A big girl

At Thanksgiving, Dale and I decided to try toilet training with Adelaida. We were just going to see if she liked it and assess whether she was ready for it or not. We started with a big event: throwing away the diapers -- of course, we use reusable diapers and hope to use them for a future child, so really Adelaida put the diapers in an empty trash can and we removed them from the trash can later that day. Adelaida has worn panties ever since (with some night-time diaper exceptions).

Unfortunately I don't have any picture of this process, but I decided to blog about it anyway -- mostly to remind myself that, despite the rocky beginning, it has really turned out quite well.

We cleaned a lot of puddles on days 1 through 3. Adelaida hadn't yet learned that she couldn't just pee whenever she wanted, so there were a lot of puddles to clean up. Fortunately we have tile downstairs and lived in that part of the house for several days.

A slight victory occurred on day 4 -- Adelaida realized that she was not supposed to pee in her panties, but didn't yet understand that it was OK to pee in the toilet. She did a lot of dancing and holding her urine and really didn't want to pee at all for the next several days. We were able to take her places during this time -- she went to soccer classes and grocery shopping and out to eat with us, all without incident. We just had to be really vigilant and make sure she was in a "safe" place when she started doing the toilet dance.

Around day 11, Adelaida realized that when she needed to go to the bathroom, she was supposed to let us know and sit on the toilet. She did this very consistently, but still didn't want to actually pee in the toilet. So, she'd hold her urine until she couldn't hold it anymore, tell us she had to use the toilet, sit on the toilet for about 30 seconds, stand up and say "all done" and then cry while she peed. At least it was predictable!

On day 14, Adelaida put all the pieces together. She told me that evening that she had to use the toilet, sat down, and intentionally peed into the toilet. She then stood up and said "all done." The process was happening in the correct order! I was so proud of my big girl!

For the next six days, Adelaida did a great job of letting us know when she needed to use the toilet, sitting down on the toilet, and peeing or pooping on the toilet. She still had a few accidents each day, mostly at naptime (she has been wearing panties at naptime and sometimes would go to the bathroom while sleeping or immediately after waking up from her nap).

Today, day 21 of toilet training, Adelaida hit another milestone: she had no accidents at all today! Every time she needed to pee or poop, she let her teacher or me know, waited until she got to the toilet, sat down, and did her business on the toilet! She was dry at naptime, she had no dribbles from trying to hold her urine, no accidents at all. She has been telling me for the past three weeks that "Adelaida is a big girl" and she certainly is.

I'm not so naive as to believe that there will be no accidents at all in her future, and we still need to tackle night-time (it was too difficult to get up several times a night to change her panties/pajamas/sheets/blanket when she was still peeing several times a night). But she certainly knows what to do and is good about letting us know when she needs to use the toilet.

Here is a picture of my big girl, from a few months ago.

our future Mia Hamm

According to Dale, soccer is not just the best sport, it is the only sport. So when he learned, two-and-a-half years ago, that the Albuquerque International Indoor Soccer Arena offers a "Lil Kickers" program for kids eighteen months to nine years, I had to convince him to wait a couple of months before signing our then-unborn child up for toddler soccer lessons.

Adelaida was eligible to start soccer lessons in July, but with our traveling, Adelaida in school full-time over the summer, and various other excuses, we didn't get around to signing her up until last week. (Yes, I know those first four months of soccer lessons are crucial to future soccer stardom, but I am convinced Adelaida can overcome her late start and make a name for herself one day!)

Last Saturday was Adelaida's first soccer practice. We arrived early to register Adelaida for the session and Dale and Adelaida went out on the field (it is a parent-child class) while I tried to pay. I really, really tried hard to pay, but didn't exactly succeed. You see, the Lil Kickers' philosophy is that the first class for any child should be a free try-it-out-and-see-if-you-like-it class; only after a child has been through one class will they sign that child up for the rest of the season. Now, Adelaida was predisposed to love (and excel at) soccer both through her genetic makeup (Dale is a great soccer player) and by her environment (she sees Dale play soccer often and loves balls). I asked if the Lil Kickers staff would make an exception this one time and let me pay for the rest of the season before Adelaida's first class; they insisted that she try it out first, but told me I could pay for the rest of the season right after this first lesson.

