Friday, October 22, 2010

My First Born

I haven't updated on Livi recently. Well let me just say that she is AWESOME! I love being her mom. She makes it easy... most of the time. Lets face it, she is a 2 year old.

Her language skills are sky rocketing. She continues to talk non-stop but her annunciations are getting so understandable! I really love it. She is starting to say some pretty hilarious things...

Me: What's that on the wall Livi?
Livi: Just pizza, Mommy.

Me: Don't eat the Playdoh Livi.
Livi: I not eating Mommy, just tasting.

Livi: (as we were driving up a really big hill) "Up, Up, Up to the moon!"

Livi: (after being woke up by selfish Mommy and Daddy for midnight cuddles) "Where's the rainbows?"
I think we must have got her out of a dream for that one.

It seems to me that Livi has a very developed imagination for a two year old. She has been talking to her stuffed animals since she was about 18 months old. Now she has whole conversations, makes me kiss them goodnight, has me talk to them instead of her, has them clean up after herself and describes the delightful scenes she sees in her scribbles. Have I mentioned that I love it?!

Being a two year old she is slightly manic. Her ups are very up! Shrill and screechy in a pleasant sort of way. Her lows are loud and stubborn in a very frustrating sort of way. I'm scared for her teenage years! I entered Livi's second year of life thinking that if these were the "Terrible Twos" that everyone is talking about they aren't so bad... but apparently they don't really start until they are 2 years old plus one month.


I slowly started time-outs with Livi just before she was 18 months old (I think) and they have been great for her! We had decided early on that we were not going to spank or use any form of physical punishment on our children. With my background I don't trust myself to spank when I'm not angry and I can't emotionally handle a man spanking a child... even if they do it properly. So, we started time-outs as more of a break from things when Livi was acting up, to remember how she is supposed to act. It has been awesome. If she is getting frustrated she will put herself in time out and come back to the situation calm. I love that it isn't seen as a punishment to her. I like consequences much better. Generally, I just ask her if she needs a time-out or is she going to listen to mommy. If she chooses a time-out she comes back, apologizes, gets hugs and kisses and does what I was asking... generally speaking :) She is two. 


Potty training had been a breeze up until a few weeks ago. She had been pee trained within a day and poo trained within two weeks. Well a few weeks ago she started having more than the odd dribble before she went on the toilet and even had two poo accidents! The number two accidents happened when she was playing really hard so I can excuse those with she being preoccupied but she seems to have regressed with the peeing for some reason. She is not having full on accidents. She is just having a rather large drip (big enough that I have to change her pants too) and then holding in the rest until she gets to the toilet. There is no new stressors in her life that would justify regression so I'm a little puzzled. Someone suggested that she may have been to young to begin with, but I really don't believe that. If she were too young, she would not have been potty trained in a day and have a near perfect record for nearly three months. I'm don't really know what to do so we've gone back to the basics... chocolate chips when she poops on the toilet and putting her on every few hours whether she says she has to go or not. It seems to slowly be working.

Livi is in a big girl bed and she LOVES it. EVERY morning the first thing she tells me is that she slept in her big girl bed and she's been in it for over a month already. It isn't actually a real bed. It is just her crib with one of the railings taken off. We are holding off on the official big girl bed until we move her to her new room. it just saves us from having to assemble and take it apart more than once.

Livi has recently mastered zipping up her own jacket with out any help from Mommy or Daddy. She can take her shoes off alone too but refuses to even try pulling her pants down alone. She doesn't like getting her hair done but understands it is a necessary evil to getting it out of her face... It is always in her face. She can open most doors now but still stays in her room in the morning until we come to get her. She will sometimes open her door to see if she can see anyone but shut it if no one is there and return to her stuffed animals to play. The only time she really cuddles is if she is watching cartoons and definitely has her favorite shows : Sesame Street, Elmo's World, Super Why, and Dinosaur Train.

She has developed the art of fake crying. She can actually do it really well but it always starts with a "meh". I can't help but laugh, but I probably shouldn't. She has begun crying to try and get things. She has also begun having some major separation issues with going to nursery. When we talk about it at home she is really excited to go and play with all the kids and toys, but when we get to church and start walking to nursery she starts getting really clingy. If I leave, she throws a crying fit. I feel terrible and haven't left her without me or Jon. Its so unlike her so I don't know whether to cater to her or push her through it. She is fine with being left at other places, it is just nursery. This week her Auntie Danielle is supervising so I'm hoping to get there with Livi and hopefully her Auntie Danielle can help Livi get back to normal.

Last Monday we went to the Apple Barn! What a fun place! They had a petting zoo that Livi loved! She went on her first hayride and wasn't afraid at all! She didn't go on the zipline and the slides were  really steep and fast so we didn't let her go on them. Aside from the petting zoo the pillow trampoline was the biggest hit! She had so much fun!
Kisses!

The petting zoo was her favorite part.

She tried to pick it up but it was too heavy...

So she sat on it instead!

She had so much fun on the pillow trampoline,
but there was some bigger kids on it so she spent a lot of time on her bum :)

2 comments:

Louise Chapman said...

She's gorgeous! I love reading what she's up to so I am reminded of what's ahead! For Kai, he was potty trained super quickly as well (maybe 3 days total) but I did not put pants on him. That way, he was constantly reminded that he was in underwear, would that help (at home at least?).
As for the nursery, Koen also freaks out there and nowhere else. I'm a softie and one of us always stays with him. We might leave for a few minutes but if he cries, we go right back in. I know he won't need me forever, so it's okay.
I'll have to try out the Apple Barn next year!!

LeAnna (and David) said...

she is adorable!!!