Potty Update

I haven't mentioned Potty Training in a while, have I? Well, here's an update:

Ellie is doing quite well. She usually goes pee pee on the potty at least a couple times a day at school. They put the kids on the potty once an hour and apparently Ellie is one of the few kids who does so without complaining and is excited about it.

She's gone poo poo in the potty at school once.

At home, we're not quite as consistent. I try to ask her often if she wants to go potty, but I'll be honest, it's hard to remember to do so. Having said that, though, she usually sits on the potty at the same time I do 2 or 3 times a day.

She's gone poo poo in the potty at home three times now. One time, she even initiated it herself during dinner and we jumped up to race to the bathroom. She thought that was fun and was disappointed that she couldn't go poo poo when she tried to repeat the fun a couple minutes later.

In public, she tried to go pee pee on the big potty once but I think the size of the toilet was a little intimidating. None-the-less she was proud that she tried.

Last night she was getting ready to take a bath and I was downstairs amputating another Bun Bun. I heard her start to scream bloody murder and I thought for sure that she slipped and hurt herself. Either that or she was pissed that Daddy was trying to wash her hair. When I asked what happened, I was surprised to hear the answer "she accidentally went pee pee on the floor." Poor Ellie. She was so devastated that she accidentally peed on the floor. We tried to tell her it's ok and that accidents sometimes happen, but she was so very upset. Maybe she was disappointed that she couldn't celebrate the success like she could have in the potty? Maybe she didn't like how unexpectedly she had to pee? Maybe she didn't like the feeling of it running down her legs? Maybe she was just upset at herself, feeling like she could have, should have been able to sit on the potty?

Either way, I'm guessing it's a good sign. Heartbreaking yes, but good in terms of potty-going.

Bun Bun Amputation Update

Well she went through her first night without Bun Bun's arms. We were unsure of whether or not we wanted to start it last night because Ellie was fussier than normal to begin with, but we were strong. I should correct myself - Michael was strong.

Of course, she insisted on having another Bun Bun, one with arms. But Daddy explained to her that the dentist said Bun Bun was hurting her teeth and so we need to use the armless bunnies until she's no longer needs to have them in her mouth. At that point, the other Bun Buns can come back from vacation. This seemed reasonable to Ellie and she said "OK" but never asked about Bun Bun again.

It was harder to put her to bed, but she ended up going down around 8:15 which wasn't too bad. Then she woke up again around 11:30 and was quite difficult to put back to sleep. Michael commented on it being the hardest time he's ever had.

I thought for sure that she'd wake up upset once more before the night was through, but Ellie ended up sleeping until a decent time. She did wake up before I went in to get her, but she didn't cry so I guess that's a plus. When I went in, she told me about how the Dentist said Bun Bun hurts her teeth and how she cried when he looked at her mouth. I'm sure she's trying to figure out why this Mr. Dentist guy is so important and why he sent Bun Bun away on vacation.

Anyway, considering it was our first night without sucking on Bun Bun, I don't think it went too bad.

We're oh so tired, though. Especially Michael. Poor Michael has been through a lot with his schedule recently. Hugs to Daddy.

Big Old Butterfly

We recently went to the Butterfly Pavilion with Ellie and she had a blast finding butterflies for us to look at. She was actually quite good at it.
Eventually we came across this guy. When asked if she saw the really big butterfly, she responded with "No! Tis a BIG! OL! BUTTERFY!" Silly Mommy. It's not just any big butterfly. It's a big OLD butterfly!

Bun Bun Amputation

We've decided that the time has come to deal with Bun Bun, but I just don't have it in my heart to go cold-turkey. As a compromise, I came up with the idea of amputation. It's the paws that Ellie sucks on and if it weren't for that, we'd have no problem with her keeping Bun Bun around. I'm still concerned about how it will work out because she not only sucks on a paw to put herself asleep, but she strokes the other paw with her fingers.
How do you decide which BunBun to amputate? Do you sacrifice the oldest one with the assumption that it's the grossest? But it's also the most loved. What about the one with the blood stain on it? But Ellie is so cute whenever she points out that Bun Bun has an owie. What about the one whose head has always been a bit deformed? Or maybe one of the bunnies whose noses are coming undone? In the end, we chose to amputate the Bun Bun that was falling apart the most. The other 6 were very relieved. Little do they know that they might be next.

Though we plan on enforcing the arm-less Bun Bun in the next couple of days, I accidentally gave it to Ellie once last week for bedtime:

Ellie: Oh oh, Mommy! Mommy! Where did bun bun arm go?
Mommy: Oh no, is Bun Bun missing her arms?
Ellie: (with great concern) Yeah!
Mommy: What do you think happened to her?
Ellie: Bun Bun fall down and go boom. He as no arms!
Mommy: Bun Bun fell down and went Boom? And her arms feel off?
Ellie: (very sad) Yeah!
Mommy: That must have been a big fall!
Ellie: YEAH! Wea-y wea-y big fall! You ok, Bun Bun?
Mommy: I think this Bun Bun needs extra love. She's still soft and lots of fun to hug.
Ellie: (Gives Bun Bun a big hug)
Mommy: Can you give her lots and lots of hugs tonight?
Ellie: Yeah. I need odder Bun Bun too.

