BigSkyBrands candy, that is!

I have been a very negligent blogger and in the process of putting together my 2 year old's fairy-princess-ballerina birthday party, I totally forgot to announce the winner of the BigSkyBrands candy contest!
Without further ado, the winner is...

Cindy said...

I like BigSkyBrands on Facebook.

October 15, 2010 9:45 PM

Cindy, please contact me with your mailing info so BigSkyBrands can send you your prize!

Thanks to everyone for entering the contest! Stay tuned for more exciting giveaways.

I've always had a hatred strong dislike for the colour pink. I loathed girlie things. I boycotted all things fairy, princess, and ballerina.

Until I had a daughter.

For some reason, almost all of her clothing items are PINK! It wasn't by choice. It just sort of happened. Despite my pleading requests, friends and family kept giving her pink things! It turns out that the kid looks pretty cute in pink. Plus, now that pink is "the" colour of Breast Cancer Awareness, how can I hate pink??? I think I love pink now.

Little One just turned 2 on Remembrance Day and we had her 2nd Birthday party yesterday. It was a girls only party. Normally, I wouldn't segregate or discriminate the sexes (I don't feel it's right to do so), but I was just too tired to have a HUGE party with ALL the kids.

It was a fairy-princess-ballerina tutu party. All the little girls came in tutus and I had tiaras for each of them. We had Tinkerbell decorations and the loot bags were all Tinkerbell inspired. The pièce de résistance was the stunning birthday cake made by my gorgeous and talented friend, Maria.


Every princess-fairy-ballerina's dream cake: Sparkly butterflies and pretty flowers.

Birthday pics will be posted sometime this week!
 

I woke up the other morning and the first thought that came to my mind was...

OH.
MY.
GOSH.

I've got a two year old!

Honestly, how did that happen? Didn't I just give birth to her the other day? How come I've got this little person who is all of a sudden babbling away, doing pirouettes, singing to herself, running around, and kissing her Baby Alive doll goodnight? How on earth did that happen?
Is it awful that I just want to freeze time and keep her like this forever? She's so sweet and loving. She doesn't have a care in the world. She's not jaded or tainted by the poisons one can find in the outside world. She does not know hatred, war, lies, cheating, or any of the other ugly things she will unfortunately come into contact with.

I know I cannot shield her from these things and that she will be exposed to them sooner or later. The only thing I can do is prepare her for the outside world. *sigh*

 

It's only day 12 of NaBloPoMo and I'm running out of steam.

Oh, alright. I have a confession. I've been cheating.

I've been a very, very bad girl.

I want desperately to stay on top of things, but I find I'm lacking in time. I'm not lacking in conviction. I'm lacking in time. Between teaching and rushing home to play with my toddler, meeting deadlines for articles and getting supper on the table, then doing chores (and sometimes running after naughty cattle who like to bust through electric fences while the juice is on!), I find myself without any quality time for blogging.

Oh, right. My confession. Well, I've been writing my NaBloPoMo posts whenever I  have a free moment and then I post date them. Yes, you read correctly. I post date my posts. Obviously, I ran out of posts and had to add this one where I confess how horrible a NaBlo-er I am.

Why am I even NaBlo-ing in the first place? Well, I started NaBlo-ing years ago and I hate not keeping up with challenges. I ain't a quitter, I'm a fighter. I'm also a glutton for punishment. Actually, in some really strange way, participating in NaBloPoMo has been rather cathartic for me in the past. I learn new things about myself that surprise me.

I will try not to cheat again. In the meantime, does anyone have any good NaBloPoMo posts they'd like to share?

It really is hard to believe that exactly two years ago, Little One cannon-balled her way into the world.  At only 28 weeks in the womb, she wanted to get a jump start on life on the outside.

It was a shock when the doctors told me she was coming.  I must have been in disbelief (or denial), because I honestly thought I was going to hold on until week 40! I was determined to have a full-term baby.  The surprise was on me.

I suppose Little One's entry into the world was just foreshadowing of how life would be after we brought her home.  She has definitely kept us on our toes since day one!

I feel so blessed and so lucky to be Little One's mom.  She never ceases to amaze us with all the clever things she comes up with.  Her speech is becoming clearer and clearer.  Her vocabulary and comprehension have just exploded.  She is one determined and headstrong girl.  Hubby thinks we should have given her the name "Persistence" as a middle name.  That was a joke, by the way.

So much has changed in two years!

Remember how tiny she was in her first photo with Moo? She was 3 months old in this photo. We couldn't take a photo of her on her first day since she was in the NICU, hooked up to all sorts of leads and her CPAP...and she was in an isolette/incubator. 3 months old on her actual due date. I sometimes forget how tiny she was!
Here she is on her 1st Birthday! What a little drool monster! :)
Here is Little One on her 2nd Birthday! I thought it was so cute that she was sitting "with" Moo! Check out the interlocked arms! Too cute!

Though she'll always be my baby, I realize she is two years old now.  She's got a mouth full of teeth.  She uses cutlery when she eats.  She wants to drink from "adult" cups now. Everyone keeps telling me "Welcome to the TERRIFIC Twos"!  Hmmmm...

I feel like this post does not do justice to the way I feel today.  Then again, I don't think words can ever fully or adequately describe the way being a mom makes one feel. 

I love you, Little One! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Once Upon A Potty has been around for a long time.  I suppose it's not by accident that this potty training aid has endured the test of time.  The book was written and illustrated by Alona Frankel for her son, Michael. Once Upon A Potty has been around since the 1970s and is a best-seller worldwide. There is a version for boys and one for girls. In the boy's version, the main character's name is Joshua and in the girl's version, the main character is Prudence.

