Hats, Headbands, and Hair

Our morning hair routine usually consists of me asking Allison if she wants a barette or ponies today, and Carter standing on the toilet seat reaching in Allison's hair stash for a headband and then putting it carefully on his head. It then stays on his head all day, despite my attempts to take it off. He calls the headbands his 'hats', and will pat his head and ask for his 'hat' if it falls off. We have one little green frog hat - a real hat - that I can swap out his headband for . . . but if the frog hat is misplaced - Carter wears his headband all day. I'm going to have to get some more hats. But I don't know - I think the headbands are kind of cute :). Allison has a pretty sensitive head and always cries when I try to comb it out. So a few weeks ago we made a special trip to the store and she got to choose her very own brush (I was thinking this would help ease the morning hair routine). She picked out a sparkly blue brush . . . and it helped for a few days . . . but she's still back to whimpering. But during Valentine's week she and I had fun trying out a little heart twisty thingy in her hair. I propped up the laptop by the bathroom sink - and got onto a hair blog I found on a friend's blog - I think it's called shedoeshair.blogspot.com . . . or something like that. Anyway - it was my first attempt at really styling her hair - and it was pretty fun. I dowsed her head in hairspray and it actually stayed put all day!

That's What 3 1/2-Year-Olds Do

I am feeling very grateful. Potty training has been awful and I've made a thousand mistakes as we've been working on this . . . but finally a friend of mine gave me a book that has helped her called 'Potty Training in 3 Days'. I haven't read through the whole thing - I'm about half way through - but one of the things it said was to just not use pull-ups. Even at night. I was a little surprised . . . but decided it was time to stop the pull-ups. Allison seemed to know that when she had a pull-up on, she got a free ride and didn't need to use the potty. So we had a little discussion before bed a few nights ago and I told her that she was now 3 1/2 years old. And 3 1/2 year olds don't wear pull-ups. They were undies to bed. She went to the potty, put on her undies and went to bed. She stayed dry all night - the very first night! I was shocked! I didn't know she could do it. She has never woken up with a dry pull-up . . . yet just simply switching to undies did it. The next night she woke up crying in the middle of the night, had a little accident - but we were able to get her on the potty to finish things off. And then this morning she woke up dry again and informed Dad that '3 1/2 year olds don't wear pull-ups anymore'. So grateful! I am just amazed that kids really do respond to the expectations you give them. I just had to tell Allison that I knew she could stay dry, and act accordingly by putting her in undies. Good lesson to learn I guess.

Agga bagga . . . . "Asparagus"

Carter has been doing the cutest thing lately and I wanted to get it down before I forget. He's, how many months now? I guess almost 21 months - and he says a bunch of words - but's it's funny how he does it. He'll get right in my face, or whoever he's trying to talk to . . . and then he'll babble for a few seconds . . . agga,bagga, agga,bagga,agga,bagga. .(pause) . . . and then he'll say the word he's trying to say - clear as day - 'Snowman'. It's so funny! I want to catch it on video. He babbles all the time . . . but when he's really trying to communicate something - he'll make sure he has your undivided attention before he'll try to say it. Whether it's babbling something incomprehensible, or pulling your face towards his. It makes sense to me. Why waste some perfectly good clear comprehensible words on a parent who isn't paying attention. I love it! :)

Take Me to the Car Wash

So our cars were in desperate need of a good cleaning last week. It was to the point that when I was around the car I was extra careful not to touch the exterior with any part of my body so as not to dirty my clothes. It was bad. So Allison and Dad came to the resue on Saturday and gave the cars a good cleaning. Allison was such a good little helper. Her little hands were so cold - but she came inside - asked me for some towels to dry the car - and then marched right back out, unfazed by the cold.

Day at the Zoo

Carter seeing the giraffes.

Allison feeding the birds. One of the birds gave her a little peck which caused a few tears, but soon went away once she realized the peck was really just a little bird kiss.

Carter trying to join the elephants.