She ended up sleeping with two Bun Buns. One in her mouth while she hugged the poor armless one with lots of love. Maybe there's hope?

While Daddy and Mommy were on the Metro in Paris (pictures to come soon, I promise), we discovered the real story behind what happened to Bun Bun's arms:
Wish us luck with the transition!

Wordless Wednesday XII

Flowers and Pepperoni

Ellie spent the day with Aunt Erin and Grandma up in Estes Park and when I showed up for dinner, she showed me a bottle of wildflowers that she picked around Grandma's house. She apparently was very excited to give them to me and even displayed them prominently so that I would notice them quickly. I did not. However, when they were pointed out to me, I certainly made a big deal out of them. They were a big deal. They're so pretty and Ellie picked them just for her Mommy! She was so proud.

We brought the flowers home and she likes that we have them on display. One morning we sat and ate breakfast at our new Ellie-sized table that our neighbor Olivia gave us. We put the flowers on the table and she liked it. She smelled them and made sure that I knew how pretty they were.

Then she started talking to the flowers. "Hello fowers! How. Are. You?" so I had to take a picture. Or two. Or three. Why stop there?

After just a few pictures:

Mommy: Say cheese!
Ellie: Mommy?
Mommy: Yeah?
Ellie: I tired of cheese.
Mommy: You're tired of saying cheese?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: What do you want to say instead?
Ellie: Ummm...
Mommy: How about pepperoni!?
Ellie: Yeah!
Mommy: Say pepperoni!
Ellie: Pepperoniiiiii!

The next few minutes were filled with tons of giggles and laughter because we both thought it was silly to say pepperoni, but I got a few great pictures out of it.My favorite picture, though, was when she said "Hi fowers. I lou you fowers!"

It took some convincing to get her to agree to leaving Mommy's flowers at home instead of bringing them to school. As sweet as it is that she wants to show them to the world, I'm being selfish and keeping them to myself this time!

Creepy child

I think I caught Ellie sleep walking last night. It gave me nightmares. Seriously.

I came upstairs to go to bed and I saw her standing in front of her bed, with Bun-Bun in her mouth. However, she wasn't saying anything and wasn't upset. I went to the door and asked her if she was OK. She just stood there like a zombie. I told her that I was about to go to sleep and would she like to get back into bed. She just stood there like a zombie. I went into her room and asked her if she wanted a hug, and she looked up at me but continued to stand there like a zombie. I gave her a hug and she was non-reactive. She was cold and life-less. You know, like a zombie. I asked her if she wanted to go back to sleep and she turned around, very zombie like and put her head on the bed. Her legs were still on the floor but her head was on the bed. Like a zombie. I'm sure that's how zombies sleep.

That's how I left her. Standing on the floor, with her head on the bed. Like a zombie. I went to bed myself and proceeded to have nightmares about my child being infected by some kind of zombie-inducing flu. Like in the movies. The zombie movies, of course. I've only seen one, but I'm sure they're all the same. Anyway, needless to say, I was a little relieved when she woke up screaming for Mommy at 6:00. She woke me at a point where I was about to give someone permission to rid the world of all zombies, including my precious little girl. I'll take screaming over that dream any time.

I could do without that particular z word. Creepy.

Girls like trains too!

A friend of mine in MD wants to do her daughter's big girl room in trains but is having problems with the fact that trains are "mostly for boys." I love her idea, though. I think it would be fantastic if she could pull off a cute train room in pinks, purples, yellows and greens. I wish I was there to help her!

And how cute would it be if she put flowers in the cargo train cars and had butterflies coming out of the engine instead of smoke? Oh, I have such a cute picture in my head.

I just wish it were easier for her to pull off! Good luck and I'll try to help as much as I can because I love what the image I can see in my head!

Teaching Manners

Upon our arrival back home from Paris, Daddy was trying to track down the source of the absolutely awful smell stinking up our house. In doing so, he found himself gagging at what might be living in our garbage disposal. Ellie, reminded him "cova your mouf, Daddy!"

While eating breakfast, Ellie proudly stated "I eat wif my mouf closed." Mommy and Daddy agreed that chewing with your mouth closed was a very polite thing to do. "Just like Cinder-ey-a! Good job, Daddy. Daddy eat wif mouf closed like princess."

We're all so proud of how far Daddy has come.

The magic joy of spinning

Ah, shucks. Look at this. Sometimes it takes very few words to describe a feeling. Iman's words were perfect.