ryan, melody, & charley: November 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

All I Want For Christmas Is........

As I mentioned in my previous post, I started potty training Charley this past week. She is still doing well with that. However, she is still hanging onto to her bowels, if you know what I mean. I'll keep you posted if anything should change! One of Charley's favorite things to do after she goes potty is to flush the toilet. Perhaps that is because on Elmo's Potty Time the kids wave and say goodbye to their "business." I finally had to explain to Charley that she can only flush the toilet when there is actually something in the toilet to flush. So what did Charley do....she started putting all kinds of things in the potty. So far, I have discovered an English Muffin, of which was HUGE because it had been in there for awhile, Ryan's guitar pic, and a granola bar that was still in it's wrapper. Obviously these were all items that could not be easily flushed. Each time I discovered one of these things, I had a long discussion with Charley about how we don't put anything in the toilet except for our "business." I had yet to discover anything for a couple of days and was beginning to think this phase was over. I was wrong. When I got out of the shower tonight and went to use the bathroom, this is what I discoverd. And no, it doesn't work anymore. Apparantly this phase is NOT over.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Potty Time!

Today I officially started potty-training Charley. Ok, so I have started this process several times before, but Charley just wasn't ready. Since we have no plans or appointments in the next 6 days, I decided to give it another shot. Well today she was ready! I broke out the big girl panties (they were Elmo of course) and she wore them all day long! She told me every time she had to go potty and she only had one accident. I was so proud of her. We are going to tackle it again tomorrow and my hope is that in a few more days she will really have the hang of it. I would be thrilled to say goodbye to diapers. I will keep you all posted and hopefully this will be my final attempt at potty-training Charley!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween 2008

Whew! Halloween is so much different now that Charley is a part of our lives. As a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I LOVED getting dressed up, going door to door, and getting a sack full of candy. Now that I am a parent, I feel differently about Halloween. I still enjoy it, but it is a lot more work than when I was a kid. Especially since there seems to be more and more activities throughout the week of Halloween which of course requires your child to wear their costume to each one. Perhaps the stress of it all is somewhat my own fault. Charley doesn't exactly have to participate in each activity, but I know she enjoys it and I figure Halloween is only once a year.

Our day started yesterday with a Halloween party at Charley's preschool. The kids were allowed to wear their costumes to school and I have to admit, they were all so cute. The kids each did a craft and they even got to go trick-or-treating to the other classrooms. So, we started our day with candy and ended our day with candy. I really enjoyed being at preschool with Charley and seeing her interact with the other kids. She really seems to enjoy being there.

After a short nap, it was time for Charley to put her costume back on and head to the grandparents. I'm pretty confident Charley doesn't really understand the concept of trick-or-treating yet. What she did understand was that for whatever reason people kept giving her candy and she loved it! After going to Mimi's and Nana's we headed to church. Each year our church has a Halloween party for anyone and everyone. Let me just say this is no ordinary party. The church was decked out with decorations from head to toe and there were all kinds of activities from inflatables to live shows. The theme this year was Happily Ever After and being Snow White, Charley fit in perfectly!

Our last stop was at Hilary's mom and dad's house. This has been a tradition ever since Hilary and I had our kids. Charley loved seeing Zachary in his cute monkey costume and the kids enjoyed spending playing together. Finally, it was time to call it a night. Snow White was fading fast.

Needless to say, Halloween 2008 was one to be remembered! Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with all this candy!!