Back on the field, Adelaida and Dale were enjoying the free play while waiting for the session to start. She was running, laughing, chasing the ball, even kicking the ball sometimes -- I was so proud!




I had decided earlier that the best way for Adelaida to learn that soccer is a foot-ball-contact sport (rather than a pick-up-the-ball-with-your-hands sport) is to teach her that from the very beginning, so when she squatted down to pick up the ball with both hands, I tried to get Dale's attention and have him take the ball out of her hands. Fortunately, he didn't hear me.

All this had happened between the time the previous lesson ended and Adelaida's session began. Then the lesson began ... and Adelaida turned into a "Daddy hold me!" little girl. She loved kicking the ball around with her daddy, but the organization of the formal lesson didn't go over very well. Here are some of the pictures I took of the lesson:

The kids are getting ready to play "green light red light" but Adelaida screamed every time Dale put her down, so she was chauffeured through the game while all the other kids ran. (Adelaida is on the far right, in Dale's arms.)


Here the coach was describing how to build a cone-ball man. I don't think Adelaida could be any further back in Dale's lap! Her body language says it all.


All the other kids (and parents) are under the parachute; Adelaida preferred to stay a few steps back and watch the game with distrust.


In her first soccer lesson, Adelaida participated in exactly one activity: putting the cones away after building cone-ball men. She refused to run for "red light green light," she refused to step on the bubbles, she refused to practice headers with the squishy ball, she refused to kick the ball from cone-ball man, and she certainly refused to have anything to do with the parachute. She spent about half of the lesson in Dale's arms and ran to the sideline (me) five times with her arms up, begging me to pick her up.

When it was over, I walked up to Dale and abjectly asked if we should sign up for the rest of the season or leave quickly and pretend we had never been there.

We decided to sign her up and hoped that the next week would be better.

Today was her second lesson, and there were so many (small) victories! We again arrived long enough before her lesson started that Dale and Adelaida could run around on the field before the (scary) organized lesson began. The first thing Adelaida did on the field was run to a ball and pick it up excitedly -- and I didn't care that she was using her hands! Victory for Adelaida and victory for me! :)

The organized lesson started and the first activity was "red light green light." In this activity, all the kids and parents line up on the far side of the field, the coach says "green light" and they all run to the other side, stopping whenever he says "red light." You may recall that, last week, Adelaida did "red light green light" in Dale's arms because she screamed every time he put her down. Today, she did not scream when he put her down -- but she didn't run either. So Dale played "red light green light" while Adelaida stood by herself on the far side of the field, watching the commotion and not crying. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless! (That's Adelaida, in the far corner of the field all by herself.)

That's Adelaida, waiting for everyone to run back to her during "red light green light."


The next activity was bubbles -- the coach blows bubbles and the kids are supposed to stomp on the bubbles on the ground. Adelaida didn't exactly stomp on any bubbles, but she did eventually stomp her feet near the bubbles. Another small victory.

The squishy balls came out next. I'm not sure what the kids were supposed to do with the squishy balls, but Adelaida loved playing with it! She would walk up to the ball, throw herself on it, and "surf" on the ball until she rolled off it, then do it all again. She was having so much fun with this that she didn't even care when Dale walked away from her to talk to another parent. A huge victory!

Of course, one activity that Adelaida has always been good at is putting things away. When it was time to put the squishy balls away, she quickly put away not only her ball, but also another ball that seemed to be unclaimed by any other children.


Finally, the coach brought out the parachute. This was Adelaida's least favorite part of the lesson last week. The parachute play takes two forms: first, all the kids sit in the parachute while the parents spin it, taking the kids for a ride; then, they billow the parachute up and everyone gets under the parachute. This week, when the parachute was on the ground and other kids were running onto the parachute and sitting down, Adelaida followed them without even being prompted. She sat down and thoroughly enjoyed being spun in the parachute -- when the parachute stopped, she immediately signed "more." A great victory!

Adelaida still wasn't excited about getting under the parachute. She stood by it for a while while the other kids and parents got under the parachute, then decided she had had enough and ran to the sidelines, where she had spotted me. I didn't pick her up and she seemed content to stay on the field, and eventually she followed Dale back to the other kids for the end of the lesson. Another small victory.

