"ALL MY SELF"

"I do this ALL MY SELF."

I hear this a bajillion times a day.

Things she can do (some she's been doing for a while):
Put on her socks (sometimes I still have to rotate them to get the heel in the right place)
Take off shoes and put them on her shelf in the foyer
Unzip and take off her coat
Put on her undies
Put on her pants (if they are elastic and I lay them out)
Climb into our van and get into her car-seat
Wash her hands (she does fairly well at scrubbing and rinsing)
Knows how/where to put her dirty clothes in her hamper

Things she's working on:
Buttons
Putting on shoes
Zipping up her coat

I must have waited about 5 minutes while she kept trying to get it before she finally relented and let me help. I need to get some type of practice zipper or something.

Of course I'm probably missing some tasks from each list...these were just things I thought of off the top of my head. It really is amazing everything she's learning. And it's a great lesson/reminder to me about being patient. I talk to her all the time about waiting and learning to be patient...when I need to do the same while she's learning these tasks. I sometimes get frustrated because she takes so long, but I need to be more accepting of her learning process. I have learned to have her start putting on her socks and pants about 10 minutes before I actually need her to be ready! LOL!

Oh...she also apparently knows how to cut tags off of new clothes. I found her in my kitchen, standing on a chair, cutting this tag off. Ugh! I was SO thankful she didn't cut the new dress!

P.S. The scissons have been moved to an even higher location unknown to M.

I May Be In Denial.

Ok. I'll admit it.

I definitely am in denial about moving M to a toddler bed.

This was her one week ago. She boycotted nap. She teetered on the edge of climbing out. But,she never made it out (probably because I caught her and went in and told her no).

Anyways (2 days ago) on Thursday she boycotted nap AGAIN. I was about to go get her when I heard a loud THUMP. I knew what it was.

I rushed to her room and found her standing and holding her giraffe. She and Giraffe were attempting an escape and were successful!!!!! WHAAAAAAT? When she saw me, she started to cry. I think she was a bit stunned herself. I asked her if she was hurt, and she said no. I'm guessing she was maybe lucky and landed on her feet...but who knows.

Anyways...I consoled her and tried to check her over. She told me while I was holding her, "I got out of my bed. I climb. I cry. My Mama come hold me." Well...I certainly didn't want her to associate climbing out with no more nap and Mama holding her!

And then I lowered her mattress to the floor. Thanks for the awesome tip from my friend, Lindsey! I probably would have never thought of this myself.

She's staying in her crib FOREVER!!!!!!
JK. Sorta.

Ok, seriously, I'm kidding. I just need a little more time to prepare myself a bit more before we begin the transitioning period to a big girl bed. She's been sleeping just fine since I moved her mattress down, and I feel better knowing she won't get hurt climbing out. I also feel better knowing she's in lock-down while in her crib during nap and at night.

I told Josh about the escape, but we're trying not to make a big deal about it in front of her. As far as she knows...nap and sleep time will continue as usual. She did tell me the other day though, "Something different about my bed, Mama." I just responded that it's still her bed, and that Mama had just moved the mattress down so she couldn't climb anymore. I told her I didn't want her to get hurt by climbing because then she'd cry and we'd both be sad. She told me, "Ok. Thank you, Mama. No more climbing."

Look for more posts on transitioning to a big girl bed later this summer. :)
Meanwhile...she better not grow any taller.

Foto Friday - Bath Time

Decided to post these. I need something to embarrass her later on in life.

What a cutie!

Foto Friday - New Obsession

Drinking Fountains.

Quack-Quack-Quack...

Whenever I think if ice skating...I think of The Mighty Ducks. Anyways.

Last Sunday we went ice skating to celebrate Josh's Birthday. As usual...the focus was mostly on M. Of course. Haha! (Josh really wanted her to try ice-skating, so that's why he chose it.)

We were so happy to be joined by our family and friends. There were three 2 year old toddlers that got to try ice skating for the first time. What great memories we all shared!

Putting on her skates!

On the ice!!!

Daddy and M with our friend, Erin, and her son, Nico.

She enjoyed being pushed fast by Josh.

Skating with our friend, Ryan, and his daughter (M's bestie), Sarah Grace.

Skating with Uncle.

Skating with Grandma and Daddy.

Being held and going fast with Uncle.

Love these two!


:) So glad we all had a fun day together!

It's Official - The 'Terrible Twos' Have Arrived

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
Madison screamed this in my face at HyVee on Sunday.

I believe this was her response when I told her she could not shred the HyVee ad while in the store. She'd have to wait until we were in the car.

So, I told her that screaming in my face was not acceptable, and I asked her to apologize to me.
She avoided eye-contact with me, and turned away as best she could in the cart - refusing to apologize.

And so she ended up here.

Time out in the corner at HyVee.

I kinda sorta feel bad for her now looking at this picture. But at the time...I did not feel bad at all.

She's in time-out a lot these days. It's tough...but I really hope she is learning there are consequences for not listening to her Mommy and for being defiant.

Through all my frustration (and exhaustion), I try and remind myself that yes...she's 2. Just 2. She's learning so many things everyday of her life. She's dealing with her emotions, learning to express herself, testing boundaries, and enjoying her independence. I know she's just the typical 2 year old...but dang...it sure is rough sometimes!

She's either SUPER SUPER HAPPY and lots of FUN...or GRUMPY and NO FUN at all.
Josh says she's just like her mother. 
Hmmm.

Daylight Savings Is Annoying and Other Ramblings

I started this as a FB update...and quickly realized I was posting too much and figured my non-sense should be recorded somewhere else. Like our blog!

So today M's been in her crib since 2:30pm and JUST NOW fell asleep...at 4pm.

