Operation Big Girl bed

Operation Big Girl bed was a success. I haven't noticed any changes in Vanessa's sleeping since she was upgraded. Yippy! The biggest change is the extra space created by a tidy/child resistant room. She now hangs out there a little. We read stories in there now. I need to put more than 3 books up there because I need more variety. Vanessa now sits and listens through a whole book. That's much more rewarding for me when she doesn't run off. She has a few favorites and even like the Dr. Seuss A B C book. Yippy!

Ok That's all for tonight. Going to bed early in preparation for a long day.

What a day!

Today Vanessa spent the whole day at MJ's. Eric dropped her off before work and picked her up after. Ohh the possibilities of the day child free! This has only happened once before so it was a strange feeling. I knew that she was in good hands though. I called after lunch when I figured she was napping. After eating a snack, playing outside and eating lunch she was pooped. The report was good. Vanessa didn't get into trouble and MJ was happy to spend time with her and see how much she's really grown.
After nap they played and then went outside for some more play with the little boy down the street. I heard Vanessa played Peekyou (peek-a-boo) and with his big toys. They both had a great time and wore MJ out.
MJ sent me these pictures of the day. I'm glad they both had a great time. Hopefully they'll do it again soon. :-)

While Vanessa was at MJ's, I cleaned out her room and toddler proofed it. I took apart her crib and put together her bed. I bought a twin loft bed but we're putting the "loft" part away until she is old enough.
Putting this together was not satisfying. Eric and I will be taking it apart on Sunday to do a better job. This bed is not unsafe but it's just not right yet. After sorting out V's room, I walked over to Zellers to get her bedding. I didn't like what I found so I took the bus over to the mall. (too cold to walk) Surprisingly, I found a fun comforter at Sears. They also sell bright sheets separately so she wouldn't get overwhelmed with flower pattern I bought her solid sheets. The good thing is I can buy an extra set later on since they're a sears brand. I took the bus home and made the bed.

Vanessa came home happy! We brought her upstairs to show her her new bed and the freedom to move in her bedroom. She walked in as if nothing had changed. We brought the camera to take pictures and she sat beside the bed and said, "Cheese". She finally tried out the bed but wouldn't get under the covers.

We had dinner and Christina came over. We all went upstairs to hang out in V's room. She was happy to have us all sit on the floor and play with her. Her stuffed animals went for naps but she was still not going under the covers.

Eric gave her a bath and we put her in her PJs. Initially she laid at the foot of the bed on top of the covers. I went to go get the camera and we read a book on the floor beside the bed. She now knew it was time to sleep and got into bed under the covers with her first pillow. I took a picture and she's been there ever since.

Here are some pictures of the big occasion.

Sleeping beauty... How much beauty sleep will she get?

Time flies ...

Tonight is the last night in the crib Vanessa is come to know and love. Tomorrow V goes to bed in a twin bed. So many mixed emotions for me. (Vanessa is still pretty clueless) She's growing up so fast. I remember the panic we had moving her into the crib. Her cradle was too small and we had visions of her going overboard. When we came back from vacation we put her in a crib and the fears went away. She sleeps peacefully in that crib every night and for hours in the day. She plays happily by herself before and after her slumber.
She's a real toddler. She'll be playing in her room, making messes, having her own space. It's pretty exciting. Tomorrow I'm going to have to toddler proof it. Until tomorrow, she only ever spent time in her while I was there or she was confined to her crib. Soon she'll be able to open doors so we'll have to do something about the whole upstairs. Locks on the bathroom cupboards, the office door and some things put out of reach in our bedroom. It will give us a swift kick in the but to do some purging and cleaning.
There's also a good deal of fear. Will I be able to handle what comes next? How does one manage the "terrific twos"? When do you bargain and when do you lay down the law. Speaking of that how does one discipline a child effectively? Will we be loosing our blissful hours of sleep at night and alone time during the day. I love Vanessa to pieces but we spend enough time together now.
We won't be actively toilet training her. We'll adjust to the new situation go on vacation and see about toilet training then. She's still interested in the toilet process but doesn't have the attention span to learn.
Vanessa still loves to put a smile on my face. She likes to Eskimo kiss. She puts her hands on my cheeks to bring me close and shakes her head back and forth. We do the Eskimo kiss and I fake sneeze. She thinks it's hilarious and sometimes fakes it herself. She likes to take your hand and drag you into what she's doing. It's nice to feel part of her world even if you're trying to make dinner. She says new words every day and starting slowly to string them together. "Too Tight!" "Mashains" for Mary-Jane's.
Tomorrow's a very big day. I better go get my rest. I promise you will get pictures before the week is out.

