First Night in Big Girl Bed

Anna Claire spent her first night in a big girl bed tonight. We've had it ready for her for about a week now. We've been moving in that direction all week.

Larry and I take turns putting her to bed (every other night). We have asked her every night this week if she was ready to sleep in her big girl bed. "Not yet. Maybe tomorrow. I sleep in my crib instead," was the answer she gave.

Let's take a moment and address the big question: Why is she STILL sleeping in a crib? Isn't she three?

Short answer: Because she never tried to climb out. Our beloved Dr. Roads told as a long time ago, that we should keep her in there as long as possible if she was not trying to climb out.

Additionally, it has honestly given us wonderful peace of mind to know she was safe in her crib. Couldn't get hurt, fall out, or escape and get into mischief.

Then came back troubles. I'm having a hard time lifting her in and out of her crib. I have concluded that for the sake of my back and for helping her when she sleeps over at Grandma's, it would be in her best interest to transition now.

I have told her there are babies who don't have a crib that need her crib. She has a big girl bed and a crib. Wouldn't it be nice to help a baby and give her a crib.

I also reminded her that all of her friends sleep in big girl beds. That none of them need their Mommies to lay with them (lies). She bought it tonight, and finally said, "I want you to go now, Mommy. I ok."

Never heard a peep since. That was 2 hours ago. ;)

First night in big girl bed...with "Blanket," "Purple Blanket," and (not pictured: Catty, Baby Hugs Bear, Teddy)

Funnies

On routine.

Anna Claire loves spending some Daddy-daughter time each day, and she loves her routine.This usually ends up being after her bath each night. I spend about a half hour watering and tending to the garden, cleaning up the kitchen and washing my face. Last night, I came upstairs after cleaning the kitchen. Anna Claire gave me a little shove on my behind toward the bathroom and said, "Mommy, you can go wash your face now." Then she closed the bathroom door.

On cracking us up.

We were in the car and Anna Claire was being so silly. I was laughing so hard at her. She said, "Mommy,

I laughin' you up!" 

I said, "You mean 'cracking me up?'" 

She said, "Yeaaahhhh. I crackin' you up."

On Reading.

Anna Claire cracks me up with how she will recognize one word on a page and make up her own story or sentence to go with it. She latched on to the word "more" on one of her Brainquest cards. She pointed to the word "more" and said, "More! No more oatmeal. No more oatmeal! Ever!"

On being sneaky.
Awhile back, I broke one of the supports that goes inside Anna Claire's little tent. I have felt horrible about it ever since. Saturday we saw one at Walgreens that was perfect. It looks just like a little princess castle. Bought it. Came home and put it together. Anna Claire rubbed her hands together and said under her breath, "Ha, ha, ha, I can be sneaky now!" and went inside the tent.

On regularity.
Anna Claire was holding her poop in for the longest. She would go 5 days, sometimes longer, without going. We were really worried about it! We tried bribing her with candy and potty charts, but neither worked. Then I read an article to try this: wrap (very) small gifts and place them up high in a visible location. When your child asks you about the presents, tell them they can get one each time they poop in the potty. She has pooped just about every night ever since. We spend a whopping 25 cents per gift, on average, but it was what helped us turn to corner with her on that front. Happy Meal toys and gumball machine toys are perfect for this.

The funny part is....tonight she was sitting on the potty and said, "Mommy, I want you to go in other room and make wrapping noises." That was her subtle way of telling me she pooped and wanted me to go wrap a present for her. :)

Anna Claire's First "Pedi"

Ok, she just got her toenails painted, but it was a big deal to Anna Claire. I have walked into the Bunnies class twice and heard the little girls talking about sitting in the butterfly chair at the nail place. And I hear about it at home. When one of the other parents told me it was just a few bucks for them to get their nails painted, I decided we would do it sometime.

Today wasn't the day I intended, but it ended up being her special butterfly chair day.

