Potty Trained!!!

I am very happy to announce that Sadie Beth is more or less potty trained! We started doing the whole "big girl" panties thing about a month ago. She was doing pretty well. Then she went on an antibiotic and in my most sincere efforts to avoid yucky messes I decided to go back to diapers. That worked for a few days until my little miss decided she no longer wanted anything to do with diapers during the daytime. I kept replacing the diapers she kept removing until she finally looked up at me with those irresistible, blue eyes and said, "Please Mommy, I Sadie Beth wear big girl panties." What else do you do with that? So I got the girl her panties and we haven't looked back. Maybe only 2 (3?) accidents in the last 2 weeks - and each one of those times were actually my fault. I should know better than to tell a not-even two year old (at the time) that she couldn't go potty. What the heck is wrong with me? :) So, off we went and never looked back. We still do diapers for naptime and nights, but she hasn't been wet after a single naptime in over a month. And nights are becoming increasingly drier - even a handful of totally dry mornings. To be honest, I could do without those because they are the nights when she wakes up at 3:45am and starts shouting out, "I wear big girl panties!" which is code for "I'm not going back to sleep until I potty." As soon as she gets past her recent sore throat/cold totally, evening liquid consumption will definitely be limited.
So, all that to say, don't be alarmed at the frequency of pictures in which Sadie Beth is solely in her big girl undies....it's just been easier to not wear clothes these days. Now that cooler weather is upon us, she will be clothed more often than not.
Here Sadie Beth demonstrates her version of the "lamberaina" (sp?) - a hispanic dance performed by 2 professional dancers, Zoe, and a lamb on her most favorite episode of Sesame Street. She's a dancing fool when this segment comes on...though as far as I can tell, she has inherited my coordination and dancing skills...which doesn't bode well for her in the future.

My little girly-girl.
One pretty afternoon we enjoyed some time at Papa John's headquarters feeding the ducks and walking in the sunshine.

Sadie Beth always seems more interested in eating the stale bread we bring for the ducks than sharing it with them. Yuck.

The CHOICE of the day - which big girl panties to wear. I've been trying to teach Sadie Beth about making choices. Each day I give her 2 pair to choose from and it usually takes about five minutes of deliberation before reaching her decision. She will pick one, hand me other saying, "this one LATER" and then shouts, "I CHOOSED!!!!!"

So we've been doing this a lot...

Might as well be entertained...

One cup for each hand is Sadie Beth's motto...doesn't she look big?

Sadie Beth is very excited about her new backpack. She calls it her "honeybees" bag since she takes it each Wednesday night. One day my sweet girl is going to go to school...

Fun with friends!

Sadie Beth and I have had so much fun playing with our friends this summer. She sure is blessed to have so many playmates - and I sure am blessed to have their mommies as friends too. What makes these friendships really special is that many of their mommies have been my friends since 7th, 8th, and 9th grade! Who would have thought that 15 years later our kiddos would be running through the sprinkler together?
On this particular day, we had our friends the Armours over to play. Henry, Lily, and Baby Callie belong to one of my oldest friends Jenn.

We've tried to get Sadie Beth "into" the whole sprinkler business all summer long. But for the most part she's not been so sure. I knew Henry would have a blast and thought maybe he would rub off on her.

I guess she thought Henry was having so much fun, she would at least touch the water with the tips of her fingers.

Lily didn't need any coaxing. I think she had the most fun at all.

Oops - her diaper got too full and exploded after playing in the pool.

This was a rough day for Sadie Beth. We let Baby Callie take a nap in her crib and Sadie Beth did NOT think that was a super idea. She was very concerned about it the whole morning. The next day, however, she reported excitedly to everyone that she "shared" her bed with Baby Callie...and now thinks its great.

We also have lots of fun on our park days. This park is nice because it is fenced in. Noone can escape too far. Between 5 of us gals, there are 9 kids with 2 more coming soon.

We are indeed fruitful and multiplying.

