Update on Sweetie & More

I found Sweetie like this on the chair:I love finding my kids sleeping around the house. Sweetie has not been doing too well with potty training. I had her go around without underwear for a while and she was good about not having accidents like that. But the minute she had a pull-up on (for trips out of the house, naps or bedtime) she would use it like a diaper. So now I'm just putting her in underwear around the house. She gets a sticker if she keeps it clean during nap time. Sweetie has used the big potty a couple of times while we have been out. It's like she's only potty trained 50% of the time.

Sweetie has really gotten into imaginative play, so that means that she and Ballerina are playing better and better together these days. Sweetie loves making her stuffed animals talk to each other. She loves pretending to be a princess ("I da pincess" with her slight lisp) but she is very good about pretending to be the prince when playing with Ballerina. Her favorite thing is to hold hands and dance. Sweetie loves when I turn on music for her to dance to. She likes to stand on our lego box and shout, "Wadies and dentelnenns, boys and dirroos!" (Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls) Then she'll shout something that seems like she's meaning "we now present..." She definitely has lots of baby talk tendencies. In some areas she's getting better, but I wonder when I should start to worry.

Sweetie loves to JUMP and bounce. She's constantly jumping off chairs and the couch and her bed. The girl NEEDS a trampoline. She has gotten a LOT better at not crying at every little thing, although she has her days. Sweetie is always quick to point out when we shouldn't be angry. If she doesn't like our tone she'll say, "Don't talk to me" or "Don't be mad to me, ok Mommy?" She's my sensitive one. She thrives on routine, but she quietly pushes boundaries. She often tries to sneak things, probably to see how serious I am about my command (like drinking your milk at the table). Both she and Ballerina have been getting scared of the dark and that's been fun, luckily we have a lamp in their room that helps as long as they aren't fighting over whether or not it should be on. Sweetie likes to be included, but she also likes to do her own thing. She is getting to the point where she can say her prayers on her own, although they are pretty short. When properly motivated, she is a very detailed cleaner. She is also pretty obedient if you are firm and tell her in no uncertain terms what you expect of her (you might have to repeat yourself a time or two, though). For instance, at nap times she won't want to take a nap, but if I tell her that she can do something afterward, then usually she'll be just fine with going down for a nap. If that doesn't work then I give her the choice to walk or for me to carry her. Once she starts walking or I pick her up then there is no fighting the inevitable nap. It's just amazing to me that there isn't more fighting with her like there was with Ballerina. Sweetie is my snuggler and my hugger.

Captain Adorable has been teething so he's been chewing on his blanket more. His bottom gums are swollen and he was fussy tonight and wouldn't let me touch his gums. I had him suck on an ice pop and that seemed to help.

Recently Ballerina has been interested in clowns. She has used her make up to paint her and Sweetie's faces so they could pretend to be clowns. She found these foam circle stickers and she put them on their noses. At one point they all had them on.
Last Friday we went to a friend's wedding reception and Ballerina wanted to wear her bride costume. We let her, although I was a little concerned about how that would go down. She was a hit. She made a card for the bride and groom and she made a beeline for the bride when we got there. Ballerina totally adored the bride and practically followed her around all night. The bride handed her the bouquet to hold while she cut the cake and she insisted on giving Ballerina the toss bouquet. The bride thought Ballerina was so cute. Sweetie and I had a great time dancing to the fun music. She could have danced all night. :)

Oh, and I wanted to share the gift idea that we used. We actually got this for our wedding and we still use it, so we thought we'd pass it on. It is a file crate with hanging file folders already labeled with things like, "Bride's Records","Groom's Records," (but with their names) "Utilities","Taxes 2010", "Health Insurance", etc. You tie a bow around the whole stack of folders as they hang in the crate. It is a filing system starter. Ours came in handy right away and I loved the gift idea. This is our first time passing it along. The bonus is that it's not very expensive, but it is thoughtful because you take the time to personalize it and print out the labels. I also added a piece of paper with general instructions on how long to keep papers and records in the "To File" folder and I tucked their announcement that we received in the "Important Documents" folder.