We celebrated a great Father's Day with Erick. He got a new grill, an XBox game, 2 dvds, a cd and McKenna made him a card. He had to work that day but fortunately, just the morning shift. So we invited some people for a BBQ (my sister, brother-in-law and nephew, and our friends Paul & Desiree) and we had a feast. We grilled steaks as well as some lemon-herb chicken and served it with sauteed mushrooms, cheesey scalloped potatoes, greek salad, grilled corn-on-the-cob (with a special dill/worcestershire/butter sauce), crescent rolls, homemade citrus punch and for dessert a strawberry cream pie. So all-in-all, I hope it was a good day for my wonderful husband who works so hard for his family.
McKenna had her first time out. A little preface: McKenna has a Disney Princess Tea Set and she likes to have some water poured into the cups so she can drink like a big girl. 90% of the time, she does well. The other 10% she likes to pour the water onto her food tray, dump it onto the table, or listen to the puddle sound it makes when she pours it on the carpet. So while I was at work the other day, Erick gave McKenna some water in her princess cup and forewarned her not to dump it. And she did anyway. So he set her on her Dora couch and explained that what she had done was wrong and that she needed to sit on the couch to think about it. He sat with her because it was her first time out and he wanted her to get the concept that she could not get up. Afterward, he reminded her what she needs to do from now on and asked her to say sorry, which she did. And then they hugged and that was that. I wasn't sure when we would start time-outs. I didn't know exactly when she would be ready. But since it seemed to go over well when Erick did it, I think we will probably start using it when necessary.
Fortunately, that was the only time it was necessary this week because she has been exceptionally well-behaved. She has just been all-around pleasant and sweet, she's been communicating her needs and listening to us and obeying very well. She understands when we tell her why she can't do something, if something is hot to stay away from it, and that "not now" is an acceptable answer. If we tell her "not now" she will ask "soon?" and we'll say "Soon." And that seems to appease her.
She's also doing fantastic with potty-training. She asks to try most mornings, before every nap, and usually in the middle of her bath time as well as before bed. Today she got her ULTIMATE bean reward. She went both poopoo and peepee so she got 2 pink beans for trying, 3 red beans for peeing and 5 blue beans for pooping. She had a cupful of beans and was SO proud of herself for earning so many. And the sweetheart that she is, she shared her reward with Daddy and I. That just always amazes me when she does that. Its something she has to work for and she only gets a limited number of them, yet she never has any qualms about sharing her rewards with other people.
She completely melted my heart the other night at dinner. The three of us sat down at the table and she held out her hands and asked for "prayers" again. This time we told her that SHE could say them. So she bowed her head and spoke in a sweet babble that was mostly incomprehensible but we did catch her saying the words "mommy" and "food". Whenever Erick says prayers he always thanks God for "Mommy and McKenna and Kyla and for our food". So she was saying what she always hears Daddy say.
She's been repeating EVERYTHING. Even full sentences. And she's even capable of carrying on a normal phone conversation. Just tonight she talked to Auntie on the phone for several minutes and it was a real conversation where they could both understand and respond to each other well. Erick had a similar, even lengthier conversation with her the other day. I got about half of it on videotape...if I could only figure out how to resize the dang thing so I could post it!
McKenna had been keeping a late schedule recently. Because she always wants to try to go potty and then succeeds and then gets to stay up while she eats her beans...she had managed to push her bedtime back to 9:30ish every night. Well the plus side of that was she was waking up every morning between 9am and 9:45am. I did not benefit from this late wakeup because I've still been filling in at work (2 more weeks!) But Erick was enjoying some late rises. Because of such a late wake up, we had pushed her naptime back to 2pm (she'd nap from 2pm-4pm). It was a pretty nice week and very convenient for us to get to spend lots of time together as a family. Unfortunately, it wasn't a schedule I could keep in good conscience. Come September she will be starting preschool and I don't want her to be used to late bedtimes and rises. Especially when she gets older and starts school full-time.
But I did keep the schedule through the week because we had an all-day playdate this Friday and I was hoping to skip her nap. She woke up at 8:30am that morning and did not nap at all. She stayed awake straight until 8pm. And she did SO good! I fully expected tantrums and meltdowns from her but she did great. She played well with all the kids and used her manners and was just generally a very good girl the entire time. The only difference I noticed was she ate a lot more. I guess being awake and so active for the whole day she needed more energy so she ate more than usual.
Here is a picture from the playdate:
(Melanie w/Luke, Shannon w/McKenna, Erin w/Isaac, Julie w/Matthew)
You can see more pics from the playdate here:
http://kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=639638916203&page=1&sort_order=0
Originally, we were going to meet at my place for coffee and donuts while my sister had her doctor's appointment. Then afterward we would meet for lunch and then go to the zoo. Well long story short, by the time we finished eating lunch there wasn't time for the zoo. However, I didn't know this would be the case so as we were driving to lunch I had mentioned to McKenna that we were going to see animals at the zoo after lunch. She talked the whole way down about the animals, the birds and the monkeys. She couldn't wait. I did not realize that when we decided there wasn't time for the zoo that she might be disappointed. I didn't even think she would remember. But sure enough, as we left Carl's Jr. she asked "Animals?" And I said "I'm sorry honey. But we can't go to the zoo today." Well she kept asking for the animals and I told her that we couldn't go because they were all napping. She asked "Birds?" I said "Yes, even the birds are sleeping." She asked "Monkeys?" I said "Yes, the monkeys are sleeping too." She was quiet for a moment then asked "Bunnies?" She was just HOPING she could find at least one animal that would still be awake so she could see them.
So Erick and I felt so bad about it that we took her to the zoo this morning.
Here she is in the car, ready to go. She loves this hat and wants to wear it every day. She never remembers until she sees Erick put his hat on. Then she immediately asks for her hat too:
Typical Californian. Can't go anywhere unless she's on her cell phone:
Mommy bought her a pinwheel:
Daddy bought her cotton candy. This was so funny because she looooooved it. Every time I'd pull a piece out to hand to Erick, she'd swipe it out of his hand with lightening speed and shove it in her own mouth:
(We later regretted this purchase when we realized Mommy had left the baby wipes at home. That was one big, messy oversight).
And finally, I want to share a poem that my friend Gina shared with me. It just made me even more excited about being the mommy to two daughters:
God made the world with its towering trees,
majestic mountains and restless seas.
Then stopped and said
“It needs one more thing…
someone to laugh, to dance, to sing.
To walk in the woods and gather flowers,
to commune with nature in quiet hours.”
So God created little girls,
with laughing eyes and bouncing curls.
With joyful hearts and infectious smiles,
enchanting ways and feminine wiles.
And when He’d completed the task He’d begun,
He was pleased and proud of the work He’d done.
For the world, when seen through a little girl’s eyes,
greatly resembles paradise.
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