Thursday, January 29, 2009

I am having a hard day

...and I can't believe Daisy is still awake. She has been babbling in her crib for 45 minutes. It is 9:30. I really need her to go to sleep. She had a very hard day... although she did say some things I find cute and funny enough to record. She has been asking about her third birthday (she knows the day), and I asked her what she would like for the occasion. She told me, very seriously, that she would like a cake or some other kind of treat, AND--wait for it--she would like to dress up as a waiter. That's right: she wants to be dressed as a waiter at her own third birthday. That is the highest joy her imagination came up with for her birthday. She did NOT ask for a pony or a bicycle.

Well, it figures. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said, "a candy cane." And she meant it.

Another cute thing: Mark is out rehearsing with one of his bands, and before he left, he explained this to Daisy, except he said, "Daddy's going to play with his friends." So Daisy kept bringing this up to me all evening, how Daddy was out somewhere playing music with his friends, and at one point she said, "Mom, is Daddy with Paul and Gene?" (Those are the other members of KISS, excluding Peter, whom Daisy can never remember. Daddy is Ace.)

Monday, January 26, 2009

Eating and cursing and being a wiseass

1. We have been having some better luck with Daisy and food lately. Notably, her favorite food is Asian food. Tonight she ate an entire bowl of miso soup with extra tofu--she was lifting up the bowl to slurp down the whole thing--and she begged for extra seaweed. (!!) She also ate a ton of edamame and chicken teriyaki. So--there are things this child will eat, and I just need to get used to the fact that she hates foods that I had expected her to like because most children do and kept preparing for her(i.e., anything with cheese in it).

2. I should probably not admit this, but tonight Daisy said to me, "Mom, how do you sh*t in the toilet?" I really think we need to watch the occasional swearing around her. Really. I get frustrated sometimes and these words do pop out. Either that or it's all Mark's fault. Yeah... that must be it.

3. I cannot even believe the crafty little things that come out of this child's mouth, now that she is two and a half years old. For example: today she was saying she wanted me to hold her while I was preparing her breakfast. I patiently explained that I needed my arms free in order to make the breakfast. Without even hesitating, this child replied, "You can make breakfast with one arm." Where in the world does this crafty little hard-bargain-driver come from???

Friday, January 23, 2009

Well, that's interesting

We've been having some trouble getting Daisy to eat lately, but yesterday, Chinese vegetable chow mein and veggie rice were a BIG hit with her. I reheated leftovers today, thinking she'd scorn them (as she usually does with leftovers), but she was delighted to see them and yelled, "I love rice and noodles!" with great enthusiasm. Then, as she was eating, she commented, "This is my favorite food."

Soooo... I need to make a note of that. It seems she likes Asian food best right now. She also likes Japanese food. She eats tofu and seaweed in a big bowl of miso soup. This child is such a mystery to me, because you know what she hates right now? Of all things, CHEESE.

There are very few foods that I can _always_ count on to be a big hit, but let's see if I can come up with a few:

olives
fruit--especially apples; applesauce
beans (usually)
tofu
scrambled eggs (usually)
toast (usually)
bagels (usually)
raisins (I know--dentists say they're bad)
ravioli (sometimes)

She used to like Cheerios in milk but hasn't wanted them in awhile; she will sometimes eat oatmeal; and today she ate granola happily.

There are other foods she likes on and off. The other day she wanted a turkey sandwich, but I can't always count on that one. She stopped eating string cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas awhile ago.

EDIT
She also eats roasted asparagus spears!! She ate a ton of them tonight. It was a very good eating night, and I am feeling encouraged.

Some Daisy quotes of the day

1. As we were coming home this afternoon, walking down our hallway, Daisy paused to poke at an outlet. I said, "That's not for you," and she said, "Does it belong to someone else?" Clearly, my explanation was not sufficient, so I warned her that it could be dangerous. She obliged me by walking away from the outlet, but a few seconds later she said, "Mom, can I have some matches?"

2. When pooping on her potty today she said, "I'm not scared. Is the poop happy?"

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Potty training, day 12

Just another quick update to say that it hasn't even been two weeks and Daisy seems to mostly have this thing down, peeing and pooping consistently in her potty. Today has been going great so far. I am SO ENCOURAGED. To think how despairing I was when we began! I actually was thinking we'd probably have to give up and go back to diapers because I just couldn't handle living life this way. I am so glad I didn't give up. See, this should teach me to be more patient. When I look back on it, it was really only the first 2-3 days that were hard--and I was already giving up.

