{two}

***don't know why I didn't post this when I typed it last week***

Our Little Bean turned 2 on Friday. 

I took the day off of work so I could keep her home with me and soak up all the 2 year old goodness I possibly could! As we woke up that morning, I sang her "Happy Birthday" and wanted to just snuggle her.. I wanted to tell her all about all the ways she's grown and changed our lives, all the love she's brought to our home, how much we adore her... but she had another idea. She immediately climbed out of bed saying "I poopy, Mommy!? C'mon Mommy. Go Fast!"

So, there went my moment of sappy affection... off to the potty. 

Where she did in fact need to poopy. 

I tried to help her get her diaper off, but was met with "I do it SELF, Mommy! NO help!"

Okay.

Then she sat on her little potty (which she insists on using instead of the big toilet, now that she uses a small toilet at school), she did her thing, then asked to wipe herself (with my help), then wanted to flush it herself, wash her hands herself... all the while exclaiming "NO help, MOMMY! STAY! NO! I do it I SELF!"

:sigh:

Our big girl turned two, and even though she's been growing and changing and learning every single day, suddenly she seems so big. And smart. And independent. And two.

The potty training thing has been a slow and steady process for a very long time now - if you recall, she started pooping in the potty around 15 months after she decided pooping in the tub every night was the cool thing to do. Once she started school, we backed off a little bit because her toddler room couldn't accommodate potty training. We kept asking her to sit on the potty before bath time, but that was only a success a few times a week. No consistency. 

Last week she started in her Early Preschool class at school, and one of the perks is potty training. They have a little tiny potty in their room, and she was put in a class where most of the kids are older than her by about 6 months... which means she's seeing lots of kids using the potty throughout the day. 

At every diaper change, they set her on the potty, and they mark on her daily sheet "potty attempts" and "potty successes". I love getting that email at the end of every day and seeing how well she's doing! As the week progressed, her successes started outnumbering her attempts. My big girl. 

Since I would be home with her all day Friday, over the weekend, and again all day Monday, the Husband and I decided to jump right in. No diapers during the day. Only panties or bare bottom. And ya know what? We are on Day 3 - and ::knock on wood:: - NO ACCIDENTS! 

She has been telling me when she needs to go potty or poopy, she does most of the process by herself (with help in the wiping and flushing areas). And she is so proud of herself!

I just love seeing her tiny little bottom in panties. She's so stinking cute. But at the same time, every once in a while I get these pangs of sadness. The bedtime bottle is (finally!!) gone. The pacifier is on the way out. And now diapers. My baby isn't a baby anymore. 

She makes me so proud.

----

Her transition to Early Preschool is going much better than I anticipated. I was really worried about dropping her off in a new room with new teachers because after 6 months in her toddler class, I still got tears most days of the week. I knew she calmed down immediately because by the time I made it to the lobby to see the cameras, she would be happily playing.. all of 90 seconds after her waterworks saying goodbye. Little Stinker! But the tears as I was walking out the door were still painful. 

I thought for sure the hysterics would be a bit more dramatic in a new room, and the first day they were.. but since then? Nothing. She happily says "bye bye Mommy, go see babies!" and finds something to do with her new friends. And according to her new teachers and her daily sheets, she has transitioned very well. She has had no problems with nap-time. She is rocking it out at circle time. She loves eating her meals in the cafeteria. She is doing really well making trips to the specialty classrooms (the Library/Computer Lab and the Art & Animal Science Room), and much to my surprise and relief, she is not falling from atop the gigantic playground. Whew. 

I am (getting) over my sadness about her being on the opposite side of the school from me, and I am now very much looking forward to all the things she will learn in her new class. 

My big girl.

---

Party Pics and Recap Coming Soon!

I thought I had more time!

