The end is in sight

The end of potty training, that is. Ana has been getting much better about using the toilet, and is having fewer accidents. Today, we made a trip out to Fargher Lake to a birthday party, spent a couple hours there, and made it all back home again without an accident. It was our first successful outing without changing diapers or clothes!!

It seems that she is starting to catch on, and with consistent support at home and daycare she should be out of diapers by the end of the year - hopefully much earlier though.

Our Little "Big Girl"

Ana had her 2 year check up today and weighs in at a whopping 26lbs! She's moved up to nearly the 50th percentile for her weight (she was closer to 25th I think) and just over the 50th for her height (was around 35th before). Apparently, she had a growth spurt over the summer!

Current stats:
26 lbs
34 inches tall

Most height predicters guesstimate that she will be approx 5'8" tall as an adult... I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.

The Perfect Mommy-Daughter Date

Ana and I just had the most fun night together, and she was an absolute angel through the whole night! I've been feeling overwhelmed by her lately, with Bart at work so much, and tonight made it all so much better.

First, I picked her up from Mom's. She had a chance to ride Mom's horse while I was there, and then said goodbye, gave kisses, and we got in the car and left. The fastest and easiest pick-up in quite some time.

Then, we drove to Kid's Club in Salmon Creek. We played for over an hour, climbing through the jungle play yard and sliding down slides. We both had a blast. I was exhausted, and she was giggly and playful the whole time - even with the other kids. Once again she left without a fuss when I told her it was time to go.

On the way home, we stopped at Fred Meyer for a little shopping. We wandered around a lot of the store, but she didn't fuss about being in the cart the whole time. An off-duty employee noticed us by the bakery and brought her a cookie, and she didn't get shy like she normally does. She was talkative and friendly with the cashier too, and on the way out, showed off her ASL skills to another customer. I'm not trying to encourage her to talk to strangers, but it's nice when she doesn't start screaming the moment somebody looks at her.

At home, she played quietly when I was on the phone and then got ready for bed when I asked. She got on the toilet and went potty, then got her jammies on and climbed right into bed. I tucked her in and she gave me three sweet kisses - one on the lips, then one on each cheeck - a nightly ritual she started on her own a few weeks ago.

My little angel is growing up so fast...

Ana's Birthday Party

Pictures (and maybe video) will be posted soon - hopefully by the end of the week.

In case you're wondering, the day was okay ... not as good as I had hoped, but overall I guess I can't really complain - Ana seemed to enjoy it, and that's what really matters. Here's how everything went... (It was a long day)

Since the park picnic shelters are reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis, I tried to get there around noon to reserve a shelter. Failing this, a good friend of ours got there around 12:30 to hold the shelter until I could make it (Thanks again Don!!). After picking up the cake, ice cream, and nearly a dozen balloons, I got to the park at 1. WalMart's company picnic ended up being at the shelter by the playground, so we got the big shelter by the parking lot.

Don and I sat around chatting and doing a little bit of setup at the shelter until a family with a few dogs arrived around 2:30. They took a seat at one of the picnic tables in the back of the shelter, and Don and I decided they were probably just taking a break in the shade and would leave before the guests arrived. We were wrong... they were soon joined by several other families, and within a matter of minutes had taken over the entire back half of the shelter. Errrrggghhhh. They weren't exactly rude to us, but certainly not friendly either, and NOT keeping track of the kids at their party, who kept coming over to our party. At one point, I had to ask one of their guests to stop smoking inside the shelter because the smoke was bothering our guests, and later, they stripped down a young boy in the sink (which happened to be in the front part of the shelter with our guests) completely nude to wash him off, and LEFT HIS DIAPER IN THE SINK!!! Yuck!!

Anyway... I had decided this year to invite some guests at 3pm and others at 4pm, since it seemed that there were people uncomfortable last year when everybody was there together. The idea was to have a chance to party with the 3pm guests, then anybody uncomfortable in the crowd could leave and anybody that wanted to could stay and party with the 4pm guests. For me, it was like planning a really long party... but it was really two parties back-to-back. We had two pinatas and two cakes, and plenty of snacks and drinks.

Bart arrived with Ana at 2:50, fresh from a nap and ready to play. None of the 3pm guests arrived, but Don was still there, with his two sweet girls going back and forth between the shelter and the playground, and his wife Erin stopped by for a little while as well. A few of the 4pm guests showed up early, and we got the party going around 3:30. We broke open one pinata when the first group of kids got restless, then had cake and melted ice cream (note to self: ice cream does NOT stay frozen in a cooler full of ice in 80 degree weather for 3 hrs). Ana opened her presents with a little help from some of the younger guests, who were bored with her "open a toy and play with it for 5 minutes" approach and finally, we broke open the second pinata.

Thank you to everybody that made it to the party, and many, many thanks to the guests that lingered until the end to help clean up as well. I appreciate you all very much.