When I picked her up from the Red Barn, she was still in her swim gear, and the teacher explained it had been too hot for them to do water play today. I thought, "Perfect!" I was planning on taking her to the Y to swim anyway, so now she'd get that time in the water anyway.

Wrong. Got to the Y, and they had closed the pool due to chance of storms. They told me they'd open it in about a half hour. So we went to McD's and had a milkshake, then went back to try again. Still closed, not to reopen for a half hour. I told her I was sorry and that we'd come back in the morning.

She was SO disappointed, I felt so bad for her.

I reassured her again that we'd go in the morning and explained that I needed her to go with me to Kmart to get wrapping paper for her friend's gift. That put a smile on her face because she would get to ride this:

I remember what a big deal it was to me to get to ride these little rides outside storefronts as a little girl. This merry-go-round has been sitting outside our Kmart for a LONG time!

After her merry-go-round ride, I saw Larry's Nails glowing like an Oasis saying to me, "C'mon! Today is the day!"

I said without giving it another thought, "Hey Anna Claire, how would you like to get your nails painted in the butterfly chair today?"

"Yeah! I sit in butterfly chair just like Amelia! I want pink!!!"

She said just after this was taken, "I holdin' very still!"

The butterfly chair!

All done. He even added sparkles. Think she liked it?

So pretty!

 Afterward, we had to wait 5-10 minutes for them to dry. No problem for Anna Claire. She is always content to people watch and sit and talk to me. She did ask me, "Mommy, where my painter go?" Larry and I thought it was funny she called the man that painted her nails "her painter."

Science Center/ Big Girl Bed

Took AC to the Science Center and then a made a quick trip to the bookstore. Asked her what her favorite part of today was. Answer: "Riding escalator and hearing my voice echo in the potty at bookstore."

Before going to the Science Center, we made a brief stop at Rivergate, since I knew their Target had the little girls' bedding that I wanted in stock. HOWEVER, when we got to the bedding aisle, Anna Claire was quick to point to an adorable solid pink bedding set with ruffle appliques and say, "I don't want owl or horse on my blanket. I just want pink! I want THAT one! Put it in the basket!" I HAPPILY put the solid pink bedding in the basket. 

We will overlook the fact that I have a three-year old who is just now transitioning to a big girl bed and save that for a future post, yes?

Science Center! Why have we not come here sooner? I get in free, since I'm a teacher,  and it was fabulous. I worried that there wouldn't be enough for a little girl to do there, but she could participate in most of the exhibits. My great takeaway was that Anna Claire loves dominos and Tinker Toys, neither of which we own.

Afterward we stopped off at the Vanderbilt Borders.While in the potty at the Vandy bookstore, Anna Claire kept saying, "Echo....echo...echo..." louder and louder. There really was a good echo in there. I reminded her that we were at a bookstore, which was kinda like the library. Maybe we should "echo" a little quieter. She went, "SSSSSsssssssssssss!" and put her finger to her lips. She said, "Mommy you put your mouth to your finger. SSSSSSSssssssssss!"

I was so impressed with this child at the dominoes challenge. She was doing a great job at balancing her seesaw and recognizing when she needed to add more to one side. She would say, "It not balanced. I need more over here."

Still at it.

Loving some Tinker Toys.

Each of the black circles you see in the back, are fans. They would blow and propel her sailboat.

These were her Tinker Toy "lollipops."

Loved this piano you could actually walk on and it would play. Ah, memories of "Big."

Our view while waiting in line at the Subway at the Science Center.

We waited 10 minutes for her to ride in this ambulance.

This was a water table representing the human blood stream. The red and yellow panels represent arteries and veins. The white balls, like she's holding, represented white blood cells.

Loved opening each of these doors. Each one stood for a career in medicine.

Turn the dial left to hear healthy lung, and right to hear unhealthy.

Just a random post...