I thought I had one more full week of my baby still in the toddler classroom.
But noooope.
On Thursday I was asked if I would be okay with bumping Cam up to Early Preschool only in the mornings starting this Monday, and then making her official, full-time transition on the 23rd as planned. I thought about it.. and really, the only reasons I would say no would be purely selfish. For my anxiety. For my desperation to cling to the baby toddler version of my sweet girl. And that's not fair to Cam. In fact, having a week of half-days may be a good idea. A nice way to ease her into her new class, with 2 new teachers and a bunch of new friends. A new routine. A new playground. Eating lunch and snacks in the cafeteria like a big girl. Being exposed to potty learning. Its going to be a whole new world for her, so perhaps starting slow would be to her benefit? We have the option to just let her stay in the EPS room all day next week if she's totally rocking it out, but if she is struggling, she can return to toddler for naps and the afternoon. So, we'll see. Maybe she'll handle this far better than I probably will.. maybe she'll just jump right in!
So after giving it some thought and talking to a few teachers I work with, I agreed. And justlikethat, I had just one more day of her in Toddler instead of six. Justlikethat, I was filling out "All About Me" forms for her new teachers. I was reading letters sent home about potty learning methods at school.
Oy.
Just Like That.
She's a preschooler.

Her Toddler teachers were also a little sad to hear the news as they too were looking forward to one more week with her. She has stolen their hearts, and I know Cam loves them just as much as they love her. We will both miss her wonderful toddler teachers so much! I was going to wait until this Friday to bring in some "Thank You!" gifts for them on what should have been her last day in that class, but since I had such little notice of the new transition plan, I will have to bring them in Monday, which is fine.
I am going to get each teacher a bouquet of flowers and arrange them in a vase or mason jar filled with magnetic letters (thank you, Pinterest, for the inspiration!) I will probably add some corny little tag that says something like "Thank You for helping my Sweet Camy bloom!" and write each one a more personalized note of gratitude.

We really hit the jackpot with her teachers in Toddler. I had high, high expectations for them, and amazingly enough, they exceeded them all. I so wish that the teachers could move up with her, but I have heard wonderful things about her new teachers as well, so all I hope is that they love my girl as much her toddler teachers do. That they see her caring spirit through her sassy attitude strong will. That they can guide her and teach her and help her grow as much as she has in the last 6 months. I have high hopes for my little early preschooler!

She is so ready.
And I'm getting there, too.
Here we go.... the adventure begins on Monday!


In other somewhat related news, all the plans for her party (which is 2 weeks from today!) are made. The menu is all planned out, cheesy food names and all. The favors have been discussed. The "cake" has been decided on. I have visions of the decor ideas dancing in my head. I love this stage of planning... the implementation. The shopping. The excitement!
It's going to be such a fun-filled day!





13 days until my baby turns TWO.
13 days.

Ten on Tuesday: Almost TWO, y'all.

1) 17 days until my sweet little chunk-a-love turns 2. :sigh:

2) Tonight is the third night in a row that she's had a fever just before bed. The first two nights were low grade - 100* or under. Tonight was 101.1*. My poor love. Anyone care to diagnose her via the interwebs? 2 year molars? Maybe? She would never let me look that far back in her mouth, so I guess we may never know. And... When do we have to stop blaming every blip on teething? Cuz I'm not ready to quite yet.
I am taking her to the walk-in clinic at our pediatrician's office in the morning to see if the fever may be related to this stupid cough that's been lingering for the last 2 weeks. Hope they can fix her right up!

3) When I went to pick her up from school yesterday, her toddler teacher gave me a transition packet. All the info we need for her big move up to Early Preschool is in that little packet. Her new teachers' names. When her first day will be (Aug 23). What their potty training philosophy looks like. (ZOMG) Too much scary info for my tender heart to digest. My baby.... er, toddler... crap, preschooler. :sob: My girl.. she's getting so big.