Henry's been the only boy for the longest time - now he's just thankful for Baby Jacob and probably ready for him to get big enough to play!

Sadie Beth loves Baby Callie to pieces - I've been thankful that it's been such a good learning experience for her and a chance to repeatedly talk about "teeny-tiny babies" and what it will be like when Baby Sister comes.

Two years old!!!!

How is it even possible that my sweet little Sadie Beth is 2 years old!?!?!? I just love this little girl to bits. She is such a delight to David and I and we really and truly enjoy each day with her. I am so thankful to have such a sweet, polite, hilarious, well-behaved little stinker to take care of each day. Sadie Beth is a little girl who really just loves life - it doesn't take much to get her excited and she has such a sweet sweet spirit.

Two year old nicknames: sweet potato pie, love bug, Sadie Beth Elisabeth, boo-bear, Bugaboo...

Fun Sadie Beth things:
- Sadie Beth is a TALKER. She has lots to say all the time.
- Sesame Street is a staple at our house. She would watch "street" all day, every day if we let her. Her favorite episode is one about Baby Bear. She also LOVES Elmo, Zoey, Abby-dabby, Big Bird, Snuffy, and really the rest of the gang. She knows which shape is each characters favorite.
- She also loves Veggie Tales Silly Songs - best $0.25 I've spent at a yard sale....EVER.
- Sadie Beth loves talking about families. She knows that Daddies are "scratchy" and Mommies are "soft." She will talk about how Daddies go to work...and list every "daddy" she knows..."Daddy work, Phillip work, Grandpa work..." on a regular basis.
- BABIES!!! Sadie Beth loves all things baby...Baby Sister, Baby Callie, Baby Jacob...and talks about the regularly. She is tickled pink whenever we see a little baby ANYWHERE.
- Sadie Beth is, with the exception of sleep times, potty trained as of today, her 2nd birthday. She has only had 1 accident in the last 5 days of wearing big girl panties all day, has woken up dry from every nap for at least 2 weeks, and was even dry when I got her up this morning!
- As far as the potty training goes, she is ENAMORED with her Sesame Street panties - the excitement of the morning is picking out which pair she will wear for the day. I give her two to choose from and she picks one, informing me the other is for "LATER." (very seriously).
- Sadie Beth does great with pack and play time still, but doesn't always love playing independently. I think having a Baby Sister will do wonders for this.
- We've been working on sharing for a while now...at first "share" meant, "You give me what I want." I'm so proud of my girl though, she is growing such a sweet and loving spirit that often looks to others first.
- Big big hugs! Every day Sadie Beth waits for Daddy to come home by the screen door or watches out the window for him. She wants to give him "big big hugs" and gets excited about sharing their "poccosol."
- Sadie Beth is a "processor" - no matter what the activity is, she will do much better and seem to have much more fun if we talk about it in detail first. We learned this trick when it came to the nursery at church. We talk step by step about what will happen and she does a great job!
- My sweet Sadie Beth has such a thankful heart - she is so good about saying "please" and "thankyou" but also just seems to treasure gifts that are given to her or things people do for her. She will talk about them for days. "Thankyou daddy horsie store" or "Thankyou Grammy swimming pool." I LOVE seeing this grow in her.

A YEAR IN PICTURES

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008 - now she would say, "I help Daddy sweepin"
December 2008

January 2009 - this was a hard month for us...sick almost the whole month!

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009 - new house! (new "spot" for Sadie Beth)May 2009

June 2009 - Dancing with Sesame Street

July 2009 - Oregon trip

August 2009 - Big girl panties!!!

September 2009 - we love the park!

"I swim in potty!" ...and other fun things...

I think I've blogged about this before, but babies are a pretty significant part of our life these days. Much of Sadie Beth's play involves "taking care" of her babies - feeding, putting to sleep, taking for walks, diapering, etc. Meet Prudie Sue, Sadie Beth's Cabbage Patch Doll. Her given Cabbage Patch name is "Prudence Suzanna," but we shortened it so it wouldn't be quite so much of a mouthful for a little girl. On this day, apparently Prudie Sue came back from her "stroller walk" very hungry for goldfish.

