On a roll now

There's no need for fancy words: Diana is potty-trained!
The weekend before her birthday we stayed home all weekend, put her in big girl underwear and told her not to potty on Dora, Cinderella, etc. She didn't. She went No. 2 a couple times. But we heard that it was no big deal because it takes all kids a while to get the courage to go No. 2 on the toilet.
So, this was the second weekend of underwear. She wears them to school exclusively (they even told us not to put her in pullups at school because she then thinks it's OK to go pee in them). She hasn't had a No. 1 accident, just No. 2. She tells the teachers at school when she needs to go and tells us at home. She's doing great.
This weekend we went to Miss Renia's graduation party and Diana and I must have made eight trips to the potty in the four hours we were there. Granted, six of those trips, just a little tiny tinkle tinkle came out, but as Matt said, "Better than in her underwear!" Yeah, yeah, you weren't the one carrying her up the hardwood stairs every five minutes! :)
Today, Miss Yoshi was going to take Diana over to the 3s class because she's officially potty-trained and can go over there now. Wow! Big step. We talked about it last night before we went to bed and she seemed excited to go to a new classroom with new toys, new friends and a new teacher. We are really going to miss her teachers (Miss Yoshi, Miss Monica and Miss Michelle). I don't know who's going to fix her hair now or teach her Spanish. What a whirlwind nine months it's been since she started at KinderCare.
Matt and I are both hoping for a little less chaos in the 3s class though. We went to pick her up last week and toys were all over the place in 2s, kids were running around screaming and it was utter chaos. There's really no other word for it. Diana's music teacher, Miss Celia, said that the lack of chaos is the first thing she noticed when her daughter moved to the 3s class a few months back. We'll see. It's another change, that's for sure!

Happy Birthday Diana!

Today was Diana's third birthday. Time flies.
We had a small party at the house for her after school and work. Me, Matt, Gramma V, Au Bob and Uncle Chris. Grandpa D is on vacation. We are having a dual bday party for Matt and Diana in a couple weeks so she can get even more spoiled then.
We had her favorite things--Dora decorations everywhere, KFC for dinner and cake, of course!
We played pin the braclet on Dora, Dora Candy Land and took lots of pictures. It was a really good time. As of this posting, Diana went to bed about 15 minutes ago and Matt and Gramma V are still in the backyard putting together her "plaything."
Birthdays are nothing without the families that we celebrate them with.

What doing, Mommy?

When people ask me how old Diana is, I say "Almost three."
They then ask if she's into the "Why?" stage. No, I respond.
Here's the stage she's in: "What doing, Mommy?"
Diana loves to be in the know. She's a busy body like me. Even though half the time she knows exactly what I am doing, she asks anyway. She never asks "Why?" At least she hasn't yet. I prefer the "What doing, Mommy?" stage because I can make her tell me what I am doing.
For instance, this weekend, we bought Diana some new PJs. I was putting them all away tonight after Diana woke up from her nap. As she's sitting in her crib, she asks "Mommy, what doing?"
"Diana. What does it look like I am doing?"
I know...I am losing patience a little, but I don't want the girl to not be able to figure things out for herself the rest of her life.
She responds with "Putting PJs away."
There are times when she really doesn't know what I am doing, so I tell her. I don't want you to think that I am totally losing my patience.
When a kid asks "Why?" you have to tell them because they literally don't know. I am sure Diana will get to the "Why?" phase someday, but for now, I can handle "What doing Mommy?"

A Walking Oxymoron

When I want ice cream, there's not much anyone can do to stop me from fulfilling that need. The only person really that has control over that is me--"I'm really too lazy to get off the couch to go to the store and get some" is the usual response but every now and then, I will throw in "I really shouldn't because I haven't run all week."
So, last night, I decided I would take advantage of the warm evening, some new songs on my iPod and the fact that I was already dressed for exercise. I laced up my sneaks, grabbed a $10 bill from the "chapel" (you have to have been to my house to know what that means) and headed out the door.
It's not a long walk to Baskin-Robbins, about a half mile--maybe less. So I walked with a rapid pace to get my heart rate up. I got there, got my two-for-$8 pints and headed back with the ice cream in a bag. Why is it so strange to see someone walking down the street with a Baskin-Robbins bag in their hand?
Does it defeat the purpose of exercising if I am carrying ice cream in my hand? Maybe. It's obvious though that I am fit. Sure, I am no Carrie Underwood, but I am not Rosie O'Donnell either.
I am walking down the street, headed back home, listening to my iPod, minding my own business, but I do notice that people in their cars are looking at me a little strange. It's not like I care. I am the last person who cares what other people think when it comes to me and ice cream, but c'mon! This is a free country. This is why America is great! I can walk down the street and get ice cream anytime I want! There are people in Iraq fighting for my right to do this. I love this place!
Stare at me all you want, but you just drove your car to Baskin-Robbins when you could've walked and at least gotten some exercise out of it!

