Caroline-isms

Life has been crazy, to say the least.  Between three preps a day at school, tutoring, keeping the house cleaned, and spending time with my family - I don't have a lot of free time on my hands.  I am so busy soaking up every second of my crazy/busy/awesome/bless life that I don't take the time I should to record what we have going on.  But I just wanted to make a quick list of the things that Caroline is saying and doing because I know I won't remember them and they are precious.

*She calls a spoon a shoom.

*She calls a rhinoceros a moss-ous.

*When we hand her something she says, 'Thank you!' in this high pitched voice and if you say thank you back she says, 'Welcome!'

*She plays hide and seek and she'll put her head around the corner and say, 'Are you?'

*She'll sit down in her seat with a book and say, 'Read it.  Self.'

*She says 'shoom geem' for 'excuse me'.

*She will say something and then nod her head and say, 'Yep. Mmm hmm.'

*She has recently started saying 'awesome' and 'sassy' - correctly.

*She will walk up to something and say a long drawn out, 'Wow!'

*Every time she sees our Christmas tree she says, 'Tree. Cute!'

*She is now aware of stop lights and stop signs.  When she sees a stop sign she'll say, 'Red. Sign.' and I'll ask her what it means and she'll say, 'Stop,' and put her hand up.  When I ask her about green she'll say go and when I ask her what yellow means, she'll say 'fall down' instead of slow down!

*She says 'odher moan' for other one.

*All of her c's are t's right now.  So she is Tarowine, she drinks from a tup, she asks for a tookie, etc.

*She has started to change the teddy bear's diaper and she'll say 'lay back' and 'mediss' like we do when we change her diapers.  (Santa spoiler - she's getting a baby doll for Christmas and she is going to LOVE it!)

*She is getting better about using her manners.  We still have to remind her more often than not to say 'thank you' and 'please', but she is now saying, 'Thank you, Daddy!' and 'Thank you, Mommy!'

*She has also started to say 'Bye bye, Daddy!' if he has to leave before us in the morning.  She'll also get behind us and push our legs and say 'Come on, Mommy!' if we are trying to leave and one of us is being slow.

*She'll grab Jason's hands and pull and grunt to help him up.

*When she gets tired and ready for bed, she'll bring us the Aquaphor and say 'whip' because we put a little bit of the Aquaphor on her lip before bed so her 'daci' (pacifier) doesn't irritate her mouth.  Speaking of bed, she loves going to bed and asks for it a lot of nights.  We give her a hug and a kiss, put her in her crib, close the door and we don't hear from her again until morning.  It is pretty awesome.

*When I tell her that we are about to do something she'll say 'Ok!' in this really emphatic voice.

*A few weeks ago I asked her to give me a hug and it dawned on me that unless I showed her how to really give a hug, she wouldn't know.  So I took her arms and I showed her how to wrap them and really squeeze. Now she gives the BEST squeezing hugs ever.

*When she wants to be picked up and carried she'll say, 'Hold it!'

*When she gets 'hurt' (she is so super dramatic, so hurt would be in air quotes if I could) she'll come over and say, 'Foot. Hurt. Kiss it.' and when we do she'll say, 'All better!'

*She calls nuggets 'nunnets' and says 'nummy' for yummy.

*She calls ice cream 'i keem'.

*The whole time she is in time out now she says 'Listen. Carowine. Listen.'  At least she's got the right idea!

This is just a little bit of what she is doing that is awesome and funny and perfect.  She is a fantastically weird little person and I am so lucky that I get to be a part of her growing up.  She is so smart and she is learning so much every single day.  The words she says and the things that she can do never cease to amaze me.  My sweet little girl is growing up so quickly and I want to remember all that I can!  I love you, whack a doo!

To Ask A Question Or Not, That Is The Question!

It really is true that once you think you've got the hang of things, you get a whole new batch of new things to become the 'master' of.  We are in a new batch of things right now.

