Adventures in Potty Training

We have started potty training Alayna, and it has been interesting, to say the least. I felt like she was ready because I got her a little potty and she was really interested in it and had learned all the relevant words, like pee, poop, wipe, etc. I read that the best way to start training was to let her go pant-less and have kid potties around the house that she can run to whenever she has to go. So, we did that and she did really great. At first she would sit on the potty, then get distracted 5 seconds later and run away, then a minute later run yelling "pee! pee!" back to the potty, jump off again, and repeat until she finally went on the potty or had an accident. But, within a few days, she caught on and she was going consistently without much incident, and was very proud of herself.


She is scared to go in public restrooms, however, and isn't ready to hold it over night, so I have still been putting her in diapers when we go to town and when she goes to bed. I also, of course, have been making her put on pants or at least underwear (when she's wearing a dress) when she leaves the house or goes outside. This is where the problem lies. She has decided that she loves being pants free and has started having serious, full-out tantrums EVERY time I try to put any diaper, panties, shorts, etc., on her. Whenever I try to put pants or a diaper on, she says she has to go potty, even though she really doesn't, and will sit there for a LONG time, trying to wait it out until I'll forget about the pants. When I don't give in, again, it's a knock-down, drag-out tantrum. So, I end up either having to force it on her as she screams if we have to go somewhere, or we just stay inside and she cries about not being able to go play outside. She also tries to use the potty as an excuse to get out of bed during naps, yelling over and over that she has to pee when she really doesn't. She used to go down for naps without any problem, but now this is causing nap time to be a nightmare too!

Ugh. Crazy toddlers! I know this is just a phase, but please tell me that she'll get over it quickly! Anybody have any wise suggestions?

Little Artist

Alayna is a little artist. She loves to draw, color, and paint. It seems like she always has a pen or crayon in her hand.

Check out this drawing she did today. These aren't just random scribbles, every little line was meticulously drawn. I asked her what the pictures were as she was drawing them, and apparently there's a mouse, a bear, an airplane, an umbrella, a hat, a cricket, a snake, grass, a cat and a bird. Can you find them? (And if you can detect a bit of a theme, we were outside in the back yard while she was drawing this.)

Trip to Idaho and Washington

This last month we went on a huge trip to Idaho and Washington to see our Shoemaker and Mellin families. My mom came to Casper for about a week and drove out to Idaho with Alayna and I while Mike was off exploring for uranium in Nevada. We spent a week with Alayna's Great Grandma Shoemaker (or as Alayna calls her, G.G.) and saw a bunch of my family there. My Uncle Mike came by every day to see Alayna but she was going through some serious stranger anxiety and just would pretty much hide and call for mommy every time she saw him. Poor Uncle Mike! :)


When Mike came back from Nevada, we went to Boise and saw Grandpa Mellin and Grandma Lavona, who let Alayna ride on her horse Chiquita.



We also got to see our friends Brandi & Shylo, Darren, & little Eddie.



Then, it was off to Washington where we saw Aunt Christa, Uncle Eric, Andrew & Alyssa in Ridgecrest. It was really nice to see them and we got the wonderful news that we're going to have another little niece or nephew! They recently moved to a beautiful farm house and even have chickens, which of course Alayna loved. Alayna just loves being with her cousins. We really wish we lived closer to them.



Next we visited our friends the Morgans in Port Orchard, Washington. We remember when little Michelle was born when we were all in college, and now she's 9 years old! Oh my gosh, where does the time go? They also have two sons, Matthew, 7, and Ryan who is just one month older than Alayna. They took us to the beach and on a mini-train ride and the kids had so much fun playing together.




Then, we drove to Spokane to see Alayna's Uncle Jason. At his house, she had a temper tantrum and threw herself down when I was holding her hand, and she ended up throwing her elbow slightly out of socket. We could tell it was very painful because she couldn't move it without screaming. Thankfully, I remembered Christa saying the same thing had happened to Alayna's cousin Alyssa and it was called nursemaid's elbow. So, we looked it up and decided to take her into urgent care to get it "popped" back in. The doctor gave her a sling, which made her feel much better, and it was fine by the next morning.



Finally, we ended up having to go back down to Boise because we found out Mike's grandpa had passed away. By this time we were exhausted and ready to go home, but we are really glad we went because we got to see nearly all of Mike's cousins, Aunts and Uncles, plus all of our Mellin family again.

Locked in Peter's Car

While we were in Tennessee this Spring, my cousin Peter came to visit. He travels all around the country in his car and has stayed at our house before, so I asked him if he had room to take Mike's old bike (which we had accidentally left there when we moved to Wyoming) and bring it out the next time he comes to visit us. He said that would be fine, so he, Alayna, and I went out to load the bike into his trunk.

The bike didn't fit perfectly in his trunk, so he asked me to pull down the back seat to make a little extra room. Strangely, however, his car has a lock in the back window which you have to use the car keys to unlock in order to pull down the back seat. So, I did that and we fit the bike in no problem.