GO DAISY!!!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Potty training update, day 11

Well, I am very proud to report that Daisy is pretty consistently doing both pee and poop in her potty. I would say she is "potty trained," but there are still some hurdles to be crossed. These are not necessarily what I had expected them to be. I shall record, below:

--She seems to have a hard time pinpointing the exact right moment she needs to use the potty. As a result, she asks to go to the potty ten times in two hours, and usually, nothing comes out. So we are spending a lot of time going back and forth from the potty, a lot of it fruitlessly. Eventually, we get the timing right and she goes, but there are a lot of wasted trips.

--It can be difficult to convince her to spend any extended period of time on the potty. She will tell us she needs to go, and happily enough go and sit on the potty, but often she doesn't stay long. Once, a few days ago, she'd told us she needed the potty, and sat on it, but then announced she was done and got up--nothing in the potty--and had a big accident on the floor about a minute later. That hasn't happened since, but it's something that CAN happen if she won't sit on the potty long enough to complete the task. Having her read books on the potty seems to help, though. She will often read to herself on it, and sometimes we read to her while she's sitting and waiting.

--I haven't figured out yet what to do about outings. She is comfortable on her little potty, and can pull her own underpants or pullups down and sit on it and go, but the same does not apply to the big toilets we encounter when we are out (obviously). I have been trying to hold her over the big potty when we're out, but it's not so easy. It makes her nervous, which means she tenses up and is less likely to go, and she won't stay long like that. So, she has not yet successfully peed or pooped while we're out. I am going to get a portable seat to put on top of the big toilet, and hopefully that will help--but thus far, I can only report that she is potty trained when using her OWN little potty.

I guess that's about it to report. I am amazed at this little girl, really. After about three days, she started showing us that she WANTS to master this, and it was not about rewards. She wants to get it right--wants to go in the potty, to succeed, and to be more grown up. We have had to reassure her about accidents, so that she won't be distressed. It's surprising to me that she felt this way so quickly--after three days. I mean, she had a lifetime in diapers. You'd think she'd be entirely comfortable going in them. But she got the idea of going in the potty so quickly. Of course, we did pave the way for it by reading her books about going to the potty, and by showing her what we, the adults, do. So perhaps it's not really all that surprising.

Anyway, after all that bitching and moaning, potty training isn't so bad! We just need to figure out what to do on outings.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Favorite and least favorite

My favorite Daisy quote of the day: "Don't cry, Dada. It's just imagination."

My least favorite Daisy quote of the day: anything that was uttered in the new, high-pitched, affected-whiny voice she has developed for when she is in a bad mood, and without exception featuring the words "Pleeeeeeeease" and "No no no."

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Talking to strangers

I really need to do a great, thorough post on all the funny things Daisy is saying, but I only have time for a short one now. Daisy is hilarious--it needs to be said. And lately, she is bolder and bolder, walking away from me without looking back, and going right up to strangers and telling them things such as, "I just baked a blueberry pie" and "Henry and I fell down" and "When I'm bigger, I'm going to go ice skating." It must be nice to be a 2-year-old; she just plunges in, as if these comments need no preface at all. Luckily, most people are polite to her, because she has such big brown eyes.

Today she wanted to play with a car that a little boy had brought with him to the playground and wasn't using. So Dena told Daisy, "Go over and ask the grownup who's with him if you can use it." Being totally literal-minded, Daisy marched up to the little boy's babysitter and said, "Grownup, can I play with that car?" (The grownup was very nice and said yes.) If your eyes are big enough and brown enough, you can address strangers as "grownup" and demand random things from them, and they will be nice to you.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Clearly we do not live in the Mission

Today we were walking in the Mission and Daisy stopped in her tracks in front of a bar, pointed in, and said loudly, "Look, Mama! A lady has green hair!"

I would have been embarrassed but the lady was sooo nice and just waved and laughed. We had to drag Daisy away from the doorway, though, because she was so fascinated.

Potty training, day five

Soooo... after all my moaning and whining about potty-training, I think Daisy has kind of got the hang of it, and she really got to that point in only four days. I know she's still going to have accidents, and we have not figured out what to do when we're away from home, since she's only going in her kiddie potty and seems afraid of the grownup potty. BUT: she had a massive poop in her potty today, and her last three poops have all been in the potty. She worked on it a long, long time, going back and forth from the potty about 200 times before she finally got it out. So she hasn't mastered the timing yet. And she also peed a lot in the potty today (and some in her pullup).

So it's not perfect yet, by any means, but we have made SO MUCH PROGRESS since five days ago when she screamed and cried at the mention of the potty. She is asking to use it, and seems reluctant to go in her pullup. She's definitely getting there.