My dreams of a toddler who would walk on the field and immediately dribble the ball, with her feet, around other kids and take a beautiful shot right on the goal may have been a little far-fetched. But Adelaida certainly seemed to have fun today and is developing her gross motor skills and bonding with her daddy -- all of which are great benefits and more important than having innate soccer skills. Dale noted that she participated in more activities today than she didn't participate in, which is a great improvement over last week. So, we're going to keep her in the lessons through December, and if it continues to go well, we'll be signing her up for the winter session too!

Oh, and there is one benefit to Adelaida not being a soccer prodigy: she won't have to quit school at 15 to join the U.S. Women's National Team and travel all over the world playing World Cup qualifying matches. No, she will almost certainly be able to stay in school and play soccer for fun -- as a great way to get exercise and relieve stress, and without worrying about whether her corner kicks are perfectly placed or having soccer forced on her as a profession rather than a relaxing, fun activity. In fact, I am rather relieved to learn that my daughter is not a twenty-three-month-old soccer star!

Nap time

For six months, Adelaida has been sleeping in a toddler bed. When we first let her sleep in the toddler bed, we could stand at her door and listen to her crawl out of the bed and start to play during nap time. When we heard that, we immediately opened the door and put her back in bed -- she quickly realized that Momma and Daddy know everything and that she was expected to remain in her bed during nap time. To further discourage her from leaving the bed, we placed two plastic storage bins in front of her bed, across the only opening in the railings. So, although is was technically a toddler bed, she couldn't/didn't get out of it and wasn't able to get into the bed herself.

This worked very well for five months; then about a month ago, she started crawling out of the bed when she was done with her naps or when she woke up in the morning. Because the plastic bins were still in front of the opening of her bed, she crawled over the railing to get out -- and was not able to get back in bed once she was out. Eventually she started crawling out of bed before taking her nap, and we spent several nap times going into Adelaida's room every ten minutes to put her back in bed, knowing that she would be getting out of bed again soon. Eventually, we decided to remove the plastic bins so that, if she did get out of bed, she would at least be able to get back into bed by herself.

The bins were removed about a week ago, and nap times have been very interesting since: we put Adelaida in her bed at nap time, she lays down in the bed and talks for a few minutes, eventually gets out of bed to play, and later (sometimes much later) crawls back in bed for her nap. This is probably the best outcome we could possibly have had -- she plays in her room quietly and happily after we put her down for her nap and knows that she should crawl back in her bed for a nap when she is tired.

Dale put Adelaida to sleep today and listened to her babble and talk and play in her room for a while, then heard her saying "night-night" to different people and things, then silence. He peeked in her room to see if she was in bed or had conked out on the floor, and saw a complete mess in her room:


Adelaida had pulled out every hat, every coat, every stuffed animal, and even an empty shoebox and strewn them across the floor of her room! She had also managed to remove one shoe and one sock, but had apparently had sense enough to climb into her bed to sleep.

Doesn't she look exhausted? Removing every article below two feet high in her room must have been hard work!

Visiting Denver: playing at the park

Our hotel in Denver was just a short walk to a great community center and park, so we took Adelaida there several times. It was nice to get out of the hotel room and to let Adelaida play on the park equipment. She enjoyed the stairs and slides -- until she saw the swings! Adelaida loves to swing, both in a baby swing (so she can swing really high) and in a big-kid swing (she is very good at holding on to the chains and rarely falls off).

Here are some of the pictures we took at the park:

Adelaida preparing to go down the slide


On the big-kid swing


Adelaida thought it was so funny when her Mamaw and her Momma got on the swings with her


Adelaida's favorite place to go on the playset was the top of the climbing wall. She could reach that platform by stairs and liked to walk up the stairs to the top of the climbing wall and look out. It was an awfully long way down, so Dale followed her up there a few times to make sure she didn't fall.


Dale showed off his monkey bar prowess as Adelaida watched


The park was beautiful, so we decided to take some family photos while we were there.

Me, Adelaida, and Dale


Charlotte with her four grandchildren: Elizabeth, Benjamin, Sarah, and Adelaida


Richard and Laura with Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Sarah

Visiting Denver: "Hi Nina!"

While in Denver last month, we took all the kids to the Denver Zoo one morning. The weather was just chilly enough that the zoo wasn't very crowded, but warm enough that we were comfortable there. Adelaida really enjoyed the animals!

