put them on the potty every 45 minutes to an hour and I guess the law of averages you will finally get a "hit". When you do they get a candy reward. Maybe I just solved both my weight and frequent potty break problem : ) Might just be easier to keep her in diapers but I'm going to give it a try. Let me rephrase that, Ms. Krissie is going to give it a try. Maybe I shouldnt have started on a long weekend.

Mama and Mark get her tomorrow. I'm making a pot roast in the crock pot and my old room mate Tomoko and her boyfriend are coming over for dinner. The house is realitively clean, mainly thanks to LeLe but frankly I lost interest in cleaning. Im taking Friday off and then am off on Monday - yeah! Problem is I really have a lot to do at work but "it is what it is" (you can use that one).

So any great advice on fast and easy toilet training out there?