Christmas Festivites 2009: The Christmas Tree

Everyone usually has a tradition built around the Christmas tree. Our household is no different. We drive out to the Silveyville Christmas tree farm and cut down or pick out a fresh cut tree, every year. This year we were feeling crazy and sprung for the dollar sleigh ride with Santa.

Potty training

A few things I did not think I would say during this whole venture which I feel the need to explain:

"We do not put treats up our nose!"

At one point Sophia's bribe was blueberry jelly beans. She tried them at Matthew's baby shower and loved them. I was in the kitchen and I hear this "help, help Mommy". I walk into the leaving and see Sophia pointing to her nose and a trail of blue leading up to her nose.

"Do not flush the toilet so we can see your poop and give you two treats!"

My darling sweet girl can be mischievous at times. She is very motivated by the treats to use the potty, sometimes too motivated. One time, I found her filling up her potty with water from the toilet so that she could say she went potty and get a treat. So with two treats on the line, she needs a bit of accountability.

"Where is your underwear?"

Since we have been potty training, Sophia rarely wears pants/shorts while we are at home. I don't mind this at all since the main focus is getting to the potty on time. I do love her justification of "It's hot" and then she promptly takes off her pants, meanwhile I am wearing pants and a sweatshirt and still think its cold. However, once in a while she will come out of her room without her underwear on. This is wear I draw the line. Sometimes, it is because she wants new underwear or "it's hot". Today it was because she wanted to put her underwear on Elmo.

A few things Sophia has said during this time:

In a whisper, "potty, potty, potty, potty".
She was trying to go potty to get a treat but this was the fourth time in a half an hour.

After putting her baby doll on the potty, "focus, baby focus".
Sometimes, I will say this to her if she is not doing what she is supposed to.

Of course, after she goes, in a big smile, "Treat!".

"Mommy, go potty with me."
I knew all of us girls like to go to the bathroom together, but I didn't know it started this early! Sheesh.

I am proud to say that Sophia is day and night potty trained and she no longer asks for treats too. Thank you Lord for small miracles!!

Natural Prozac

I think my daughter is made out of prozac. She finds joy in everything.
Kaiser bathroom - toilet flushing was hilarious to Sophia (only my child)
Leaves swirling around by the wind - "Look mommy, leaves, ha-ha-ha"
Eating strawberries at church - "Strawberries, ha-ha-ha"
Sophia smiles wherever she goes.
I feel so grateful that Christ has given me this little girl to remind me to find joy in all that I do and see.

October's school work

Sophia does at least one art project a day at her daycare/preschool. I know she works really hard on her art projects and I wanted to show her some way that we could acknowledge her work. I cannot display them on the fridge since there are so many art projects and Sophia likes to destroy her art as much as she likes to make it including taste testing the plastic eyes.
We invested in a bulletin board to display all of Sophia's work. Check out some of October's work.

Happy Halloween!

This is Sophia's first year celebrating Halloween. It started off with a harvest carnival at her school the day before. All the children dressed up in the their costumes and had a costume parade around the playground. The school provided a choo-choo train which Sophia loved! In fact, when I went to see her at school and help her get ready, she told me to go away because of the choo-choo train. Inside the school, they had games, crafts and a spooky maze.
The day of Halloween, I was explaining to Sophia how the trick or treating process works. I told her that we would knock on doors and say "trick or treat" and then they would give you candy. I asked a little while later, what do you say when someone answers the door when we go trick or treating. She replied with "candy please".

We started trick or treating by going over to Noni and Papa's house. We visited with them for a little bit but Sophia was very anxious to get started. I thought that was funny since this was all new.


Post Halloween:
Most little kids would not think of their candy unless they saw it in plain view. I put her candy in the pantry, so that she would follow suit, however Sophia, who remembers everything, continually asks for her pumpkin so that she can have some candy. When she does get her pumpkin, the routine is to say "1, 2, 3" and then dump out the bucket so she can pick one to eat.

This is her first piece of hard earned Halloween candy.