Today we went to the Tuesday library program and ran into Maggie and Miss Emily! The girls were so excited to see each other. Emily and I swapped stories of plans that the girls have apparently cooked up together at the Red Barn, then shared with us later at home. Maggie told Emily that she was going to the water park with Anna Claire and going with Anna Claire to Disneyworld. Anna Claire told me that she was going with Maggie to see the Disney princesses at Disneyworld and that they were going to see the fireworks together. That must have been SOME conversation! Here's a pic of them at the library program today.

Clapping along to songs during the program. Could not get them to look my way ;)

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Anna Claire loves playing with her Daddy. Here's a video of some of the horseplay happenings. You will enjoy viewing fun hijinks to include: walking on Daddy's feet, being a noodle,and swinging. Be on the lookout for future episodes where Anna Claire and Daddy do see-saw, turtle shell, and hop like a bunny. (All names were given by Anna Claire.)

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Tonight as we were walking to McGregor Park for fireworks, Anna Claire saw a man without a shirt. She asked, "He going to fwim (swim) Mommy?"
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When we don't want Anna Claire to have something (sodas, bubblegum) we say, "You can have that when you get older." It works pretty well, actually.

Now she's shooting it back at us, and will usually say, "You can get older for that." She had a pink notepad and Larry asked for a sheet of paper from it. She said, "Daddy, you can have that when you get older."

4th of July

How lucky are we that I decided to look up Clarksville's 4th of July Fireworks details a day in advance, to find out they would actually be on the THIRD of July! I sure was planning to go on the 4th.

Anywho, it was VERY exciting watching Anna Claire's reaction to all of the fun 4th events we had planned for her.

She could not wait to see the fireworks. She kept asking if it was time to go, and I just tried to keep her busy so she wouldn't get too antsy waiting. We considered parking at the Dunn Center and riding the bus to Riverside, like they suggest for you to do, but we ended up finding a spot right across the rode from the hub of the event. Easy peasy.

Anna Claire loved walking across the green "bridge" over Riverside Drive. We also walked all the way down a boat dock so she could see the water. We bought a couple of drinks and some chips, then found a spot for our blanket (AKA Anna Claire's "magic carpet"). We sat and listened to the band play until the fireworks started at 9:30. The band was really pretty good, playing lots of blasts from the past from the 80s and 90s.

Anna Claire LOVED the fireworks. It was so dark, that pics of her reaction weren't turning out, but I think her reaction is evident in this video post. Lots of WOWS. :)

(will post later)

The fourth of July, Pop's friend that he shoots with invited us to his big soiree on his property that backs up to the Red River, and the cleanest little creek you ever did see. It's like a fork where they meet. They roasted two whole hogs, and had more food on hand than you could possibly imagine. He was so thoughtful to provide a port-a-potty. It even had a sink for you to wash your hands. It was Anna Claire's first time to go in a port-a-potty. She called it the "black potty" because the toilet was black. :)

Anna Claire loved the food, playing in the water, and the watermelon in particular!

I love that sweet Catty and Blanket made it into this pic.

And this one...

Little patriot.

Ready. To. Go.

I don't know that this pic quite gets across the QUANTITY of food this child consumed: Pork barbecue, chicken, fresh catfish, mac-n--cheese, pasta salad, cantelope, green beans...She's such a good eater.

Wading in the creek. Can you see how clear the water is?

Me with my favorite girl.

LOVING that she was allowed to splash.

At last...the promised watermelon.

They were so thoughtful to have Capri Suns for the kids. And AC loved sitting in the green chair. Sat here after swimming for the longest.

Water Play - Keeping Cool at 105°

Hello Kitty sprinkler (birthday present)

Ok. So there's no water play involved here. But isn't it cute??

Loves her beach ball sprinkler. I love it too.  It's the best!

Love this face.

"I play on my slippery slide."

"I slidin' Mommy."

You can't see in these last four pictures, but there is an Ariel and Flounder "splash zone" at the end of the slide that's like a little baby pool at the end that she can sit in.