Happy Birthday, Jade!!

Jade had the chance to celebrate her birthday a few weeks early this year. We celebrated last weekend at my Aunt Teri's house. She graciously hosted a pool party for us and Jade was very excited. She definitely knows what goes on for a birthday party now and had been talking about it all week.
We had a small feast of food complete with fruits, veggies, Kaz's pasta salad, and one of Jade's favorites...hot dogs! I did try my hand at making a home-made angel food cake with strawberries and it turned out delightfully if I do say so myself. I can bake, but I definitely can't cook.

We spent practically all day there and were happy to have so many people celebrate with us. Jade alternated between eating and swimming all day. She did take some time to open her presents but by that time she was barely awake.

Here are some photos to commemorate the occasion.

Eating with Grandma...

Hanging out by the pool....


Kaz's parents, Grandad and Granny, and his sister Vic were able to come down from Chicago to help celebrate...



My Uncle Scott and Aunt Cathy...


Princess Jade, commanding her desires...

Touche...

So probably about a month ago, my girlfriend (Carrington) and I are talking about our kids- she has 3, I have 1, they are all the same age. We were talking about potty training since we had already started with Jade and she was thinking about it but not committing to it quite yet with her kids. She informed me that the very next day, although they had not shown much interest in the potty, they all wanted to go to the potty. We teased that they must have been listening in on our conversation.

Last night, we were discussing some of the not so glamorous parts of having toddlers. She is now having frequent nap times that result in kids taking off their diapers and having accidents in their cribs. I told her how fortunate we were that Jade has still never tried to take off her own diaper. Now that she is potty training, she only wears one during nap time and bed time.

And what happens today? .... Why, of course, I hear through the monitor during Jade's supposed nap time, "Mommy...I pooped!". I expected to have to come and change her diaper but as I looked into her room, she had most of the diaper off with one side still hooked around her ankle, poop still in it (thank goodness!) and another diaper ready to go in the other hand. I truly think she was trying to change her own diaper.

Touche!

Bye, bye Diapers!!!

So, last weekend (Sunday, July 19th) Kaz and I decided it was time to start potty training Jade. We had anticipated doing this after Kaz got back into the Air Force but did not anticipate his getting in to take so long. Why not start now we thought.

I had Sunday and Monday off so it was a short week for me. We resolved ourselves to a life at home for the week and off we went. I have to say that by day 2 Jade had the potty thing down and by maybe day 4 she had the poop in the potty thing down (although that part seems to be harder to learn).

Our first couple of days was filled with a naked baby running through the house and rags and carpet cleaner. We honestly thought it was going to be much worse but really only the first couple of days did we have a few spots to clean.

On Tues. we decided not to worry about the potty training and went to a museum in town. We did take her potty chair with us and stopped 2 times to let her go in her chair in our car..wow...who would have thought. I think it was a novelty. We did have to take a picture... nothing like using the potty in the front seat in a parking lot!

As long as we know where a bathroom is and ask her if she has to go we seem to be doing okay. That includes going to the pool. She'll even tell us she needs to go and out of the pool and to the bathroom we go. You know what this means? With the exception of bedtime, no more diapers! (Not a big fan of pull-ups at all). Now all we have to do is get her proficient at taking her pants and big girl underwear on a off by herself.

It just occurred to me how much no more diapers lightens the purse strings and diaper bag- I think I'll just call it her snack bag from now on...

15 Months...

I forgot to post Jade's latest stats. She had her 15 month appointment a few weeks ago.

Height: 29 1/2" Weight: 21 lbs, 4 oz.

She sits at the 25th percentile range, although I would imagine she's at the lower end. She's right on the growth curve so even though she's petite she's right on target.

We have talked with her pediatrician about her inability to handle dairy. At this point we're pretty sure she's lactose intolerant and probably will not outgrow it.

Her mommy neediness seems to be subsiding a bit, too. I almost imagine it comes and goes with the addition of new teeth. Within the past couple of weeks I've counted at least 6 new ones. Ouch! That has to hurt.

I will post more soon. Forgive the lack of pics this time.