My Little Mama!

Dear Friends and Family,

Claire is becoming quite the little Mama!  Thanks to nesting, I have been in clean-up and stock-up mode the past few days.  You know you are nesting when on a Saturday morning you think, "I should definitely clean these floors!"  I thought that taking the swifter and vacuum over them would do, but no, something deep down inside told me that the floors had to be hand washed and polished too.  Claire took on the task of pushing around the swifter, then eagerly stepped in to help with vacuuming, and even got down on the floor with a paper towel to help wipe up the floor!  It was so cute!  I just kept telling her what a great little helper she was.

Here's a video of my little helper in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI4uMsJv7EI

Cleaning with Mom made Claire think of some other errands she could help me with.  One of them was going to the store to buy milk. She put on her boots (the boots were Chris' from when he was little) and her house coat (mine from my grandmother when I was little) and put some coins in her purse.  She then said, "Bye, I love you!" as she headed for the door to the garage.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkaPYUlmx8s

Claire and I are really enjoying our new dress up items (thanks, Mom)!  Claire was a butterfly twice this week, and I got to dress up as a princess.

This weekend we were invited to our friends the Schiller's house for a dinner party/play date.  We had such a great time! Claire had fun with her friends and still talks about Everett, Audrey, and Nora. Everett also treated us to a musical rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the word Macaroni substituted for the traditional lyrics. Claire watches this video all the time, so I think he has a hit on his hands! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEnZo4Gzs_c

Claire took a long nap this weekend that required us going in to wake her up so she wouldn't throw off her bedtime. I decided to use it as an opportunity to get a picture of how she sleeps in her big girl bed. 

Obviously, she hasn't picked up on the concept of pillows yet.

This week, I got some tips on potty training from my friend Julia Stetter.  Pair that with a snow day, and I thought it was good timing to do a day of intense potty training.  This involved keeping Claire in big girl panties and her cup constantly full of liquids so she would have to go to the bathroom more, hence more practice getting the potty feeling and learning to tell me that she has to go.  This also required that I spend the entire day completely focused on Claire so at any sign that a tinkle or poop was coming, I could dash her to the potty to help her achieve success.

The result? A day overflowing with accidents that had me running around the house with the equivalent of a human sprinkler!  Both of us had many costume changes, and I was not in a good place by the end of the day.  Seriously, it took two bowls of ice cream and one of my favorite sitcoms to get me back to "calm and happy."  The good news is, the next day Claire improved tremendously!  She asked for the potty the whole time we were out and even went tinkle on the big public toilets.  On Tuesday, I left her in childcare with big girl panties on (I dropped off a diaper and a change of clothes too because I was sure she wasn't going to do well going potty for the childcare workers). So, imagine my surprise when I came to get her after Bible Study and she was still wearing her jeans!  The workers told me that she asked for the potty twice and tinkled both times. I was incredibly proud!  We still have accidents, but Claire is getting better each day with telling us when she has to go, and I am so thankful for that. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Love,
Bethie