4) In talking with a friend yesterday :hi, Kel!:, I noted how fun this age is in terms of verbal skills (among other fun things, like finger-painting the carpet when unsupervised for 12 seconds). She is fully conversational now. And learning loads of new words every week. Words like "geez!" and "baking" and "rectangle" and "my turn to type!" and "no more breathing, mama!" (where "breathing" = nebulizer). All of which I heard in the 3 hours between school pick up and bedtime.

5) She is such a compassionate little dear. Always asking "you okay?" if she hears someone cough (uhh.. paranoid asthma mom, much, self?). Patting backs. Kissing boo-boos. Saying "bless-choo" when someone sneezes. Asking "You sad?" if she sees a less-than-happy face or her sweet little "Crying?" if she hears anyone crying or laughing (don't know why that always confuses here).  I love how much she loves others.

6) Her eating has pretty much gone to crap. She has become so picky in the last couple months. That's what I get for all the "my baby is such a great eater" bragging I've done the last 18 months. 6 months ago, had we eaten at Subway together, home girl would have easily and happily eaten a kid's turkey sub with cucumbers, olives, pickles, tomatoes, and cheese. We got her that very sandwich yesterday and she ate the olives and the cheese. Awesome. She'll eat just about anything if you give her some ranch dip though. Chicken dipped in ranch? Okay. Stir-fry veggies and ranch? Um, yeah. Grapes and ranch? Sure! GrossGrossGross. But whatever works, right? Right?


7) I always do the unthinkable and benchmark Cam against other kids her age, and about a month ago I started really working myself up over the fact that she wasn't very good at identifying shapes and colors. She knew some color words, but had no consistency in naming them accurately. It was all a guessing game with her, and usually her guess was "red?!". Well, all of the sudden, kid knows her stuff! We were drawing shapes on her chalkboard over the weekend and she correctly identified heart, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, moon, star, and oval!!! And it wasn't a fluke, because we kept quizzing her and laughing at how smart she is! Colors still trip her up.. but she'll get there!

8) Get a load of this...

 ...and this....

...oh, and this awesome little one here!

9) I want to always remember this little conversation we have several times a day:
Me: "Camy, you're getting to be such a big girl."
Camy: "No, I not."
Me: "You're not a big girl?"
Camy: "No."
Me: "Are you a baby?"
Camy: "No."
Me: "Well then, what are you?"
Camy: "I ME!!!"

Funny girl. That is right. You are you.. and I love you for it!

10) My oh my... I adore this girl.

August.

Can you believe today marks the beginning of August? I can't.

August means my baby's about to celebrate another birthday.
Whaaat?


When I sit and think about who she is now, at almost 2 years old..

 and who she was then...

Or even then...

..my mind is blown.

It is so amazing how much growth there is in the first 2 years. How much personality is developed. How one can go from a tiny, fully-dependent little snuggly-wrinkly-newborn to a walking, talking (ahem, arguing), laughing, caring, self-feeding, toilet-pottying, early-preschool'ing, little human? Its just amazing.

Party locale has been booked.

Invitations have been sent. 

We are in full-on party planning mode.

I cannot wait to celebrate her big 0-2 but at the same time, I cannot believe how quickly we have come to this point.

My big girl. 

August also means a new classroom for me at work, with a new {much easier} roster. 

Well, its not really a new room for me, but I've had to spend the summer in a different room, so really I get to return to my room, for which I am STOKED. 

And my roster could not be easier. Some of the most laid-back, super fun babies at the school! 

I am so excited about all the things I'll be able to do with this group of babes... August means the start of a much easier job, with an awesome co-teacher who I adore. August = Awesome.

Unfortunately, Awesome August has been off to a suck-tastic start. 

Cam's still not feeling well, dumb ol' stomach bug. She has a diaper rash from hell, and it breaks my heart to have to change her.. she's obviously in a lot of pain! We have a prescription cream now so hopefully it will bring her some relief. And hopefully her bug goes away soon! I hate to see her so miserable. She's on her third nap of the day and its not even 2pm. :(

Hope my girl is back in good health soon. 

And hope your August has as much awesome in store as our's.