When we got that done, we were just standing by the car talking and Alayna crawled into the front seat of the car. Peter closed the door behind her and was letting her play around in the front. Well, you know kids, she reached up and started playing with the manual lock on the driver's door. I wasn't too concerned because I figure that would just lock the driver's door. Meanwhile, Peter starts saying (very slowly and nonchalantly) "That's probably not a good idea because..." LOCK. She pushed down the lock and ALL of the doors locked at once. And Peter finishes "...the keys are in there." He said it so casually that I really didn't believe him at first, I thought it was a joke or something. But then I saw them, in the back window where that stupid back seat lock was. And my baby was locked inside the car!



Well, we all stayed calm (Peter was REALLY calm, seriously I don't think he was worried at all) and thankfully Alayna was just playing and having fun playing in the front seat. We tried to get her to pull up on the manual lock, and she actually did, but she couldn't pull it hard enough. Then we tried to get her to push the automatic lock button because if she just touched that the doors would open right up. But she was having too much fun playing.



She found a pen and started marking on the steering wheel. I guess this finally made Peter somewhat concerned, because he exclaimed "Oh no, this is Christine's car! We've gotta get that kid outta there!" So he went and got a wire hanger and tried sticking it through the window to unlock the door.


Meanwhile, I kept talking to Alayna to keep her calm and to try and get her to push that lock button. After several minutes it became clear that Peter wasn't getting anywhere with the hanger so I asked my mom to call a locksmith. Then, just as my mom was about to call, Alayna thankfully reached toward the front of the car and touched the lock button.



All the doors unlocked! She had saved herself, and boy was I relieved! I think Peter was just thankful she didn't mark up the car too much and we didn't end up having to break any windows. :)

**All pictures above are reenactments taken immediately after the actual event.

I'm Back!

I can't believe it has almost been 5 months since I last updated my blog. I apologize to those few of you who actually read this and have been waiting. We have been very busy with traveling to Tennessee, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington. We have also been doing a lot of re-landscaping in the yard and I've been working on several quilts and am working on starting up a small at-home business doing hand quilting for people.

Alayna is growing so fast. She is almost 22 months old now. Her list of words now would be so long I don't think I could fit it all on this blog. She's learning so much so fast, it's staggering. Now she is putting several words together and even saying some sentences. For example, the other evening we were out in the yard and the sprinklers turned on, which is our cue to go inside because it's time to get ready for bed. When Alayna and I got inside, Mike ran back out to grab something and Alayna yelled "Daddy the sprinklers are on!" I couldn't believe it. Now, her pronunciation needs some work, but I was so impressed with her sentence. She also know several letters, including A,B,C,F,I,O,P,S,X,Y...and maybe a few more, and is learning colors.

Alayna is also getting REALLY tall. We went to visit her cousins in Washington and I was surprised to see that she was almost exactly the same height as her cousin Alyssa, who is over 13 months older than her! People we talk to around town assume she is 2 and a half to 3 years old already. I think I'm going to have to put her into basketball when she gets older... So far, her most favorite toys are balls, so I think she may be into sports. By the way, the last time I posted I told you about Alayna's fear of water. After several months of screaming every time she had to take a bath, she suddenly just got over it and she LOVES taking baths and swimming now. I guess it was just one of those crazy phases. :)



We went to Tennessee for Easter and for my cousin Jessica's wedding. Alayna was the flower girl at the wedding. She did a great job walking down the aisle with the junior flower girls and looked so adorable in her flower girl dress! And wasn't Jessica just beautiful?


As always, we had a really nice time visiting with Grandma (MaMa) and Grandpa (Papa) and Great Grandma Simpson as well as other friends and family.

More Words

It seems like Alayna is learning new words almost every day, so here are some new ones to add to her list:

Bo (Bowl)

Di Daw Di Daw – waving arm back & forth like clock arm (Tick Tock for Clock)

Vvvv (Vacuum)

Eee Eee (Mouse or Bird)

Weeooo Weeooo (Fire truck siren)

Whoo Whoo (Owl)

Stertle (Circle)

Socks

Dee Daw (Ding Dong – Bell)

Stop

Do/Go (Go)

Boble (Bottle)

Shs (Shoes)

Stow (Snow)

Bum bum bum bum (Shark – trying to do theme from Jaws)

Hi

Eyes

Look Who's Talking

Alayna is 16 months old now and is starting to talk quite a bit. It's so adorable, and is truly music to a speech pathologist's ears! I thought I should start to keep track of all of her words. So, here is what she is saying so far. BTW, her favorite words which she says ALL the time are "star", which she says beautifully, "woof" for dog, "uh oh" and "yeah," which she says enthusiastically in response to questions like "Do you want a banana?" or "Are you ready to go?" As you can see, she prefers sounds of things to their actual names, but those still count as words because she uses them consistently to communicate meaning.

Dat (That)

WaDat? (What's that?)

Dis (This)

WaDis? (What's this?)

