Easter Photos 2011

One of the things I wanted to do this Easter was get some good Easter photos of Abby. Luckily, we have the perfect "prop" at my house - Maggie's bunny, Twitch - and also luckily, Twitch loves grass and Abby loves Twitch, so all "victims" of my photo shoot where kept quite happy while I crawled around in the grass around them with my camera. :)

Potty-ers In Training

So - you know that joke about psychiatrists and how they think everything is related to potty-training mishaps?

Just keep that in mind...

Today Abby went to school for the first time since we began potty-training. I began talking to her about it on Monday, hoping to have it in her psyche by Wednesday. I have told her a million times "When you're at school, if you have to go potty, you tell Miss Laura and she'll take you to the potty, okay?" And surprisingly, she seemed very enthusiastic about this idea, probably because she adores Miss Laura. :)

So today we packed up her school bag and her potty-chair-seat and headed to school. We left early so we could use the school potty (so it wouldn't be a new experience to her). While we were pottying, I reminded her that if she needed to go potty, she just had to tell Miss Laura and she would help her.

Every time I tell Abby we're going to go sit on the potty, she looks at me wide-eyed and says, "I fall in!" And every time I remind her, "You're not going to fall in, the potty chair holds you up, and I'm right here."

So when I turned her over to Miss Laura, along with her potty chair, I explained the situation, adding that Abby always expressed fear at falling in, but I just reassured her, etc. Miss Laura laughed and assured me that she could handle it.

When I went back to pick her up, Laura met me at the door with a guilty look.

"I may have done a bad thing..." she began.

Turns out she took Abby to the potty, reassured her that she would not fall in, and unfolded the potty chair. However, not understanding how it worked (??? Still can't figure out why not, it's not that complicated, lol) she put it on the potty upside down, and as soon as she set Abby on it, Abby FELL RIGHT IN!

I was trying so hard not to laugh as she explained quickly that she immediately rescued Abby, then cleaned her and the potty chair off, righted it, and Abby sat on it again and went. I figured she couldn't be too traumatised if she'd gone on it again.

Abby noticed I was here and came running over. I picked her up, and she looked at me reproachfully.

"I FALL IN," she told me gravely. "MISS LAURA fall me in!"

To My Little Color-Bringer

It's been so gray, drizzly, and dreary lately. The sky has been clouded over with sad stubborn clouds that strive to block the sun even as they refuse to drip drops of life-bringing water. I looked outside and sighed to myself that it makes me feel like I'm living in a black-and-white movie. But today you wore your deep pink top with orange sleeves and polka dots, and your little fuschia coat to match. At my house, you found your old giraffe, the yellow one with orange and red spots, and carried it around in a big hug, chanting softly, "g'raffe, g'raffe, g'raffe." There is no black and white in your presence. It's all color.

Some day you might read this, and I want you to know that you're the color-bringer in my world. The world might be a blank coloring book sometimes, but you're the one who fills up the lines and brings depth and dimension to life. My biggest wish is that I get to be around for the rest of your life, because I know that all the moments of your life are going to be amazing!

Reaching For Helicopters

Today Abby and I went outside to play in the snow. After awhile a helicopter flew by overhead. Abby got really excited, dropped her little shovel and pail, and stretched her arms up as far as they'd go - she was even on tiptoes.

"I REACH it!" she shrieked. "I REACH it!"

I wasn't sure I'd heard her right. "What are you saying, Abby?"

"I REACH it!" she repeated.

"You want to reach the helicopter?" I clarified. She nodded excitedly.

The helicopter was quickly out of sight.

"Aw," Abby sighed, clearly disappointed. "It gone. I reach it."

"You would have reached it if it hadn't gone away?" I asked.

She nodded sadly. "Yeah." Then she brightened, looking up expectantly. "It come back?"

She acts so much like a little grown-up, I sometimes forget she's still just a little girl who sometimes thinks she can reach the helicopter in the sky. Oh, to be two (and a half). :)

Another Milestone

Today I picked up my younger siblings and took them and Abby to McDonald's to play on the playground (it got warmer this afternoon but still felt too cold this morning to comfortably go to the outdoor playground).

I remember when I first started watching Abigail a year ago, we went to meet the kids at the same playground, and there was no way she could play on the playground - she was way too tiny! It was shocking to me today to see her scramble up the steps and go crawling around the tunnels, unassisted, having a great time. She's gotten so big so fast!

Wish I'd gotten to take pictures... but she was moving so fast, all the ones I got turned out crazy-blurry!

The other nice thing, of course, is that after more than an hour of playing, she climbed down, ate a big lunch of chicken nuggets and apple dippers, and came home to take a good nap. :)

I laid her in her crib very sleepy - she was barely able to keep her eyes open! About five minutes later, I was sitting by the baby monitor. All was quiet, then all of a sudden I heard a tiny little voice: "OOOH NOOO! Where's POOH? And my FROG?"

I looked around, and lo and behold, Pooh Bear and Froggy were out in the living room with me. I jumped off the sofa, snatched them, and ran them down the hall before Abigail could get more worked up. The look on her face when she saw them in my arms can safely be translated, I think, as "Oh, here is 'my Sarah', the righter of all wrongs." :) At any rate, she smiled as I placed them in her arms and crept out, and when I got back to the living room and checked the monitor she was in the same position, arms wrapped around Froggy and Pooh Bear, fast asleep.