Vanessa's Amazing

She's growing in leaps and bounds these days. She loves people and especially other kids. It's heart warming to see her walk up to the slide at play group and push up a little one's bum on the stairs and say, "help". Today at playgroup it was a little louder than usual and Vanessa stuck to me for quite a while until I brought her to the toys. Just minutes before she was saying hi! to everyone taking off their winter outerwear. That was a smaller room with less excitement going on. She warmed up and by the end of the morning she was dragging me away from snack to join in the songs. I her favorite non CD song is "Sticky Bubble Gum". Today I realised I wasn't singing the right tune but V doesn't care. She's too busy slapping her knees and saying, "YYYuuuck!" at the end.
This week she came up to me with the small broken off piece of a Dove bar of soap. I hope everyone can imagine the half circle with jagged edge. She gave me the soap and said, "Cookie". I told her it was soap but she wasn't convinced so she repeated Cookie! and brought it to her lips and I said it was soap. She said Cookie one more time and licked it. V said, "Yuck!! soap." and put it down. She had to learn that one on her own. :-P
She's started to call people by their names in her own creative way. The list is still short but growing fast. Christina is Tia and Pamela changes as her dictation improves. Grandpa is Papa and I'm saving the best for last Baby K for Kieran. She's been asking for him a lot lately. She must miss him we haven't seen him in a while. About a week and a half. We last saw him with Christine but he was bundled under her coat. That doesn't count. Vanessa loves to identify his body parts, especially his eyes. She's quite gentle. She'll pat his head and say soft. Two weeks ago we went for a ride in the car and she often told us that he needed burping. Did you know that babies need burping when their asleep? So very adorable the two of them. They'll be great friends.
I've saved the best for last. On Sunday I picked up V from her crib after her nap and she said, "Pee". I asked her if she wanted to go pee on the toilet and she said, "Yes". Ok I'll bite. I took off her dry diaper and brought her to the training potty and she peed. Now I have no illusions that she's going to be trained soon but it's a good start. She seems to be aware and she's not afraid of the process. That afternoon I took off and bought her Curious George underwear and some fun soap to wash her hands. The next day we spent with underwear. No pee in the potty just messes so I'll try another way. Tomorrow I'm off to buy pull ups to make her aware without making a mess of my house. I'm also going to buy, an Elmo dvd to start this process slowly.
A new adventure for sure.

Too late to think so I'll say goodbye.

Florida Wrap up.

On the Wednesday our adventure was starting to end. With mixed emotions we packed up and started our way home. I contemplated an extra day so we could spend at least one day at the beach but it was time. Vanessa and I took a nice drive from West Palm beach at the marina to Leesburg. We rented a car to run errands and be able to drop it off at the airport on Friday.
She made the trip easy by enjoying Ska music with me and then falling asleep so I listened to Podcasts for a couple of hours. What joy! Some time to "myself".
We had dinner with my grandfather and the next day we head off to Disney.
Vanessa deserved some fun time. We met my longtime friend Stephanie and her family there. It was so nice to see them since it had been 6 or 7 years. Boy do things change but somehow we were still the same. We joined them in their day at Epcot Center. They knew the place very well so we just followed. There were very few lineups so we just walked in where we wanted. We did mostly rides that brought us through fun scenery. Vanessa was really interested. At one point, I hit the deck when air shot out at me but she didn't flinch.
It was nice to hang out with other children even though they were older. Vanessa went up to Niamh and held her hand. They walked together. It was darling to watch. Vanessa was motivated to move from one activity to the other.
I'm sorry I was too busy to take pictures. We had a great time at Disney. We'll have to go back when Vanessa is much older and stay a while.

The next day we flew home. It was fairly uneventful but we were early and the plane was late. Lots of time spent exploring the airport. Good thing for the harness and food. Once we got on the plane I was exhausted! Good thing V and I got 3 seats. I sat on the end and just let her play. She was full of energy but was happy.
We landed to cold weather but warm smiles. Eric and our family was very happy to see us after a long time away and a difficult week.
I'm now ready for a relaxing vacation.

Thanks Great Grandma Pearl

Christmas post previw.

This video is for Vanessa's loyal fans who could not wait until my posts were up to date to see her open presents. Grandma look closely. That's the dress you smocked for me to wear when I was little. We'll have to take the hem down if she's going to wear it again. She loved playing with it because it was flowy.