Potty training Day 2

I am so exhausted! It takes up so much energy being glued to a 22 month old and running her to the potty all day long. Brenda had one good moment today and several accidents. She didn't go through nearly as much underwear as yesterday. Maybe 20 pairs, so that's better. Tomorrow is day 3 and it's the one that's supposed to click for her. We'll see. I really hope so, because I think Brenda and I are both sick of me saying, "Let me know if you have to go to the potty, ok?" and "Look your panties are still dry! We want to keep them dry" and "Yucky, your panties aren't dry anymore." Over and over and over. Most of the time, I don't even think she's listening to me. I hope tonight goes better than last night. Last night, she had 3 accidents during the night. Tonight, I kept her awake until she peed twice for me. I just checked her and she's still dry. I have my fingered crossed that she'll stay dry until morning. Please God, let this work.

Letters A, D, E and Potty Training

So I've started this post before and for some reason it never saved, so this is an update on the past 4 posts I've tried to write.

First we backtracked for the letter A, so that we could go to the Air and Space Center. It was Awesome! We saw airplanes and Ate Astronaut Apples.

Then for D week we Did Dozens of D things. We Drove to Dinosaur Land and Discovered the Different Dinosaurs.

A few Days later, Brenda's Daddy took her to Dance class, Dennys, Dairy Queen, and they picked up Donuts on their Delightful Daddy Daughter Day.

For E week, Brenda was so Excited to Experience seeing Elmo! Sadly, I don't think any of our pictures really turned out from that, so here is another E picture. :)

So for the next 3 days, we are taking kind of a break from letters and are really focusing on potty training. I found a 3 day guaranteed potty training method that we are using on Brenda. This is day 1 and it's different than what we were trying that was NOT working for her. I'm willing to give it a shot, but I have to say that I am exhausted from today. Brenda went through 50 pairs of underwear (we only have 30, so we had to do laundry midday). This method has a lot of fluids, a lot of positive reinforcements, absolutely NO diapers including when she sleeps, and zero me time. It's 3 days of completely focusing on Brenda. Aaron has switched with me some, because he wanted me to make a cake for his friend for Saturday. So the times when he has her I've been making an awesome cake! Yeah cake!

Field Day Friday and the letter B

This week we learned about the letter B!

Brenda and I had a Brilliant time learning about the letter B. We watched Blue's Clues, ate Banana's, colored everything Blue, and spent Field Day Friday Buried in all things B. We Began our day at BlueBird Gap Farm to Behold the Big Barn and the Baby Goats.

My Baby's getting so Big!

Being Brenda Before we Blast off.

On the way to BlueBird Gap Farm of course wearing Blue and a Bow.

Baby Goat

Big Red Barn

After Browsing the Barn and Baby goats, we played at the playground on the swings and sliding Boards.

Last at BlueBird Farm we saw the Bunnies and Tortoise.

We finished our day out at Barnes & Noble Bookstore where we Bought Brenda a Book By Sandra Boynton, Brenda's favorite Book writer.

When we got Back Brenda and I Baked Banana Bread! We had the Best day ever!

Some other things we did this week included our first dance class (It went pretty well. I think it's going to get better every week), we hung out with some friends, and we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with shamrock shaped pizza, green eggs, and rainbow toast.

A Not-So-Brief Update.

I wanted to give some updates on what our family has been doing. 

All of us:

We are planning a vacation for the end of the month to Harrisonburg, VA. I am so excited, because Brenda is going to be able to do much more now than she did last time we went (she was 2 months old the last trip). Also, my best friend (besides Aaron) is going to meet us for half the week! I'm so excited to get to share our vacation with Liz and Sarah and possibly Liz's Mommy! We haven't seen each other since Thanksgiving (I think). On our vacation itinerary we will be visiting my Dad, Step Mom and Aunt Cindy, going on trail walks, going to a petting zoo, building a bear (build a bear workshop), seeing a family friendly show, Luray Caverns, hedge maze, dinner theater, Dinosaur Land, swimming at the water park, and the children's museum to name a few things.

Aaron:

Brenda and I are so proud of Aaron. He put on Staff Sergeant at the beginning of the month. He looks very good with the extra stripe! 

Me: I've made some new friends! They are very nice and have beautiful kids. It lets me have adult conversation outside of my husband and the telephone. I have also continued to progress in my weight loss journey. I have lost 65 pounds since I had Brenda and 40 since last year at this time. I still have about 20 to go to reach my goal, but I'm so close I can taste it. It's sweeter than all the sugar I don't eat anymore! 

Brenda:

Brenda is getting so big. We met her new doctor last month and I love her. She was so much better than the other doctors we've had. Brenda is in the 100 percentile in her head and height. She is in the 84 percentile for her weight. So basically, when she's a teenager she's going to be taller than me. Brenda also just had her first haircut 2 days ago. Yeah! No more mullet. She looks like such a sweet little lady now. I love it. She also has made some wonderful new friends. We just got back from one of their birthday parties. The girls are a couple years older than Brenda, but they still seem to have fun and I want Brenda to learn how to play with others. 

Some things with letters:

We're still learning the letters. Brenda knows how to say A, B, D, O and I and she can sign A, B, and C. I'm still trying to come up with fun letter activities and I found one that I really really like that I hope to incorporate into our letter learning fun. Field Day Fridays! We will go out to places that start with the letter or have something to do with the letter. It will be fun and will get us out of the house at least once a week. Field Day Fridays!!! It's going to be a thing!

Who we are.

Hi,
I'm Malorie. I'm happily married and have a beautiful 19 month old daughter named Brenda. I hope this blog will be a place I can write down what fun things we do.
The big thing in our house this week is the letter A. Brenda and I are learning all about the letter A, the color red, the number 1, and circles. I found an online curriculum that I have been trying out along with tweaking it some for our interests. Brenda is also learning her first memory verse this week. She doesn't speak much yet, but she is eating up signing. I think she knows more than I do. To learn her memory verse, we are signing it together. The verse is "In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. Genesis 1:1" We sign beginning, create, heaven "sky", earth and 1. When she gets it really good, I'll have to video tape it. I'm so proud of her.
Signing is huge in our house right now. I have been trying to sign with Brenda since before she was one, but she didn't pick any signs up until the beginning of December. "More" was her first sign. That's when I discovered my new love SIGNING TIME! I love everything about this program. We bought the first volume for Brenda for Christmas. Within a week, she knew half the signs in the video. It's amazing. She also has been much more attentive when I try teaching her a new sign. We both learned "Please" yesterday. We are also very excited to get the next video in the series next week! I recommend signing time for anyone with young kids. With that said, I also recommend everyone to go to www.signingtime.com or www.youtube.com and search for signing time foundations trip to Ghana. They are going to Ghana this month and are trying to raise money to pay for 9 death children to go to school. This is a great cause that we are donating to.
I think that is enough rambling for now.
Til next time,

The Scott Family