Isn't she grown up? My sweet baby is so much a little girl - for awhile now too - who loves to play dress up and wear bows, tail-wiggles (ponytails), and jewelry. She has to put lotion on her face whenever she sees me doing it and "stuff" (chapstick) on her lips as well.

I think she looks especially cute with her "tail-wiggles." Tail-wiggle came from when Sadie Beth was first starting to talk. She would sit while I fixed her hair and babble saying, "Tail-ioli -io - lio-tail-iggle-iggle-ioliggle." She thought it was hilarious and eventually it stuck as a "tail-wiggle."

Maybe I'll end up having a girly-girl after all. I hope so. I've always wished I was more of one than I am. :) It's just easier (albeit more expensive).

And time for some more baby-care. Here the box was the "changing table" and she was changing "stinky-poos." She went around to all her babies and bears, smelling them before deciding this baby was the guilty party.

And those runny noses! Any time I call her to take her allergy medicine. She calls out (to whomever is listening I suppose) - "RUNNY NOSES!!!!!"

We've had so so much fun at the zoo this summer. I'm so thankful we were able to get a zoo pass and look forward to doing so every year as long as we have kiddos at home! I only wish we hadn't waited so long to try out the splash park! Sadie Beth has had so much fun there. Only, each time we go initially she is hesitant to try anything on her own so I end up playing with her. Then I look like the goofiest mom there because I get just as wet as she does. Oh well, at least my girl has had lots of fun.

Don't be fooled. We actually have a love/hate relationship with the tricycle. I think it will go better next summer, but for now she's just not sure what she thinks. This was a gift from my dad for Sadie Beth's first birthday. David put it together awhile back and she wants to get on it frequently but then gets very disgruntled every time we try and push her. Quirky kid.

I think she would rather just do this on her own than have us push her - unless we are walking down the street to go see "Roscoe" - the neighbor's dog. "Oh Roscoe!" is what Sadie Beth says repeatedly when asked about him. He's a pretty fun dog.

Meet another new important figure in our household, "Skippyjon Jones." Who is that, you ask? Well, take note of the little Siamese cat on the book in David's lap. That, my friends, is Skippyjon Jones. He is a hilarious little rascal in a variety of children's books that gets into all sorts of trouble. Sadie Beth loves him, and I have to admit - he is a pretty funny guy if I do say so myself.

Have I mentioned before how much Sadie Beth adores her Daddy?

Well, it's true. They've developed a new routine this summer. On most days, when David gets home from work, he and Sadie Beth share one of those flavor-ice popsicles in the "other chair"...Sadie Beth's name for our rocking chair.

Am I blessed, or what?

Does it get any better than this? I don't think so.

You'd think she'd never of had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her life. Not true. She eats them all the time, but what is really exciting is if we just have some toast with jam with our dinners. I said, "Say cheese Sadie Beth." This is what I got.

Here we are resting because she took a TERRIBLE nap the very first day of her Honeybees class at church, which she LOVES. The only downside to Honeybees is that she doesn't get to bed until about 8:45 - and that is if she settles down quickly which usually doesn't happen because she is so wound up by seeing all of her friends.

Oh goodness! Awhile back, David and I picked Sadie Beth up from Sunday school...not wearing the adorable little flowery dress in which we dropped her off but these sweatpants and t-shirt. Her teacher (and my friend, thankfully), looking slightly exasperated explained to us that Sadie Beth had snuck into the bathroom stall in the classroom and while climbing apparently fell in the potty and got completely soaked. As if this weren't funny enough by itself, as we were leaving church I asked Sadie Beth what happened, to which she responded, "I SWIM IN POTTY!!!" Now, every week when we drop her off, one of the last things she tells us or one of the first things she says to her teacher as she walks in the room is, "No swimming in potty" - in her most serious of Sadie Beth voices.