Well, I was wandering around Target’s website this afternoon and much to my happiness, I discovered they had come out with a BATHROOM version of the same decor.  I hopped right into the car and went to town and bought all the fun stuff to re-do Kira’s bathroom for her 3rd birthday.  We called it her “Happy Birthday Bathroom” and she found it pretty thrilling.  It’s a few weeks early, but who wants to sit on all these adorable decorations and not put them right up!

PS:  The artwork hanging over the toilet is my own creation! 

I’m pretty excited at how easy this turned out to be.  It’s really true what they say, that it’s really a matter of just waiting for it to “click”.  Once it does, they just do it.  I am so glad I didn’t push it the few times I tried since she turned 2 and obviously wasn’t ready, because it just would have stressed us both out.

Anyway, hooray for potty training success!  Although now I’ll be on alert all the time thinking that she’s going to wet her panties until I trust her 100%, even though so far she hasn’t.

PS:  We are only daytime trained.  I am not attempting nap or night training yet.  Once she starts getting used to subconsciously holding it, I imagine she’ll start waking with dry Pull Ups, probably from naptime first.  She’s not trustworthy enough to leave a potty in her room at night, and I know she can’t hold it for 13 hours (the current length of her nighttime) without an accident.  But I’m not fussed — 2 pull ups a day is heaps better than diapers all day long.

Potty training day 1 - not glamorous!	Heading out for church, diaper-free!
Pretty exciting stuff

In other news, we’re weaning pacifier use down a little bit.  I’m loathe to completely get rid of it until after our cross-planet plane trip to and from New Zealand later this year.  I just think it will come in handy to keep her calm and QUIET.  So we’ll probably wean it completely right after we get home.  Until then, I did some research and bought one designed for older kids’ mouths (By Dentists!) that supposedly won’t interfere with teeth and jaw growth.  She only really uses it for nap and nighttime, so I’m not too worried about her teeth yet.  And after she turns 3 and we come back from New Zealand, all pacifiers will be officially gone.  Shockingly, when I gave her the new “byer” tonight, she made peace with it pretty quick.  Good thing, since I threw the old one away already.

Random pictures of my pretty girl:

 The fact that she’s a normal 2 year old.

Note: 2 hippo stickers WERE harmed in the rescue attempt. One is totally out of reach and will spend the rest of it’s life staring woefully out at the world…with me staring woefully back at it.

Yesterday we got our first winter storm of the season.  When all was said and done, maybe there’s about 5-6 inches of snow out there.  And now it’s cold.  Severely and bitterly cold.

In the beginning part of the storm, when temperatures hovered just around freezing and snow was flying about, we bundled Kira up in her new snow duds and sent her out on the deck to build a snowman with daddy.  She loved scuffing around in the snow and immediately started copying everything Joseph did.  She tried to roll snowballs, but that takes a bit more coordination than a 2 year old can handle.  She did master, and thoroughly enjoy, the art of packing snow on the snowman, which really just looks like a snowpile.  She would scoop up bits of snow, pack it on, and then say “there!”  So adorable.

Daddy & Me

I got Kira some Crayola finger paints.  She hates having stuff on her fingers, so I set her up with paintbrushes, a big sheet of paper, and a paint shirt.  She happily painted away for an hour before I finally decided it was time to move on to other activities.  I couldn’t believe she’d painted only on the paper (and not on the table or the floor or any other nearby objects).  I’m hoping the next time will be just as successful.  If so, “finger” painting is going to be a God-send for keeping her busy.

Sometimes you just need a cookie…

Just to show that she’s pretty sometimes…

Yesterday, out of desperation, I dragged out the pots and pans and spoons for the first time since Kira’s been born.  She has a great time banging away.  Today, I unrolled a long sheet of Christmas wrapping paper (upside down) and plopped her on top of it with a big box of crayons.

How long will this last?  Hopefully longer than it takes to write this short blog post!

In other cuteness, here’s Kira in her new dress and tights on Sunday.  She also had a coordinating denim jacket with purple trim, but the battery in my camera died right as I tried to snap the photo.  Sigh.