Power of M&M's

What will a little girl do for ONE M&M? Stay dry all night! Motivates a little girl to not be lazy and walk the 7 steps from her bedroom to the bathroom at nap time too.

Lydia had been staying dry at night. And then she decided that she would just pee in her pull-up (seriously why did I give her those??? Sometimes Mom will do anything to sleep!). We will avoid my soapbox but Lydia was choosing to pee in her Pull-up rather than walking to the potty. I had talked to her. I had kindly taken her to the bathroom when I went to bed - which equaled Lydia being awake until 2AM. James had talked to her. We had offered her park trips, pool trips, walk to the lake, etc... Really nothing was motivating her and she was peeing more in her Pull-up. Really a little girl should not be peeing so much in her Pull-up that she is soaking the bed!

And then she started having trouble at nap time. Which we mastered nap time dryness weeks after potty training. I was frustrated to say the least!

But I decided to show my poker face and not let Lydia see my frustration. So as I was eating chocolate after cleaning up poop in the bed (it's a fact anybody who scrubs poop off their potty training child gets the chocolate treat of their choice!) and Lydia wanted a treat. My initial thought: oh, no! I am sneaking this treat because I just cleaned up your POOP because you refused to walk into the bathroom and poop! But I was the grown up and gave the toddler a small bite which she declared "mmmmm" and wanted her own handful.

My response: "Well, sweet girl treats are for big girls who stay dry".
Lydia: "I will stay dry"
My response: "After you are dry, you can have chocolate".

James and I decided that we were not going to make a deal anymore about her sleeping wetness/dryness and just move on. Pull-ups aren't that evil AND sleep. Well, we all need it.

The next morning I hear a little knock coming from a certain some body's room followed by a little voice "get chocolate need to peeeeeeeeeeeee". I go running. And that child had stayed dry all night.

And she got THREE M&Ms.

60 hours and counting of dryness!!!!!!!!!!!! (P.S. The Pull-ups are leaving our house - at our house the Pull-ups breed laziness! From mom and daughter!)

Party!!!!!!

This monument must be mentioned.

We do not have any diapers left in our house. None. Zip. Zilch.

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea Bags

Seriously toooo cute! No play tea party can be complete without tea bags!!!!!!

Hello Chocolate!

The worst thing (well, for Mom mainly!) about Lydia's peanut allergy was the lack of good chocolate. M&M's - may contain peanuts. Resees Cups - contain peanuts (DUH!). Kit Kat Bars - may contain peanuts.

James really missed frequent trips to Five Guys. Which I seriously never understood this one there is a Five Guys near his office and he is eating lunch away from Lydia five out of seven days, so...

Last weekend Lydia went to Five Guys with her Dad. My comfort level really wasn't to the point of "let's eat peanuts and sit at the dusty peanut laden tables". So we ordered our food, Lydia sat in my lap while we waited for food and watched at the counter while her food was made, and then we took our food back to our basically peanut free house. Did I mention how long I have avoided peanuts like the plague???

That night James bought Reeses cups home AND gave me a hard time about being over protective. This is why God gives children two parents. The next day Lydia got to eat her first Reeses cup - and she was a fan!

We can safely say that Lydia likes chocolate. Any type. Five Guys is a pretty tasty place for her. And I ordered food for her and out of habit asked the waiter to place an allergy alert on the meal. Oops - we are getting there!

Goodbye Tree

James and I are discovering that we can do this entire "Home Owner Thing". Since we are 2.5 years into this process, we should be getting the hang of it.

Up until now we have basically done all the work on the house ourselves (minus the AC repair - but really AC repair in the 100 degree heat - no intelligent husband decides to tackle that task!).

Last week we hired a company to come take down our "Nemesis" (some people refer to this as the tree growing over our deck). James has wanted to do it himself but the tree was a very soft wood so he could not climb the tree. He has climbed on the roof to tackle the tree. He has dangled from the side of the porch. And thankfully he has survived all these experiences. But it is hurricane season and the tree really needed to come down!

The lesson that we learned: we will probably just continue doing home repair work ourselves ;)

Lydia spent the morning playing by the door so she could watch. 

Lydia took this picture outside (we will work on her technique later!). 

I think she was a bit scared as the guys were climbing on the deck! 

And after watching the process all morning, she declared that she wanted to climb on the roof too! 

Durham Science Museum

Cousins Playing Together, I think! 

Butterfly Garden 

I think the cousin girls were playing together again! 

Blocks! 

Type A Lydia is Showing Again! 

Dear Future Boyfriend:

James and I thought that we needed to be saving money towards buying a shot gun to scare you away. But then last night, we realized that we just needed to let you know what that cute little girl likes to do...

She likes to lick toilets. And kiss them.

We have tried to get her to stop. We are going to continue to work on this (because really that is just disgusting!).

But when I turn around, she licks the toilet. She doesn't see anything gross about this.

So when you think about possibly kissing our daughter, just remember she also kisses toilets.

Sincerely,
Your Friends Rescuing You From Years of Kissing the Potty Kissing Girl

Number 10

Lydia actually glued all these beans onto the corresponding numbers. Which really is pretty impressive - took her 20 - 30 minutes (which for a toddler to sit at the table for that long counting and gluing - I am impressed!). 

When we got to number 10 she was adamant that the number 10 is really the number 1 and 0 thus only gluing one bean to the number 10. 

I started to correct her. But she is 2 years old and that is really cute. We will work on double digit numbers soon!

Slowly Decorating...

Yes, infact James and DeAnna do have a bedroom. Starting to reclaim it as our own! 

And Lydia's room with more pictures and so up to date ones! 

Happy 26 Months!

Happy 26 months Lydia! Your creativity and imagination has amazed as of late. Your bath often turns into very fun adventures (this particular night you were a clown in a circus!).

Messy Art Day

Making sidewalk paint

Making finger paint

All our works of art! 

Using the sidewalk paint.

Newspaper Duty!

FINGER PAINT!!!!!!!

Painting is hard work! 

Beach Trip (Dad's Camera)

Our dear daughter who never watches tv was quite enamored with Mickey Mouse... Reminder why she doesn't normally watch tv! 

Little girl who has no fear was rescued by her Dad as she went "out to sea"

Seashells!