Sleep Training Clock

Hurrah for another great invention! This one was certainly invented by a mother who had too many early risers. On the recommendation of some of my mommy friends, I purchased an American Innovative Teach Me Clock. Why? Because D wakes up REALLY early. Now that the sun gets up so early, she is up early too.
You can set this clock to change color at a certain time. For example, I've set D's clock to turn green (this is the only color it changes) at 6:20am. Yeah, do you see that? I am setting her clock to 6:20am because she wakes up between 5:30 and 6am!! And I can't imagine making her stay in her crib, entertaining herself until 7am. That would be torture and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work. It's all about managing expectations here.
And, it's been working great! G and I think that D gets up really early because prior to this clock, we would tell her before bedtime, "Good night, remember, only get up when the sun gets up." And now that the sun is getting up so early, we had to go to plan B.
And now I tell her, "Good night. Now remember, only call mama when the light on your clock turns green."
And she does! I hear when she wakes up and she will roll around in her crib, play, sing whatever. Then when the light turns green she announces, "Mama! The light is green!" And then I go down to get her. It's really cool!

It's time to get rid of your underwear

As told to me by D's dad, G:
This was yesterday morning.

"So, I'm in D's room playing with her and we're playing around. She's by the window and I'm sitting on the floor and she looks over and says, 'I can see your pee-pee, dad.' I look down and I've got a gaping hole in my boxers!"

Signs of a future party animal...

She loves to be spun around (in the future = drunken dizzies)
She loves to be in the stroller while I am jogging b/c she loves the speed. She's always saying, "Can Mommy RUN??!" With emphasis on the word run. (in the future = speed demon)
Oh, and she is always asking us "Can Mommy chase that car?" while she is directing us from her car seat.
When I am labeling our packing boxes with Sharpies, she is running up next to me to take a big whiff of the fumes and announces, "Mmmm, smells good!" (in the future = druggie)
And we think we have our hands full now.

But am I fostering the right characteristics?

I often think about that when I am interacting with D. She is very playful and loves to run around when we are trying to get her dressed in the morning. Then again when we are trying to get her to put her shoes on...she runs around and laughs and laughs. Sometimes, I laugh too and play along.
But, there are days when I am just not in the mood because I am seriously trying to get out the door. On those days, I get really grumpy and put on my grumpy face and tell her to "quit messing around!" "Mommy is not playing with you. I'm going to count to three and if you...." She usually sobers up with those words.
And it is during those times when I then flash back and think, "Well, by being so serious, then am I fostering a lack of fun and humor in D?" Will she then just take herself too seriously because I didn't want to play with her?
Seriously...this question applies to many things, many instances. I can't think of them all now but I know I am constantly asking myself that question.

Mama...mama...mama...

Surely I'm not the ONLY person who feels that hearing that word over and over and over again is grating on the nerves???
Truly. I was taking D to a farm yesterday that happened to be about an hour away from Nashville. She was getting antsy and just starting to whine and just kept saying, "Mama. Mama."...."Mama."
At first, I was replying, "Yes, sweetie." "Yes, baby." But no response from her. Just a continuous, "Mama..."
And then I was replying, "What."
And then she says, "Don't say 'what' to me!"
Blah. Seriously, can she just stop saying Mama??
Today, same thing. Just keeps saying Mama maybe because she is tired? Bored? Unsure of herself?
And now I digress.
I tell ya...this mothering thing is a thankless job. I bend over backwards for this child and she's certainly not doing the things I'd like her to do sometimes - like not playing with her food, like eating her food properly and in a timely manner...like not swinging her fork around.
Sure, she's only two years old but then I think about myself when I was young and I'm pretty sure I did not turn out the way my mother had hoped for me. Yes, I'm pretty sure as a mother you just give and give and hope and hope and then just end up giving up hope.
Bleak, isn't it? Thankless. Don't know why so many women are pining for this job...and multiple times no less. Crazy.

New besties

When I was in Palm Springs for five days, D was being babysat by our friend, J who's son, L is one of D's besties. I mean, she really loves L but L is kind of stand-offish sometimes. Though I think I recall J mentioning that D and L have conversations together (in their own toddler language) and he just lights up when she talks to him. That's sweet.
So, the week before I was leaving, D spent 2 hours at J's house on Friday and 2 hours on Monday (same days for the days that I was gone). The following week, G took D to J's for four hours - 9am - 1pm both Friday and Monday.
Oh how D just loves J.
Yesterday, we went to craft time and D was really excited to see J and L. She even said, "we will see L and I can hold his hand!" My response, "Well, not sure if L will want to hold your hand, but you can try..." Oh pessimist you might call me but you shall see...I was not wrong.
D was so sweet with J. She kept looking for them and then at one point she had sat down next to J and leaned her head on her. SO SWEET!!! I'm guessing aside from mom and dad, J and L are the next two people that D really feels comfortable with.
Okay, so here come D all excited to see L! She runs over to him, he thinks she's trying to take his car from him so he starts to cry and say, "No! No!" So we move onto something else. Then he gets out of his car later and is walking around, D is chasing him because she thinks it's funny. Does L join in the fun? No. He is again screaming, "No!" and crying. So, again I have to tell D, "D, L doesn't want you to chase him right now."
Oh, it hurts my heart to have to tell her that. I can see the joy in her eyes as she loves to play and run around and well, L just wasn't feeling it. It's fine. Everyone is entitled to their own personal space sometimes (especially a 2 year old who's had to share his mom for the past few weeks - I'm pretty sure if the tables were turned and I was babysitting L at our house, D would not be too happy with L...) But still, it was very sad for me to see that because naturally, as D's mom, I want her to always have fun and always have a positive reaction from her "friends". Booooo....

Just making a note

Since this blog was first started so that I could document all my trials and tribulations as a mother so my friends that were having babies after me could refer back or at least read and feel a sense of kinship, if you will, I felt I needed to make a note here.
Just the other day, my friend was asking me, "at what age do you stop having them cry it out??"
My answer at the time was, "Gosh, I don't know...I guess it just always applies if you feel your child needs to nap."
And here is my note. Just yesterday, we had to just let D cry it out in her crib. She did not want to nap but we felt she needed it. She cried her eyes out, screamed, carried on and then I guess finally went to sleep. I had left the house for an appointment and G is actually very good about just ignoring her.
So, she finally napped and when she awakened, her voice was actually a bit hoarse from all the screaming she did earlier. Oh well. Now she's fine. :o)
Oh and by the way, she is 2 years and a couple months.

Whoa...goin' bananas over here

And not in a good way...Mama just got back from being away for five days, certainly D would be so excited to see me. Of course, if she wasn't that would be fine too. If she gravitated toward her father more then we would've accomplished getting a little distance between mother and daughter.
That was not really the case.
Yes, D was so excited to see me, but all day she was REALLY weepy. She cried over every little small thing, every small incident.
What's that all about??