The very first animal exhibit we saw was the hyena exhibit. Keep in mind that Adelaida had just started putting two words together and has never seen a hyena before (as far as I know). Adelaida saw the hyenas, shouted "puppy!" and I told her "those are hyenas. They look like puppies but they are hyenas. Can you say hyena?" She watched the hyena for a minute, then stretched her arm out, waved her hand, and said "Hi ... Nina!" Isn't it funny how kids hear something new and mold it to fit their experiences? Adelaida had never heard the word hyena before, but she knew that I often asked her to say hi to an animal so thought I was asking her to say hi to the puppy named Nina!

Elizabeth, Sarah, and Adelaida are pretty good about staying with us, but we did have one incident where a child ran off full-speed before any of us could stop her. We were walking from one exhibit to another when we came into view of a large grassy area that was not part of any exhibit. The grassy area was filled with geese -- probably forty or fifty geese -- and Sarah ran ahead of us to see them. On the sidewalk in front of the geese was a man with a stroller and two young children. He was squatting down to point out the geese to his kids and Sarah ran right up to him, put her hand on his leg, and started pointing with him! He took it really well and started talking to Sarah, asking her if she had ever seen geese before and listening to her excited babbling. Eventually we caught up to her, and eventually she realized that the man she had been talking with was a stranger -- the whole scene was just so funny!

The weather forecast indicated a very slight chance of rain, so Adelaida sported her rain slicker for the zoo excursion! We didn't get any rain, but the rain slicker is just too cute to pass up whenever we have an opportunity for her to wear it.


Elizabeth is two years older than Adelaida and Sarah is six months older than Adelaida, and Adelaida loves to do what older and bigger kids are doing. So when Elizabeth and Sarah stood at the glass to watch the birds, Adelaida went right up there and stood next to them -- despite the fact that she was too short to actually see anything!

Near the end of the visit, Adelaida was getting tired and Sarah was getting bored with the animals, so they worked out a nice arrangement that benefited everyone: Sarah pushed Adelaida in the stroller! Sarah did a pretty good job of steering: she ran Adelaida into stationary objects only a few times.


We ended the trip to the zoo with a short train ride. Adelaida was pretty tired by this time and wanted to be held. She wasn't very excited about leaving her stroller, but was consoled by the opportunity to sit on my lap.


It was a great trip, full of fun memories and lots of animals!

Visiting Denver: Denver Children's Museum

On our trip to Colorado, we spent a half-day at the Denver Children's Museum. This museum seems to be focused on make-believe play, which Adelaida doesn't seem very excited by, but she found ways to have fun at each station!

We started at the fire truck area. They have a real fire truck inside the building, and kids can climb on the truck, dress up as firemen, and pretend to put out fires. Elizabeth and Sarah enjoyed climbing on the truck and pretending to be firemen; Adelaida found some lockers next to the fire truck and enjoyed opening and closing the lockers!


Mamaw posed with her three granddaughters:


Next we found the art room. Luckily it was quite empty when we got there, so the girls sat at easels and painted some pictures. Laura pointed out the smocks just as Adelaida was finishing her painting -- amazingly she didn't get any paint on her clothes!


The museum has an area in which kids can pretend to be veterinarians -- complete with animals, x-rays, surgical equipment, and exam tables. Adelaida gave one of the dogs a quick hug, then she was ready to move on.


Benjamin was very content to hang out in his stroller while the older kids played. What a good baby he is!


The kids spent the most time in the woodland animals room. This was a room in which kids could pretend to be different animals (complete with rabbit, skunk, squirrel, and other costumes) and climb up a small hill and crawl through "underground" tunnels like an animal. It was a great hit! We got a pretty good picture of Adelaida, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Benjamin sitting in a beaver den in this room.


Finally, lunch time was drawing near and we headed out. As we walked out the building, Adelaida saw a large statue of a cow. She wanted to check it out, so we wandered over to the cow and let her walk around it and touch it for a few minutes. We then wanted to get going, so told Adelaida to say good bye to the cow. She turned to the cow, waved, and said "Bye-bye ....... cow" and started walking toward the car. Adelaida has just started putting multiple words together -- in the past she would have said "bye-bye" but omitted the "cow" part -- and apparently wanted to practice, so continued saying "bye-bye ...... cow" all the way to the car, at lunch, later that day, the next day, and is still saying it a week later! It has become a catch-phrase at our house, and whenever she sees a cow in a book, she repeats "bye-bye ... cow." She is so much fun!