It's been a while now that Caroline has been able to say the word no.  It was one of her first few words and it was super cute those first few times she said it.  Fast forward to her sassy 21 month self, and no has taken on every bit of of its intended meaning.  When she says no, she now knows exactly what it means and she is beginning to find out the repercussions of saying those two little letters at the wrong time.  She has gotten her butt popped a few times and she has had her butt put into time out a good few times for saying no to us when we ask her to do something (which begs the question why her butt gets punished for what her mouth is doing!).  Now we, as her parents,  are having to watch what we say - and I don't mean in terms of cuss words.  We have to watch how we phrase everything we say to her and make sure that any question we ask her, she really can say no.  We can't say, 'Hey, Caroline, do you want to go take a bath?' when we know darn well her behind is getting in the bathtub whether she wants to or not.  I had no idea how often I would be inclined to ask her a question instead of telling her what to do.  I guess in a perfect world I would ask her if she wanted to do everything and she would do exactly what I want for her to do every time.  But this world is far from perfect and that isn't the way that we all roll.  So now if I need for her to put the book back that she got out, I make sure to say, 'Caroline, put that book back.'  When we are having dinner, I ask, 'Hey, do you want some strawberries for dinner,' and if she says no, I offer something else.  Granted, I don't give her the option of cookies and ice cream for dinner, but usually when I give her the choice between strawberries and apple sauce, she will pick what she wants and it will be gone in a few seconds!

Do we get this right every time?  Of course not.  I catch myself asking her something and then starting to get mad when she says no, but when I think about it I just asked her if she wanted to do something and no was a  perfectly good answer.  So I try to be aware of it so that she knows exactly when I mean business about something and when she has a chance to pick for herself.  The world is a much better place when she knows I mean business!

October 23, 2012

It was on this day that my first born took her first pee and dump in the potty.  Is she potty trained? No.  Is she potty trainING? No.  She just got down from the table one day and said, 'Bathroom.  Potty.'  So I walked into her closet and got Anna's old potty that I had grabbed a few weeks earlier, put it on the floor, took her clothes off and she sat down.  She looked up and said, 'Uh oh.'  When I checked, she had peed in the potty.  So I high fived her and told her what a good job she had done.  Then she said, 'Uh oh' again and sat back down.  This time she stood up and there was a giant man sized turd in the bottom of the potty.  She looked at me with a worried look on her face and said, 'Uh oh' again.  I again told her that she had done a great job and high fived her.  Once she saw how the potty was going to emptied and she was going to be wiped, it then became kind of fun for her.  So after a little while she sat back down and I'll be dag-oned if she didn't pee again.

I have heard horror stories about potty training and I know that unless the kid is ready, there is no sense in trying to make potty training happen.  So I decided that unless she talked about it, I wouldn't make it a big deal.  So for a few nights after this she would sit down and pee, but that was it.  Every once in a while she will say pee pee and run to the bathroom and when I get in there to take her diaper off it is warm.  So that means she is starting to put two and two together, but I think we still have a while.

For All Of You Parents That Watch YouTube Videos With Your Kids

My Targaholic self is also addicted to Pinterest.  It is SUCH a good time waster - like I have a ton of time to waste!  

The other day I was on there and saw a pin that said something about changing YouTube videos to mp3 files.  I tried it with Philip Phillips 'Home' (I love that song, don't hate) and it worked like a charm and I was so excited.  How had I never thought about doing that before?  So I tried another song and it said it wouldn't work.  So I laughed at myself for believing it and clicked out of Chrome and didn't think about it again.

Then, this weekend, Jason was watching the Bubble Guppies with C and I thought to myself how much I would love to have those songs in my car (because the music is actually pretty good).  Then it dawned on me that that website may be able to help.  So I found my first Bubble Guppies song on YouTube, put the URL into the website and crossed my fingers and BAM - it worked.  So then I found the next and tried it again and BAM - it worked again!  25 Bubble Guppie and Elmo songs later, I am the coolest mom on the block and Caroline is happy as a clam to listen to her favorite tunes in the car.

I am not opposed to rocking out to some good ol' Kumbaya in the car, but I am trying to delay that for as long as possible.  So I am stoked that I have music that she loves and that I actually sing throughout my day of my own free will!

Now for the part you have all been waiting for - DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!

Ta Da!

Warning: Some songs are not able to be converted.  I'm not sure what makes some work and some not, but the majority of what I have tried has worked very well!  I have the music on iTunes and CDs in my car to prove it!

