BIG GIRL DAY continued...

more from yesterday:
streamers from top of bathroom door...yes there were balloons in there too

the presents... (I did end up wrapping the doll and stamps - I had opened the doll so I could "play" with it the night before...fun times)

Karla liked the doll right away...let the drinking and peeing begin!


Karla only initiated going to the potty once on her own yesterday. The book said once a child initiates twice "you're on your way to being fully potty trained". We made progress yesterday, it was just slow.

Nothing has happened yet today...only a matter of time now. :)

As soon as I typed the above sentence, I looked up at Karla, she looked at me with big eyes...and we ran to the potty! She did it! So, one success for today already!

BIG GIRL DAY

Karla had a low grade fever for most of yesterday, until about 5pm. Then she perked up for a bit until right before bedtime. She seems to be back to normal today. Thank goodness!

I have been planning Big Girl Day for about 2 weeks so I was glad she was better this morning!

Today is "Big Girl Day" at our house. I thought that sounded better than "potty training day". I'm using a combination of things people suggested and then a lot of what was recommended in a book called "Potty Training in One Day" by Narmin Parpia. So this morning we woke up and all 3 came downstairs to the hall right outside the bathroom. There were 6 little presents for Karla wrapped in "Ariel" (princess) wrapping paper. She got
*a shoe box with pull-ups in it (we are calling them big girl underwear for sleeping). I put them in a shoe box since the box they come in looks like a diaper box...she called the pull-ups swimming diapers when she opened that. Hope that is okay. I just don't think she's ready to be diaperless at night yet.
*Tinkerbell underwear (she already has Elmo and Dora)
*a 2-liter of Sprite (we don't let her drink pop but I thought this would be okay today since the book recommends having her drink LOTS today)
*a "drink and wet" doll
*underwear and bottle for doll (these came with the doll but I had to play with the doll last night to see how it worked so I wrapped them separately)
*stamps with ink (we realized at the farm show Karla likes these - so these are for reinforcement after using the potty)

We then collected all the diapers in the house and put them in a bag and "got rid of them". We folded up her changing table in her bedroom. We taught the doll how to drink from her bottle and then use the potty when she needed to.

Karla is now taking a nap and is 2:2. Two accidents, two successes.

We'll see what happens this afternoon...no turning back now. :)

Sick

I uploaded some new pictures to flickr today.

Karla had asthma difficulties last night and they are continuing today. I'm so glad we know what it is now and that we have the nebulizer and at home.

She starts out by getting lethargic, then feverish, then gagging or throwing up while having labored breathing.

I've only had to give her albuterol (through nebulizer) once today...hoping it stays that way. She is asleep now and I am hoping that she is able to sleep well so she can get better fast!

We were supposed to go to a family reunion today but obviously don't want to take Karla out away from the nebulizer and into the humid, hot air - especially when she doesn't feel good. I'm a little bummed though.

Time with Family

We've been busy for the past week! Karla and I got to see a couple of my high school friends and their kids last week. Then on Sunday Grandma "Non-uh" and Grandpa "fah-fah" came over. Karla had lots of fun! She got both Grandma and Grandpa to hide in her favorite spot - under Daddy's desk - multiple times. I love this picture because she got both of them under there at the same time. She took her good old time trying to find them too! We all got a good laugh of her pretending to look for them and not being able to find them.

Then we all went on a walk and finally Karla played in her pool with the four of us for an audience.

Last night we went to the farm show with Tio Ryan, Grammy "No-nee" and Pap-Pap. We walked around and saw the animals first. Karla warmed up to the animals the longer we were there and did pet several of them. Then she found the rides! She had seen the ferris wheel from the road on our way in and said she wanted to go "round and round" on it. I didn't really think she meant it but she didn't forget! So the first ride was the Ferris wheel! Then the carousel. I sat on a bench on the carousel in front of Karla. I was all teared up and could have cried very easily because I was so happy just to hear Karla laughing and see her smiling and LOVING the carousel. Never thought making a little person happy could make me so happy! :)


Needless to say Karla loved the other rides too! I hardly recognized her she was so excited to go on each and every ride...and didn't even mind going on them alone!!

I've got LOTS of pictures from the farm show so I'll have to upload them to flickr sometime.
That is it for now!

Thankful

As I mentioned on July 18, Joint Council's Community participated in a Call to Action from July 28 - July 30. The bill now has 14 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives! That is good news.