Which is really like 5pm tomorrow thanks to Daylight Savings.
I think the creator of daylight savings did NOT have children!

When she doesn't fall asleep for her nap I sit around the house checking the monitor every 10 minutes and debating what to do...the conversation with myself in my head goes something like this:

Ok. Nap time. What should I watch today. I'm just gonna watch this one show really quick then I'll do something productive. I can't believe I'm still watching Vanderpump Rules.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

Do I get her up? No. Let's wait 10 minutes. Stassi is such a B. Seriously what's wrong with her?

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet. 

How much longer should I leave her? 15 minutes.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

Ugh. Why won't she sleep? I wondered if she pooped? No....she just went #2 before nap. It can't be that.

M yells: "Mama! Mama! Do you hear me? Me no have to go night-night! Mama! Help!

Should I just go in and lay her down? No...no...I want a few more minutes to myself. This show is dumb. Onto something else. Something not dumb...like Project Runway. 10 more minutes.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

Why won't she sleep. Tomorrow's daylight savings, too. I hate daylight savings. I think we'll skip her nap tomorrow. Wait...spring...spring ahead. Ok. That means that at 8pm tomorrow...it's really like 7pm...so...yeah...so, no nap...so she can go to bed "early" but really kinda on-time. Ok...so, spring ahead. I think I should wake her a bit early in the morning then. Right? Wait. Yeah. That's right. Ok. I'll wait 15 more minutes.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

Ok...Project Runway. Why am I still watching this. I'd never wear any of their clothes anyways. I think I'm over Project Runway. Nothing else in the DVR though. Boo. I want to watch Shark Tank...better wait for the husband though.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

Ok...if I get her up now...what will be do. What will I say to her? I don't want her to think her yelling at me gets her out of her nap. Ok. Be strong. 10 more minutes. She needs quite time anyways. She's fine just rolling around.

check monitor Ugh. She's not sleeping yet.

M: Kicking the wall and counting her kicks "1, 2, 3,..."

Well...at least she's counting. Wow...she got to 20. Impressive. I didn't know she could do that. What time is it now? 3:30pm. 3:30...no...no...I can't get her up. I need her to stay in there at least until 4 pm.

It's awfully quiet. What time is it? 4pm.

check monitor She's ASLEEP!!!! YES!!!!!!!

She's sleeping. Of course she's sleeping now! At 4 pm. Ugh. I think I'll wake her in an hour...maybe not. I don't know....

Yep. I bet I just scared a few people here with this post. 

Sorry. 

That's what my crazy mind does when my child won't fall asleep for nap.

Oh, and for the record...about 75% of the time I'm actually doing something productive during nap. The other 25% is definitely me lazing around watching shows and eating food that I don't want to share with my 2 1/2 year old.

And a picture...just because she's cute.
Even when she's exhausting me. I love her to pieces.

Foto Friday - Josh's Birthday Cupcakes

(Ooooh...a post withOUT a picture of the little girl! Whaaaat?????)

Our conversation:

Me: Hey...did you sneak upstairs!?! I see cupcakes are missing!

Josh: Yeah. I ate a couple.

Me: Ok...let me take a picture now I guess. I wanted a picture before you ate any.

Josh: Uh. Okay.

Me: Ok, let's give Madison one now. Madison which one do you want?

Madison: Um. Dis one. points to the 'H'

Me: Ok. You can have the 'H.'

Josh: Oh, I didn't even notice there was a messge. Sorry. Thanks, girls!

(P.S. I realize this isn't a great photo. And...next time I'll definitely pick yellow frosting or something lighter for the letters. For the record, he ate the 'P' and the 'you' cupcake.)

Love you, husband!

More Snow...

Ughhhh...

I feel like I could just re-post my feelings from my last 'snow' post - found here. :)

Of course I've got some new pictures for our March snow storm from yesterday.

I gave her the tiniest shovel while I shoveled.
It was the only one I could find. She didn't seem to mind.

Hmmm...where should I begin?

Helping to clean off the ol' Escape.

My favorite picture. Her path to the tree. There's something magical about fresh fallen snow. She's all the way in front of the tree.


Rolling a snowball for her snowman...well, snow-woman.

P.S. Building a snow-woman was a lot of work (for me).

But...she loved her! Kisses!

Followed by yelling in her face.

Her favorite part...giving our snow-woman several stick arms in her back.

(I should add that our snow-woman's face (eyes, nose, and mouth) fell off today. M noticed this morning when we left the house, and she was sad about that. I told her to get over it (not is those words exactly).)

Dear Snow,

Seriously. Please be done for the season.
But thank you for bringing so much joy to my daughter.
However, we are ready for Spring. At least I am anyways.

Thanks,
Megan

Museum Day with The Sears

Last Thursday Madison and I headed to Coralville to check out the Iowa Children's Museum with our friends, Ellie and Sarah Grace.

The girls had a lot of fun, so I just wanted to share a few pictures. Sorry for the blurriness...the girls were constantly on the move.

At the ATM. The girl loves money! :)

Trains!

Grocery shopping.

Making music.

Drumming.

Playing the piano.

Those are some big teeth!

Driving the ambulance.

Slide.

Airplane.

Climbing wall.

She loved these balls being held up by air.

So much fun. One of their favorites parts.

Turtles.

Cheers!!! They are toasting to their fun day together.
One of my favorite pictures from the day.


It was definitely a fun day for us to share with our friends!

Foto Friday - M and Me (and her horsey)

Yesterday we went to the Iowa Children's Museum (a full post next week) with our besties the Sears'.

Just wanted to share some pics of M and me since I'm rarely in the picture with her! :)

And, she demanded one of us and her horsey, too.
This was the best I could get...my arms are short.


Happy Friday!