Target vs. Walmart

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am a Targaholic.  I must go every few days and if I don't, I start itching all over.  I just love it.  Whether I am going for one thing, twenty things, or nothing at all - I. LOVE. IT.  I don't know what it is about it. It could be the Red Card that really does save you 5% off on every single purchase.  (If you also love Target and do not have one of these cards - go get one RIGHT NOW.  It is a debit card that pulls money straight out of your checking account, but just takes 5% off of your bill every single time.  There are no fees (I have had mine for over a year and have not had to pay one penny) of any sort.  It is just that awesome because Target is just that awesome!)  I loved it before my Target was a grocery store (with a dag-on Starbucks in it!) and once they made the switch I told my husband we were never ever moving.  Our Target is literally around the corner for us, which allows me to satisfy my need fairly easily.  I love picking Caroline up from school and going to pick up that imaginary item that I came up with just so I could go to Target.  I have stood in line at the Starbucks that is now nestled into my sweet little land of joy and had conversations with people about how much we love Target.  Does that happen at Walmart?  It may, but you won't have that conversation with me.

Which brings me to the point of this post.  I have started planning our meals out week by and week and doing the grocery shopping on Sundays.  It has saved us from a lot of produce going bad and it has also saved us from the terrible What Are We Having For Dinner? question that I got so sick of.  So the first Sunday was pretty fun because it was a new way of doing things.  I was in charge of the kitchen (which has not been the case since Jason is the true chef of our family) and I had my list and I was ready to go.  Michelle actually went with me, which made it a bit easier.  I was in and out and it was not TOO painful.  But don't get that tangled and twisted - I was by no means a fan of that place.  There are just TOO many people trying to get to the same stuff and it is overwhelming and overcrowded and I overhate it.  The next Sunday was worse.  I spent all Saturday dreading the trip.  The next weekend I ended up just going to Target and getting enough to get us through the week until I could build up the whatever-I-would-need to get back to Walmart.

Last weekend I set up a challenge for myself.  I wanted to see how much more expensive Target was than Walmart so I would know that I really did need to go to Walmart to save the most money for my family.  (Side note: Since I am the money person for our family, this is VERY important to me since I see the money go out and come in every month.)  So I took my list for that week and I went to Target and priced every single item.  Target had every thing that I needed for that week.  Then I went to Walmart and told myself that I would buy anything at Walmart that was cheaper.  Honest to goodness, I left there with one bag full of maybe five or six things.  Their canned goods were a few cents cheaper and there were a couple of other items that were cheaper, but it wasn't by much.  Everything else I ended up getting at Target because they were cheaper.  So not only is Target cheaper on most items I was looking for, I also got 5% off on top of that!  It was awesome!  If I had really been doing my research as the mathematical brain that I am I would have calculated average percentages and exactly how much cheaper Target was, but I did not.  Honestly, I did not think Target was going to be cheaper, so I wasn't prepared for that part of the challenge.  Maybe another Sunday!

So needless to say, I am very excited about my Sunday shopping trips to Target to get ready for the meals for the week!

Daycare Diaries - Update

Here I am wiping my brow and being glad that we made it through the past few weeks!

We just completed our third week of daycare.  When we first started, Mrs. Val told me it may take a couple of weeks for things to start to calm down a bit.  She was exactly right.  Last Friday (the end of the second week) we started talking about friends on the way to school.  When we got in the car we talked about how Mommy is going to go to school, Daddy is going to go to school, Chell is going to go to school, and Caromine (her new pronunciation) is going to go to school.  Then we started talking about her friends at school and how much fun she is going to have.  Some of the kids are the same as last year and some of the kids I have never met before.  So I sneaked a peek at the names on the cubbies so that I could add to her list of friends.  So we talked about Ayden, Tanvi, Dreama, Patrick, Jackson, Neil, Mrs. Nita, and Mrs. Val.  I'd say the names and she would repeat them back.  She got especially excited about Tanvi (I think they are close buds) and Mrs. Val.  Last year she LOVED Mrs. Nita, but I think she is more about Mrs. Val this year.  By the time we got to school we had talked about all of her friends and how much fun she was going to have.  So I went to get her out of her seat (every time before this this is where she would really start crying) and I told her we were going to see her friends.  She got right out, I grabbed her hand to walk her in, she dropped my hand once we got to the door inside and asked me to open the door.  Then she walked right in, ran to Mrs. Val, told me bye, and I turned and left.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!