Awesome wedding

My sister is officially Michelle Daggett! Wow. It was a great wedding and reception. What an awesome party. I took a ton of photos, 61 of which are posted on my Smugmug. Just click on the link on the side of the blog and you can see them. Diana did great at the wedding. She took a minor short cut to the front where the bridesmaids were but Daddy came to the rescue and steered her in the right direction. She walked down by herself though, stood right next to me for about five minutes, then sat quietly with Gramma V the rest of the time. At the reception, we took her dress off and she hit the dance floor.
She started out just jumping up and down, but then it turned in to a full on booty shake. There was a little 6-year-old girl who was teaching her how to dance and Diana picked up on it like a star! She's Britney in the making! I don't know how I feel about that.
Well, she danced till 10 p.m.! She stole the show! Before I gave my speech to Michelle and Chris, she looked up at me and said "Mommy, Dance!" I said "Ok in a little bit." She took a cake break later in the night and while she was eating cake, she looked on the dance floor and said "Whoa, Mommy, Look at all those people." I think "Jump Around" was playing or something. She finished the cake and got right back out there. It was hilarious! I hope that this doesn't mean she's going to be some party girl.
Tonight, before we went to bed, I put some music on the television and said "Diana, you want to dance?" Her eyes got all big and we danced in the living room to Chris Brown's "Run It." She cried when we had to stop. I don't think I can keep up with her if she's gonna keep dancing like this.

M&Ms really work

I am not going to write a detailed report about this, but let's just say that Diana made a major turning point in potty training last night.
She went (actually went pee-pee, not just sitting there) twice at school on Wednesday (and was rewarded with stickers) and then twice at home yesterday. She is being rewarded for sitting on the toilet (one M&M) and going (five M&Ms).
Right before her bath last night, she was holding her "area" and said "Mommy, change diaper." Well, since she was completely naked, I thought "Oh man, she has to go." I picked her up and sat her on the toilet. She was extremely quiet (very unusual for her when she sits on the toilet) and then all of a sudden, "tinkle, tinkle." I looked down and she was peeing in the toilet. "Mommy, I go pee-pee!" I screamed down to Matt, "Daddy! Tinkle, Tinkle!" He replied with "Tickle tickle? or Tinkle Tinkle?" I said "NO, Tinkle Tinkle!" He came up with five M&Ms and Diana ate them while she sat on the toilet. I know, real sanitary, huh? Matt said we were having a potty party!
Hopefully, this wasn't just a case of one-hit wonder. I know we still have a long way to go, but it was pretty awesome.

The ride home

The ride home from work and school lately has been extremely enjoyable so I thought I would take the time to give a play-by-play of our experience starting when I pick her up. This is from Monday's trip home.

4:24 p.m....I sign Diana out in her classroom, pick up her art project from the day and her daily activity sheet. This paper tells us what she ate, whether or not she tried to go potty and if she took a nap or not. Sidebar: We have started rewarding Diana with M&Ms if she tries to go potty. She gets one if she tries and if she actually "makes pee-pee," as Matt calls it, she gets five. This is gonna be TMI, but if she goes No. 2, she gets 10. Two days in and she's all about the M&Ms...she tries, but doesn't "make" anything yet.

4:28...I go into the "backyard" at KinderCare where Diana is playing with the rest of her classmates. I look around for her and notice she's playing in the dirt and grass with some other little girls. I watch her for a couple minutes before she notices me. she runs over full steam ahead and embraces me with a hug. it's the best part of the day!

4:30...we head down the hallway, grab some crackers from the basket and talk about the day on the way to the car.

4:35...once we get out on the street in the car, Diana asks for her music, "Di-Ana music, Mommy." I push play on the Splash CD that she gets from her ABC Music and Me class and we are all set for the 20 minute ride home.

4:36-5:00...So many things happen on the ride home today...none that are really out of the ordinary from any other day, but this day was a little more animated than others. We usually sing and dance to certain songs on the CD, but today was a little more emphasized. Diana would request a song and if I didn't guess it right, "no, Mommy, no." So, I would skip through the CD trying to guess which one she wanted. when I finally got it right, she gasped and screamed "YES!" then we danced.
By the way, I am totally a safe driver. when i say I am dancing, it is the lowest form of dancing you can imagine. It's more Diana dancing than mommy.
On this particular day, Diana noticed something on the freeway and pursued to tell me, in her most excited voice. I had no idea what she was trying to tell me after several guesses. Then, I looked ahead on the freeway and saw it...A Target truck.
"Mommy, Target Truck!" Target is Diana's favorite store. She freakin' loves that place. She noticed during the Indy 500 the driver's who had Target as their sponsors.
Seeing the Target truck was the equivilant of a teenager getting first row tickets to that Hannah Montana concert.
the second I exit the freeway, diana notices another favorite. "Mommy, KFC!" I look in the rear-view mirror and she's raising up out of her car seat looking out the window trying to get a better view of the restaurant. She continues to yell "KFC" until we pass and then she says "Bye-bye KFC!"
It's seven more minutes until home and we are pretty much on cruise control after here. KFC is pretty much the peak.

The drive home is extremely fun. it's a great way to catch up (we do that too..I didn't mention that) on our days. when I ask Diana how her day was she usually says "It's fine." that's exactly the way I feel!