In the email I received today from JCICS there was an update about Guatemala adoptions in it and it made me feel sick to my stomach and very sad. I was going to elaborate but I won't because I'll get worked up. If you want to find out more click here.I'm not sure it will mean much if you don't know all the "Guatemala adoption lingo" but basically there are still families and CHILDREN waiting...the average is 3.4 years! This isn't beneficial for the children or parents.

Just makes me SO THANKFUL that Karla is here. I can't imagine what life would be like if we were still waiting...that's pretty scary to think about...so I won't.

So, tomorrow, when I hear "WHY?" 50 trillion times and "ME DO IT" 100 trillion times, I will smile and be patient and happy! :)

More highlights

Okay, so I am probably never going to have time to sit down and blog about everything I want to blog about.

Here are a few more highlights.

Last week Karla went to VBS (Son Rock Kids Camp) every night. She went to her class when it was time each night and didn't take Oso! That is a big thing! Oso usually goes everywhere. Then on Thursday and Friday night while I was getting things ready for my class, when Karla usually played in the room while I was setting things up, she walked up to me and said "Bye bye Mommy. Class." She wanted to go to her class on her own - before it was time. The first night I was so shocked I just looked at her and then she smiled at me so I asked for a hug. She hugged me and then off she went. I did follow her a moment later to make sure she made it to her room and that her teacher was there. She was already settling in to her room. I had tears in my eyes!!! One of the other teachers saw me and I told them what had happened. She said she remembered when we first brought Karla home and she would cry if we tried to leave her in the toddler room without us. She said we'd come a long way. And that we have!

Friday night at VBS all the kids sang for their parents. Karla didn't want to get up and sing. I was disappointed because we'd been singing the songs in the car ALL week!! And she liked to sing them! But, Friday night she was tired and I hadn't told her that all the kids would be "performing". So Sunday morning at church all the kids were going to sing again. We talked to her about it before church and told her she could take Oso up and that if she wanted, she could hold her friend Sophia's hand. She said "okay". So when it was time for the kids to sing she went up (without me) holding Sophia's hand and Oso. She stayed up there the whole time! I really didn't expect her to go up at all so I didn't have my camera. Thanks to Jenna, (Sophia and Ava's mom) we have some pictures! She didn't sing but she did a few gestures and made one of her "silly" faces at Jason a few times. Tears in my eyes again....

Sophia is in the green shirt behind Karla, Ava is to the left of Karla and Karla's friend Josiah is on her right.


The other thing that consumed some time last week was our 3 month old refrigerator. To make a long story short...it was not a good fridge so we got a new one (again) last Tuesday. It was a little battle though!!

My great-uncle and great-aunt made this awesome dollhouse for Karla! She has played with little else since she got it a week ago. It is awesome!



I have uploaded more pictures to flickr! :)

Catching Up

I jotted some things down to blog about the last week (or so) as a draft...and haven't gotten back to it since.

I will summarize the highlights.

We celebrated Pap-Pap and Grammy's birthdays. This was a huge deal to Karla because she loves birthdays and loves cake!

We have a wonderful friend who owns a mini-excavator so he came over and leveled two spots in our backyard. One for the swingset and one for the shed. It took him some time in an evening...it would have taken Jason, among others, hours and hours to do what he did for us! Jason and his dad got the swingset up this weekend. Karla was on her swing for quite some time this evening! She kept saying "mine, mine, mine". Pictures to follow in the next day or so. :)

We went to my cousin Chris's wedding last Saturday. It was lots of fun and Karla's first wedding reception! She danced and danced with me and her cousins. The photographer took some pictures of her because she was really into the dancing...I can't wait to see them! It was a beautiful wedding and was such a happy time. I enjoyed seeing all of my family too.

Karla is pretty much talking or singing NONSTOP these days!

I don't know if all 2 1/2 year olds have good memories but Karla sure does! I call it "freakish". :) She'll remember things from months ago - in great detail - or things that I wouldn't have remember had she not reminded me.

This is a picture I received about 2 weeks ago. My 8* year young grandpa is up in a tree...even though I have repeatedly told him he does not need to trim his trees by climbing up in them OR go up on his roof often to clean it. He does these things and then has my grandma take a picture of him! Supposedly she holds the camera and the phone in case she needs to dial 911. :) Can you see him way up there??

Cute picture from a zoo trip...

Yesterday Karla went boating for the first time with my family. She LOVED it! It was great fun - and finally a sunny day! This is my new favorite picture:

Lots more to write but have to break it up so I'm not on the computer all night.