Since Little One will be celebrating her 2nd birthday tomorrow,  Gadget Girl gave her the Once Upon A Potty book and DVD as a present.  Perfect timing, since Little One has been showing some interest in potty training.  I did say "some" interest.  It's pretty much touch and go right now.  Some days, she's keen to sit on her potty.  Other days, she's not so interested.

This said, she LOVES the Once Upon A Potty book and DVD!  She keeps bringing the book for me to read to her over and over.  She wants to watch the DVD at least six times a day.  She can't get enough of the Prudence's potty training experience.  She dances to the music, sings along, and says "Bye-Bye Wee Wee! Bye-Bye Poo Poo!"

For the most part, I think the video is a great potty training tool.  I think I was just surprised at the language used. "Wee Wee" and "Poo Poo" were used to describe bodily functions. I don't know if we'd use those exact words with Little One. I was deliberating on whether or not we should teach Little One "other" names for "bowel movements", "voiding"...you get the picture.  I think we've been using "Pee" and "Poo".

The other thing I was a bit surprised about was that the video was pretty graphic in showing the anatomy. I'm fine with that. I believe children need to learn about their body parts. I do like that all the body parts are shown and their functions are explained. I was just a bit shocked at first.  The video even shows Prudence's "hole" for where Poo Poo comes out of.

I have to say that after viewing the DVD for the first time, Little One stripped down to her diaper, removed her diaper, grabbed her potty and sat on it...while watching Prudence learn about potty training on TV.  I was shocked at how aware Little One has become of her body.  She was pointing to body parts that I had not taught her about yet.  Oh, boy! I'm not sure I'm ready for all of this  yet! :)

Have you heard of Once Upon A Potty before? Have you used this as a potty training tool?

Little One was wailing and sobbing while trying to get her red shoes on.  Of course, she had to have the red shoes and no other shoes.  Of course, the red shoes had to be too small for her.

LO:  Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!!!!! (screaming and trying to shove her feet into her shoes)
Me:  Honey, your feet are too big for those shoes.  Let's put on these other shoes.
LO:  (shaking her head violently, tears streaming down her cheeks) Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!!!!

Little One was frantically pointing to something on the table, yelling "JUICE! JUICE! JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!"
Me: Do you want your shoes?
LO: (shaking her head "no") Juice! Juice! Juice!
Me: Do you want juice? (giving her a sippy cup)
LO: (shaking her head no and getting upset) JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!
Me: Do you want milk?
LO: (crying now) JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!
Me: Ohhhhhhh! *Suce! You want your suce! (handing her soother to her)
LO: Welcome (I think she confuses "thank you" for "your welcome").

*Suce is the French word for "suck", which is what she calls her soother.

Our friend, Gadget Girl and her family gave Little One her birthday presents on the weekend.  There was a musical bath toy and a "Once Upon a Potty" DVD and book.  Little One LOVES the DVD and watches it over and over...and over...

LO: Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! (pointing to the DVD player)
Me: What do you want, honey?
LO: Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! (jumping up and down and pointing at the DVD player)
Me: Oh! We just watched that DVD six times already. You want to watch it again?
LO: (nodding "yes") Ba!

LO: Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Ay-eee-ya-ummm-ahhhhh!
Me: Hmmm? What did you say?
LO: Mum! Mum! Mum! Welcome!
Me: Do you want to hug Mom? Give Mom a kiss!
LO: (shakes her head "no") Mum! Mum! Mum! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake!
Me: Cake? We don't have cake, honey.
LO: (really mad now) CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!
Little One climbs up on me and grabs my face.
LO: CAKE! (scrunching up her face)
Me: (recognizing the "kissy face" expression) Oh! KISS! Okay, Mommy will give you a kiss.

Who knew that "cake" and "kiss" could mean the same thing?

LO:  Up and down. Up and down down. Up da down. Up den den down.
Me: Do you want Mommy to lift you up?
LO: (shaking her head no) Swish, swish, swish. Beep, beep, beep.
Me: Oh. You're singing "The Wheels on the Bus".

I thought "falling back" meant we get an extra hour of sleep?  Apparently not.  Today, I was up at 6AM *(which would be really 5AM) because I had a student from overseas call to inquire about studying ESL here. I ended up not going back to bed (on a Sunday!) so I could help the student with visa information.  Since I was already up, I did three loads of laundry (two of which were Little One's clothes!), cleaned Little One's room and rearranged the living room.

Remember the rant I went on about purging the house of "stuff"? Well, our house looks more "Zen".

My lovely friend, Artsy Teacher Mom came over and helped me move things around.  We often go to each other's house and move around furniture.  Our husbands constantly come home and the furniture is all rearranged.

I love the flow of energy through the room. There's lots of good chi throughout the house.  Clear passage way for chi, lots of natural light from our big windows, and a great view =  one happy Mama!

Now, we need to do something about our old flooring.  I think a nice dark hardwood floor would be fantastic! I'm really happy with the new look (at least for the time being, I am!), but I would LOVE to have THIS! A girl can dream, right?

*Note: I must be really tired, because my mother just sent me a message on Facebook telling me that "spring forward, fall back" means I was up at 7 and not 5 when the 6 o'clock phone call woke me up on Sunday!

I know I sound like the proud older sister, but I am.  BabyBro always does things that amaze me.  This is his latest venture.  He never ceases to amaze me by his talent, hard work, and by his generous, giving heart.  I sound like such a sap, but I am so very proud of my baby brother. 

He's the documentary filmmaker, but Nancy Stevens is the one behind the project.

KenyaHelp?

Kenya Help Documentary Trailer from PJ Lee on Vimeo.