~ Fireworks, Family, and Potty Training ~

What a week it has been!

Last Sunday was Independence Day.
We decided to take the girls down to Benson to see the fireworks there. We had never been to the ones in Benson, so we weren't sure what to expect. We drove the 30 min there, during which Carissa fell asleep. As we were driving into town, we saw people along side the road to watch the fireworks. We then saw a big field that had people parking in it. So we pulled in there and went to the back part and found lots of parking. So we parked and waited for the fireworks to begin. Carissa woke right before they started. We set up our blanket and got ready to watch the fireworks. We had an awesome location. They were directly in front of us and at times almost seemed above us. Because Carissa had just woken up, the noise seemed to scare her at first. She clung to us at first but watched them the entire time. After a while she seemed to warm up to them, and loosened her grip. She even started to point to them and show to them to "Daddy" and "Kafryn." By the very end, she had turned around and sat in my lap and was fascinated with them ... just as the finale started. After they finished, she said "more." She soon moved her attentions to the fact that a train happened to be going by as we were getting back in the car. I sat her on the roof of the car so she could see the train as it went by. It is so fun to take my girls to the little pleasures in life that I enjoyed so much as a child. I am thoroughly looking forward to next year when both of them will be able to enjoy them better than they did this year! Each year just keeps getting better and better!

Also on Sunday afternoon, Carissa was surprised with the delivery of her very own house (that she will someday share with her sister)!!

GiGi and Papa found this house on sale through Ebay. The people selling it lived near us, so instead of having it shipped they delivered it to us after church.
Carissa LOVES this house. She asks to play in her house every day. She opens and closes the doors and windows. Walks in and out of it. And even insists that Mommy "get in there." Of course, as soon as I go squeeze in the house ... she leaves and shuts me in. What's up with that?

I wish we had some shade in our yard though. Morning time is really the only time feasible to take her outside for long periods of time. The sun rises behind our house, so we do have shade until about 10:30am. After that, it gets HOT. Even if I take her outside for a short while during the afternoon, her slide and toys are too hot for her to even touch.
I have been trying to make sure she at least gets to go out in the mornings while it is still shaded enough and cool enough for me to take Kathryn out and sit with her while Carissa plays.
Last Monday, after some play time in the front yard, Carissa wanted to go "walking" (I love how she has started adding "-ing" to all of her verbs!). We left Daddy and Kathryn at the house, and Carissa and I walked around the block. As we walked she named the birds and the cars as she heard them. We talked about the birds in the trees. We discussed the color of the trees, the grass, and the sky. She even remembered that on a previous walk we had seen a cat on someone's porch. She kept saying that the "cat" was "sleeping" and needed a "blankey." If she didn't see where something was, she would say that it was hiding. (She would ask for Daddy and Kathryn, and when I said "Where are they?" she would say "hiding." She loves to play hide and seek, so "hiding" has been her new response when she doesn't know where something is.) We completely enjoyed our nature walk! She even picked a blade of grass to bring to Daddy.
Shortly after our walk, GiGi came to visit for the day. Carissa just loves her GiGi! Of course she had to show off her new house so GiGi could take lots of pictures :)
We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and ordered Carissa a mini taco salad off the kids menu. She wasn't fond of the sour cream, but she LOVED the "matoes". In fact she got upset when she ate all the ones in her salad, so the waiter brought her a little bowl of tomatoes.


Wednesday thru Friday Mema and Uncle Dan came to visit. Mema is MY Great-Grandmother ... which makes her the girls' Great-Great Grandmother. Not many little girls can say they visited with their Great-Great-Grandmother. The extra special thing about this visit is that Kathryn is actually named after Mema. (Mema's name is Elena - Kathryn's middle name :-D) AND Kathryn was also born on Mema and my Papaw's Wedding anniversary (Papaw passed away when I was a baby). So overall it was a very special visit. (Will add pic when I get one.)
The last time Mema was here was for Carissa's first birthday, so she didn't remember her. But in no time, Carissa warmed up to her and just LOVED her "Me-naw." Uncle Dan was just up recently with my Grandpa so Carissa remembered him. The girls both got new clothes (they really aren't spoiled haha). It was super great that they could spend time with the girls. Carissa just loves when family comes over. She gets really attached to people (mostly people who spend extended time at our house). It is so sweet to see her excited to see them, and to always look for them. But it breaks my heart when she realizes that they are gone. She gets this sad look and says "[their name] ... home?" Hopefully they will be able to make the trip back up here for Carissa's birthday in September!