I learned something, too (though this may not hold true for others): the reward system we tried had almost no effect at all. She liked getting the rewards, but not so much that she'd use the potty as a way of getting them. No. It became absolutely clear, once she started getting the hang of it, that she just wanted to get it right. She wanted to succeed at this task, once it had started. She has not asked for a reward in days and seems just totally thrilled whenever she gets pee or poo in the potty, just because she knows she's accomplishing something. I am glad; that seems a lot healthier and more productive than the rewards system (though don't get me wrong--I was willing to go with it, if it had worked). I honestly think she just wants to be good at going to the potty for its own sake.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Day 4 update

Daisy pooped (a huge one) in her potty tonight!!!!!! She was working on it for a long while, and spent a LONG TIME on the potty, or going back and forth to the potty--but it finally happened and I am so proud of her.

Potty training, day 4

Today, Daisy actually told us she needed to pee, and then peed in the potty. It feels like a bit of a breakthrough. Yesterday, she kept saying she needed to go to the potty, but then when we got her there, nothing would come out--and then she'd pee in her underpants later, after getting off the potty. So, she seemed to be developing a sense for the whole process, but the timing was off. Today, telling us she needed to pee and then having it actually happen in the potty feels like a bit of encouragement. I've got to say, I have cleaned up a lot of pee from the floor and from her stuffed chair in the last two days.

Here's my embarrassing confession: because she is so verbal, and seems to be quite intelligent, I thought this was going to be easy!!!!!!!

It is not easy. But when I consider that four days ago, she cried buckets when we tried to have her sit on the potty, and wouldn't let us pull her panties down, I guess we've made progress. She now sits on the potty happily enough (panties down), and she's really into the part where we dump the pee and the flushable wipes in the toilet (and she gets to flush). And she likes standing on her red stepstool and washing her hands.

The thing about it that's a drag, however (well, one of the things) is that I feel like my life has changed overnight into this constant monitoring of her facial expressions to see if she's having a bodily function. All day long we go back and forth from the potty, and I stare at her face for signs of something happening. Before I started this process, we were just happily living our lives and focusing on other, more interesting things, and I truly didn't mind the diapers so much.

So... I am doing this not because I am sick of diapers, but because I think it is my duty to help her on her way to growing up. It's a strange feeling, since I'm NOT in such a hurry, personally... it just seems like the right thing to do by her.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

This picture of Daisy reminds me of myself...

...when I was a little girl. I was a bookish gal.
She looks like such a grown-up girl sitting in this big chair, with her legs crossed!

Potty training, day two

Daisy got a lot of pee in the potty today, according to Mark. She also wore a pullup for a portion of the day because we had to go out and she just isn't ready for prime time. I didn't want to be cleaning poo and pee off the library rug. What's worrying me, though, is that she doesn't seem able to get a poo out into the potty today. She gets the Poo Look on her face, I rush her to the potty, and... nothing happens. I guess she's tensing up her muscles or something. I've been making the poor girl sit there for long periods of time, to try to relax, but nothing comes out. Then it's like the second she gets off she's ready to poo-- in her underpants.

I HATE POTTY-TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like we've put a huge damper on our happy lives together. I wish she could just go on wearing her diaper. Really. I don't care. The thing that's pushing me forward with potty training, though, is that she's getting ready for preschool. Even if she goes to one that allows un-potty-trained kids, I don't know how comfortable she'll be having new people change her diaper. In her whole life, there have only been three people ever to do that.

So we are going to keep trying, unless it seems really traumatic for her. Then we'll wait and try again later, I guess.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Skinny paddles

Daisy's favorite toys at the moment are chopsticks. She uses them to "play chess" (don't ask) and to gently rat-a-tat at drums or drumlike objects. She also uses them to row pretend boats and likes just to hold on to them, as objects of attachment. She calls them her "skinny paddles." It has become so normal around here that I might easily forget and refer to chopsticks as "skinny paddles" in public, expecting others to know what I am talking about. But since some part of my brain remembers that this is actually kind of weird, I thought I'd record it.

Now, a "skinny paddle" isn't just any chopstick, mind you. When you tear chopsticks apart, chances are good that one came out skinnier than the other--right? Well, that is the one that Daisy wants. She does NOT want the fat paddle. NO, thank you. And a chopstick has to be quite skinny for her to deem it acceptable.

Potty training update--still day one

Daisy has been going to her potty all day long, happily enough, and sitting on it for fairly long periods of time, but nothing has come out. She has also not gone in her underpants... so, in other words, nothing has come out for hours and hours. I wasn't expecting this. I was prepared for accidents, and I also thought somehow that if she sat on the potty long enough and frequently enough, something would come out. Apparently, something else is going on. I hope she goes before bedtime.

