Bye-bye Diapers!

We did it!!! Kara is now a potty-sitting, panty-wearing, diaper-snubbing, I'm a big girl kid!

We are on day 4 of potty training, and it has gone better than I could have ever hoped. She still has 1-2 minor accidents a day, but she is great about letting us know when she has to go. Her two warning phrases are "Peepee is coming!" and "Oh no, don't come out peepee!" I'm really, really proud of her.

Even better, there was no form of bribery needed, just a little modeling. Every 30 minutes everyone in the house wearing panties would run to the potty. She got to choose who would try first. Luckily I have a pregnancy bladder, so I pretty much had to go every time.

The only down side is that this has become her new excuse for getting out of bed. Apparently she has to use the bathroom several times before she can go to sleep. Now we give her one assisted freebie, but if she comes out more times she has to do it herself...in the dark (she can't reach the light switch). This has limited, but not eliminated, the little girl crying wolf syndrome.

I must say, I was absolutely terrified of potty training. I knew she was more than ready, but I was so afraid that it would fail. I didn't want both of us to be frustrated and to have bodily excrement all over the house. But it was great! I'm relieved. Pun intended.

Here is a video of Kara's victory dance:

Stay in bed, please!

This move has affected Kara a bit more than we thought it would in terms of sleeping. She usually acclimates into our lifestyle routines and schedules without much trouble, but she has struggled to follow a routine since we moved in. This whole sneaking out of her room issue during naps and bedtime has become tiresome.

Every few days she comes up with a new reason why she can't stay in her room. At first it was to see the grandmas who were helping us with the move. Of course the grandmas were happy to oblige her request, but they had to go home.

So her next reason was that she just wanted the door a "little open". Um, duh, could we give her any more temptation to come out of the room? Maybe if we stuck a plate of cookies out there too. Obviously, that was a bad idea.

Next, she was afraid of the dark. We spent several days trying to convince her that the room was actually pretty well lit, but as most parents know there is no point in trying to use logic with a two-year-old. So we ultimately resorted to a night light that projects a princess castle scene on her ceiling. She loves it and has named the castle Winglassa, the fairy princess Dancing, and the pegasus Rhondo. I don't know where she came up with any of that. But now she is over her fear of the dark because she can't see her castle if the lights are on.

Our newest strategy is sitting outside her door for half an hour after she goes to bed. Each time she opens the door, I quietly take her hand and lead her back to bed. No talking, no disciplining. I probably did this 12 times the first night, but tonight I only had to do it once! Virtual high fives all around!

Oh I hope tonight wasn't a fluke. I desperately want my super sleeper back again.

Back to business

Ahhh, now that our good friend, the Internet, has been connected at the new house, we can make an update.

Yes, we made it to Ft Worth! Our new house is incredible and so is the neighborhood. We have met more neighbors in the past week than we did at our old neighborhood in 4 years. Everyone is so friendly, including the service people who came to connect the utilities. Even our dogs liked them. Weird. We're hoping to start making friends, find a new church home, transfer all of our medical services, finish unpacking, and begin feeling comfortable in the next month (or so).

This has been a big transition for us, but it seems that everyone is quickly growing accustomed to our new life. Kara's only problem is her new room. She says that she is afraid at night, and she comes downstairs often when she should be sleeping. Lee has noticed that her behavior seems to be more attention-seeking rather than fear based, so hopefully the best way to cure this problem is to ignore it. Otherwise, she has been doing really well. She loves running around the neighborhood, and each day she wants to go find kids at the playground.

Lee has been changing his habits so he can wake up earlier for work. Who would have guessed that Ft Worth traffic would be worse than Houston? But what do you expect from a major highway that is only 2 lanes? The new job has been good...similar to the old job but a new environment with more responsibility. Working in downtown Ft Worth is pretty cool as well.

I am still trying to get our new house in order. There is a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. There are actually some ladies at Container Store that recognize me now.

The baby is doing well. Growing, kicking. Strangers are no longer hesitant to ask my due date because it is pretty obvious that I'm pregnant. Hopefully, we'll come up with a name for this little girl soon. That is something that we have given very little thought to and would like to have picked out in the next couple of weeks. It's fun to start personalizing the baby.

More updates to come.