This week has also been another milestone in Carissa's life .... we officially started serious potty training! She's had her little potty since December and has even used it a couple times. But she just never was ready, so we put it off until after Kathryn was born. Lately she has started saying "potty" - as she was going in her diaper. So I decided to jump on board with actively training her. We decided to use the "naked method." We let her run around the house without any pants on. The first day she just peed and got upset, and we'd rush her to her potty. Only once did she pee in her potty that day. Day 2 she would start to go, get upset when it ran down her leg, so she'd stop going and finish once I got her on her potty. Day 3 and 4 she started holding her pee. She would act uncomfortable or start dancing around, and would go in her potty when I encouraged her to sit on it. Day 5 she started saying "potty" in addition to her dances. Once she even ran to her potty saying "potty" all on her own and peed. Day 6 we decided to try panties ... but she just peed in them. So Day 7 - today - I decided to let her master the naked method a little better before embarking on adding panties full time. She had no accidents!! Said "potty" if she had to go (or sometimes she says "ducky one" - because we have a little seat that sets on top of our big toilet that has ducks on it ... and she likes to use that one occasionally). Most of the time we still have to help her get to her potty quick enough when she tells us she has to go, but she has had a number of occasions today that she just sits down and pees without prompting! It is so cute to see her walk over, sit down, and say "yay! .... flush it." AND we have now had 3 consecutive days where she says "potty" and sits down and actually POOPS on her potty! Yay!! It took us 4 days of starting to poop on floor before she did ... but now she's got it figured out!!
I just can't believe she is doing so well with potty training! I was really not looking forward to potty training, but I knew it was something we needed to do (esp if we didn't want 2 in diapers forever). I am so glad that we waited until she was ready though. I am extremely proud of her! She is such a big girl! Our next tasks will be to work on transitioning to panties ... and of course, public potty use! ... Honestly not looking forward to taking her out in panties lol. But pull-ups are too much like a diaper for her, so once we go to panties I don't want to backtrack.

As much as she is growing up though, she is still my baby girl who loves cuddling with her mommy. She has recently started coming up to me frequently through the day and saying "hold you" (She means "hold me" but she doesn't distinguish between "you" and "me" yet. She has heard me ask her "Do you want me to hold you?" so she says "hold you.") I just love it because it's no longer putting her arms up, or saying "up" ... She is telling me she wants to be held. It is so sweet. She has also started coming up to me while I am sitting and saying "lap." She just wants to be close to me, and it melts my heart. I am so glad that I am able to give love to both of my girls, and even though she loves to be close to me ... she is not jealous at all. In fact, if I am holding Kathryn, she wants to be the one to hold her. She is always saying "hold her."

Of course, another word that is popular in her vocabulary is "later" (although sounds like "laay-terrrrr"). If she asks to hold Katy while I am nursing, I have to tell her "later" ... so she repeats it. Other things are asking for a cookie, and I say "after dinner" so she says "later." She also gets a gummy vitamin once a day - that she asks for by name ("bite-a-min"). So if she's already had one and she asks for it again, we tell her "tomorrow" and she says, "later." Any time I tell her "in a minute" she knows that means "later" as well. She is just so smart!

She is starting to learn shapes and colors now! She pretty consistently knows "triangle" (and yes she says the word properly!!), "square" "star" and "circle" (all said with NC accent). She loves the color "purple" ... and is learning "pink" and "blue" quite well. Of course everything that is "blue" she calls "blue one" because we gave her a choice between balls and she chose the "blue one."
We're trying to work on counting. Right now, she likes to "count count count" by saying "one, one, one." Every now and then she says "one, two, one."
She just blows me away every day!
I can't believe we will be having her second birthday soon! Although, I think she's beyond a 2 year old developmentally.
I just love her so much!