Visiting Denver: family time

Last weekend, Dale, Adelaida, and I drove to Denver for a visit with family. We had a lot of time to talk as well as time to play. It had been ten months since Adelaida had seen Elizabeth and Sarah, and we all met Benjamin for the first time. The girls had a lot of fun playing together, as well as some disagreements about the ownership of certain toys, but I guess that's what happens when toddlers get together! Adelaida also spent a lot of time with her Mamaw, who was always ready to read book with Adelaida. Thanks Mamaw!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Elizabeth, Adelaida, and Sarah eat carrots on the floor.


Hello, Benjamin!


Adelaida walking with Mamaw at the hotel.


Adelaida with Mamaw.


Mamaw gets a hug from Adelaida, as Sarah watches and Elizabeth smiles for the camera.


Adelaida gives Benjamin a fish-face kiss!


Adelaida enjoyed being swung by Uncle Richard and Aunt Laura.


Sarah and Adelaida share a seat by the fire.


Dale shares a seat at the fireplace with Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth.


Before leaving Colorado, we had to see Aunt Janet and Aunt Karen. They were so good to drive down from Fort Collins and Greeley to north Denver, and we met for lunch together.

Aunt Janet with Adelaida.


Adelaida and Aunt Karen.


We enjoyed spending time with family on this trip and I'm glad Adelaida was able to spend more time with her cousins. Kids grow so fast at this age that I'm sure it will be completely different when they see each other at Christmas!

Halloween flower, revisited

About two weeks ago, I realized that Halloween was only a few weeks away ... and I had no idea what I was going to dress Adelaida up as! I considered my options:
1. I could make something (but then I'd have to be creative -- not my strongest suit -- and I'd have to find some time to make a costume, which was not promising),
2. I could go out and buy a new costume for her (but costumes are so expensive for something worn only a few times, and I'd have to find time to go shopping, and I'd have to go shopping!), or
3. I could try to buy a used costume for her (but used costumes are hit-or-miss -- I might find a great costume for a four-year-old, or a great costume in her size that has stains/rips, or the used kids clothing stores might be completely out of 12-month-size costumes, and I'd have to go shopping!).

I was faced with three options, none of which I was excited about, so I did what I generally do in such situations -- nothing. Then, one day I was looking for something in Adelaida's closet and saw the costume she wore last year. It was size 9-12 month, but it was extremely large for her last year, and she is still wearing 12-month clothes, so I thought there might be a chance it would fit her. I pulled it out, held it up to her, and it looked like it would fit just fine! Problem solved -- I'd dress Adelaida in the same costume this year that she wore last year.

The costume is a flower, with four pieces: two yellow booties, a green velvet-y "stem" jumpsuit, and a flower petal headdress. I had held the jumpsuit part up to Adelaida to see if it fit, and Adelaida realized it was very soft and fuzzy (she has only recently started to like soft fuzzy things) and carried it around the rest of the day. I didn't get it back until she went to sleep that night, so promptly hid the costume again so it wouldn't be carried around like an old blanket before Halloween.

I didn't get the costume out again until Saturday, the day of her first Halloween party. I was a little apprehensive about the headdress, because it completely framed Adelaida's face and, while she has the body of a 12-month-old, she has the head of a 22-month-old. I was worried the headdress would be too tight for her. So, two hours before the party on Saturday, I tried the entire costume on Adelaida, intending to put it on, make sure she would be comfortable in it, and then take it off until the party.

She wore it the rest of the day, insisting that she did not want the headdress off and crying when I removed her booties so she could walk outside in the wet grass.

Here are several pictures of Adelaida playing outside in her Halloween costume before the party.

Our little flower, swinging on the big-kid swing!


Going down the slide


Sometimes Adelaida prefers the baby swing, because she can go so much higher


Here is a picture of Adelaida last year at Halloween -- not much different at 22 months than she was at ten months!


It looks like we put Adelaida in a baby swing last Halloween, too!