SeeDat (I wanna see that)

Mama

Dada

Woof (Dog)

Star

Yeah

No

Uh oh

Woah/Wow

Yum

Yay! - & she usually claps when saying this

A (She identifies the letter, A for Alayna)

Sssss (Snake)

Some (I want some of that food)

Du Du Du (Duck or Quack)

Da (Ball or Balloon)

Baa baa (Sheep)

EeeAww (Donkey)

Vroom (Car)

Ch Ch (Train)

Zzzz (Bee/bug or Zipper)

Budu budu budu (Horse galloping)

Vvvv - & puts arm up for the elephant's trunk(Elephant)

Mmmm (Cow)

Mmmeee – high pitched (Cat)

Ho ho ho (Santa)

H h h (Heart)

Atch (Watch)

Ees (Cheese & Peas)

A'ul (Apple)

Ox (Box)

Dow dow dow (Down down down - usually means "I want to go downstairs")

Ar Ar Ar (Seal)

Oo oo aa aa (Monkey)

(Sniffs for pig)

(Opens & closes mouth like a fish for fish)

Afraid of the water

All of a sudden, Alayna has become really afraid of water. She cries the whole time I try to give her baths. I tried getting her some fun new bath toys and even have tried getting in the bathtub and playing with her, but nothing seems to help. I thought if we took her to the swimming pool and showed her that water is fun she would like it, but she just screamed and shook and clung onto me in the pool. I have no idea what triggered this fear, but I read online that it's fairly common for toddlers her age. So, does anyone have any suggestions? Should I keep taking her to the pool hoping that she'll start to like it, or will forcing her to get in the water when she's petrified just make things worse? There are toddler swimming lessons starting in two weeks that I was thinking about signing her up for. Or should I wait on the swimming and just give her sponge baths until she grows out of the fear?

Lonely in Casper

So, here I am, alone again in Casper. Mike was gone most of last week for a conference in Denver, he came home for less than 24 hours, and now is gone again for another week-long conference in Houston. The worst part is that he gets to have fun in sunny, 70 degree Texas while Alayna and I are stuck here in cold, snowy Wyoming.

Mike really likes his job and I am so grateful for that, really. He is doing great and just got a big promotion to a supervisory position, and I am extremely proud of him. I try to be a understanding, supporting wife, really. But to be honest, it is difficult to be alone so much with a baby and no family and very few friends around. Last year, just before and after Alayna was born, Mike was traveling to his field site (2+ hours away) on Monday and then he would stay in a hotel in a nearby town for the week and come home only on the weekends. That was the worst, especially after Alayna was born and after my mom left and Al had cholic.... Oh man, don't get me started on how hard that was...

Things are definitely better now. First of all, Alayna sleeps through the night and she got over her cholic pretty quickly, thank God, so I am much more emotionally stable than I was during her first few months! Now, Mike doesn't stay in the field all week but rather drives there and back each day. It's nice to at least be able to see him and hug him and talk to him each night, but he doesn't get home until about 8 or 9 pm and then leaves early in the morning, so Alayna doesn't usually see him at all.

The best change this year, though, is that the geologists are now working 4 10-hour days a week, so we get wonderful, blissful 3-day weekends together. Now that he's the field supervisor, he doesn't get 3-day weekends every week, but when he does it's SO nice. He lets me sleep in while he takes Alayna in the morning, we go to the library together, go shopping, go out to eat, take walks, watch movies, and just play and have fun. But, of course, he always seems to have some conference or class or something that he has to fly off to, and then we're stuck here alone again.

Don't get me wrong, I love being with Alayna and being a mom. She's so sweet and fun, and it's so exciting to see her grow and learn every day. But she's a total Daddy's girl, and she really misses her daddy when he's not around. I can tell a noticeable difference in her mood when he is here vs. when it's just her and me. I really feel for all of those single parents out there because despite all of the love you have for you children, it's hard and it can really get lonely.

I am planning on starting a part-time job as a Speech Language Pathologist for the local school district soon. I am a little bit scared about the job and feeling guilty about putting Alayna in daycare, but I think it will be good for us. I don't really have a choice about going back to work because I have to do a Clinical Fellowship within a few years of graduating in order to be certified as an SLP, and my time is running out. Despite that, I realize it's important for me to do something that is fulfilling rather than just sitting around missing Mike all the time. I'm excited to meet new people and interact with other adults again. I think it will be good for Alayna to interact with other children too. So, hopefully I'll love my new job, make some great new friends, and my days of being a lonely stay-at-home mom will soon be over. Wish me luck!

Christmas 2009

We had a very nice Christmas this year. We just stayed home and had a nice, relaxing Christmas and New Year. We had quite a bit of snow, so I was glad we didn't have to travel. Mike's dad Ralph came to spend Christmas with us, which was very nice. We were hoping his brother Jason would come too, but he wasn't able to. Maybe next year.

Mike decorated our house with lots of Christmas lights and it was beautiful.

Alayna was so excited about all of the lights and Christmas tree ornaments. She loves pulling all of the ornaments off the tree and lying under the tree looking up at all of the lights.

She is also fascinated by all of the snowflakes I hung up on the ceiling.

Alayna got so many nice gifts. I can't believe how much she has already, and she's only one year old! She got a rocking horse, a bean bag, blocks, books, stuffed animals, and lots more, and she loves everything!



Mike and I are so blessed to have each other, our beautiful daughter, and our home, health, family, and friends. Thank you all for being a part of our lives and may the new year bring us all more of God's blessings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!