*************
Hahahaha-- about five minutes after I wrote that, she peed on the rug. Oh well. We're working on this!
***********
...and now we've seen some real action. I could see she needed to poop, so I rushed her to the potty, and she released a little. So I was ready to call the day a partial success; something ended up in the potty. But she wasn't finished, and then she went in her panties five minutes later... a big, big mess. I know it's only day one, but I am feeling discouraged. She really does not seem to WANT to go in her potty. I am pretty sure she was actively resisting, not letting herself release all the way. I guess old habits are hard to break. I need to be patient.
********
Well, she peed (a little) in the potty before the night was through. So, in the final analysis, a little pee and a little poo got in the potty, and a lot of pee and a lot of poo got on the floor. But as Mark reminds me, she started the day by crying copiously while refusing to sit on the potty with her panties down at all. If you remember that, the day seems like something of a success.

Oops

I almost forgot: I was going to apologize for the last post ("Daisy is sick"). Sorry to have worried anyone! You are right--it WAS wrong to post that and offer no explanation. I was in a state of extreme busyness and never got around to finishing the post, which I had fully intended to do.

It was just a cold. The suckiest part is that, for me, it is manifesting itself in a sore throat and pains in my ears which are keeping me awake at night. But hopefully it'll be over soon.

Potty training, day one

We waited a long time to start potty training; Daisy is going to turn two and a half on January 20. All my friends have already been potty training for ages and ages. Somehow, though, I never really felt the urgency to get started. As crazy as this may sound, I don't really mind changing diapers. And potty-training sounded so hard and so time-consuming. I did buy a potty, and have Daisy try sitting on it, and I've been reading her potty-related books for months and months now... but I'd never taken a big crack at potty-training itself, if you know what I'm sayin'.

But over the brief winter break between semesters, it seems like the perfect time to get started. Daisy has been under the weather, and so have I, and we're stuck at home anyway--so I thought today was a good day to begin the lovely process. So let's take note of how it went, shall we?

She was enthusiastic about putting on her big-girl underwear, but wept profusely when we asked her to pull it down and sit on the potty. We finally convinced her to sit on the potty with the underpants on, but she wouldn't take them off and cried a whole lot. We shifted gears, and I gave her some lunch. Luckily, she didn't pee during lunch (though I'm sure we've got many accidents ahead, and of course I'm prepared for that). After lunch I suggested sitting on the potty again, and this time--I'm very proud of this--she agreed to pull down her panties. She sat there for about 45 minutes while I read her books. I think this book-reading thing might be the way to go. It's going to be tiring for me, but it made sitting on the potty fun for Daisy. Nothing came out into the potty, although she told me several times that poops were dropping in. Nope, not so much. But that's okay. The first hurdle has been cleared, in that at least she sat there for awhile with her panties down. Afterward, she was very excited to step up on her new stepstool and wash her hands in the sink and she told me, "I'm very happy, Mom!"

Now she is napping in her new pullups. When she wakes up, I guess we'll spend some more time in the bathroom. If she doesn't cry and agrees to sit there, I'm going to feel like I accomplished something, even if nothing comes out again. She seems afraid to let something out, actually; I wonder why? I guess just because it's new.

This is hard.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Daisy is sick

Thursday, January 01, 2009

New Year's Eve

I have to say I really surprised myself last night--I never, never thought I'd make it till midnight and I was a TERRIBLE mommy who let her daughter stay up till 12:30. This kid is usually in bed by 8:30 at the latest, so I couldn't believe her eyes were still open and she was actually in a good mood until the very end. My upstairs neighbor and friend, Robyn, had a very fun little gathering at her place, and I was figuring we'd probably poop out at 9:30 or 10, come back downstairs, and put Daisy to bed (it was the perfect New Year event for us, because we have a young child and didn't want to take her out somewhere and have to drive home late). But somehow... we just kept going and going and going. Other kids went to sleep on their parents' laps, or were brought away before the bitter end, but Daisy was the last toddler standing. Or, slumping. But hey, it was a one-time thing and she seems fine today. And she slept in this morning until--wait for it, wait for it--the glorious hour of 8:10 AM!!! Yes, that is right: the latest she has ever slept in her life. (I think she slept till 8-ish ONCE before, but she's never gotten any later.)

She is taking a nice nap now. It was pretty funny; lately she's been procrastinating nap-time, demanding one more book and one more book, fussing when we put her down, and not going to sleep unless I come back in and rock her. Today she went into her crib without one murmur of protest and went right to sleep. Ha! I guess the lesson must be: keep your toddler up past midnight.