This is how every morning has been since then and it has been awesome.  She is hanging her coat up in her cubbie, asking for Mrs. Val, and walking herself right in.  I give her a kiss and peace out for my day.  It really is an easier way to start my day and lets me head to work thinking about work and not about my heart breaking for her.  Bonus this week was that we got a 2 hour nap out of her on Wednesday and an hour and a half nap on Thursday.  Those days she came home my sweet girl.  She was not fussy or whiny.  She listened, used her manners, and was just much more fun to be around.  We played outside, we laughed, and we spent those hours just enjoying each other.  The days she doesn't naps are just afternoons that we have to get through and I will admit they are not a lot of fun.

Some people told me to enjoy the times that she wanted me because soon she would not.  I'll tell you what, I got no pleasure out of her crying for me and having to be torn out of my arms.  There is nothing about that that made me feel extra loved by her. It made me so sad knowing that I had to leave her feeling like that for 8 hours.  Now that she walks in by herself and gives me a kiss and tells me bye, it makes me so happy and proud that she is confident and feels safe and secure in knowing that I always will come back to get her and until that happens, she has lots of friends and two great teachers to spend her day with!

Daycare Diaries

A year ago I was dropping Caroline off at daycare for the first time.  A month in I wrote this.  The moral is that daycare sucked, but that we were all getting along just fine.

Fast forward to May and I was picking her up for the last time before summer.  That's when I wrote this.  Well, our summer was AWESOME.  She was just getting to the age where she wanted to learn anything and everything.  She was a sponge and I was glad to be there to pour in everything I could.  She learned all sorts of stuff and became a pretty decent conversationalist.

Then came August when summer ended and we had to go back to work.  Thanks to my mom, we got her to stay for a week and Jason's mom to stay for a week so that we didn't have to pay for daycare at all in August.  That was really sweet of them and awesome for us because we got to focus on school starting and not have to worry about her.  We knew she was at home and getting a good nap and bopping around and having a good ol' time.  She would cry for us when we left, but I'm sure that was more for our benefit than hers.  I think it lasted 2.5 seconds and then the Bubble Guppies or her blocks would grab her attention.

This week was the first week of 'school' for C and it was rough.  I wish I could go back to myself last year and explain what a breeze taking her to 'school' was then because she didn't know any difference and was happy just about anywhere you put her.  Now that she is 18 months old, she is very aware of where she is and where we are.  So when we get to school I walk her in and she starts crying as soon as we walk in the door.  I know she doesn't remember Mrs. Val and Mrs. Nita from last year, but they LOVE her and have been so patient with her.  So they are right there to help take her and distract her.  So I either hand C over or they take her while she is crying harder and yelling out for me.  I tell her bye bye, that I love her, and that mommy always comes back.  Then I close the door and walk to my car as I can hear her crying for me.  It is absolutely heart breaking.  Then I drive to school (only crying one morning this week when I left!), put in my full day of work, and get in my car as soon as I can.  When they open the door she walks out to me crying because they have just told her that I'm there and she starts crying because she is reminded that I've left her.  Then they tell me either she slept for 45 minutes or just cried the whole time and hasn't had a nap at all.  When we get in the car most of the car ride home consists of her saying, 'Mommy' and 'back' and me reassuring her that Mommy will ALWAYS come back.  Then every once in a while she'll through, 'Daddy' and 'back' in there, just to make sure that Daddy will always come back, too!

As rough as this week has been, I have to believe that it will only get better from here.  It seems that she is playing a little more each day and doing a little less crying.  They say she is eating just as well as she always has, so it isn't like she is so distraught she can't eat.  Home girl just needs to take a nap!

So we made it through this week.  It was tough, but we made it to Friday.  So when the bell rang this afternoon I rushed to my car, scooped her up, and got her home.  We started our weekend together by watching 3 - THREE! - episodes of Bubble Guppies in a row.  She usually gets one in the afternoon and that is it.  Today, I didn't give a shit how many she watched and what it may do to her.  All I wanted to do was sit with her and kiss her head and get her a snack and pay attention to only her.  It was the perfect way to start off the weekend and I don't plan on doing anything but making sure to get some good QT in with her.

I hope I can come back in a couple of weeks and wipe my brow and be glad that we made it through!


Thank you, Darius Rucker, for helping me believe that this will get better!

From 'It Won't Be Like This For Long'

And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg

The teacher peels her off of him

He says what can I do

She says now don't you worry

This’ll only last a week or two

It won’t be like this for long

One day soon you'll drop her off

And she won’t even know you're gone

This phase is gonna fly by

If you can just hold on

It won’t be like this for long