You Would Not Believe What I Have Been Through Tonight!

It's been a rough few days here in the Pfeiffer household. Brian has been staying late at school, I started a new job, and then, to top it off, Lydia gets sick. Thankfully, Lydia is a trooper and didn't stay sick for very long. And, despite staying late, Brian had a good attitude all week and we still managed a very nice Valentine's Day dinner.

Tuesday: I started working at Bibleland Buddies at church Tuesday mornings from 8:30 to 12:30. There is a Women's Bible Study (and possibly a few other Bible studies) on Tuesday mornings and there is childcare for the women. The Bibleland Buddies take care of the kiddos while their moms are in the Study. I worked in the young 2's room - it was super easy and laid back and there were only 5 kids! Lydia got to go to her own class and had a lot of fun. Working these 4 hours a week, and possibly other days, will give me the chance to save up for Lydia's preschool tuition in the Fall. Plus, I am already in the system for working over the summer to make up for not working at the preschool. And, like I said, it's really easy (so far anyway).

Thursday: Thursday was Valentine's Day. Lydia and I relaxed in the morning and right before nap time, I made her a Valentine's Sensory Bath. I thought she would like it a lot more than she did....but she was tired and only interested for a bit. I dyed the water red (didn't stain the bathtub, but did stain her swimsuit a bit), cut out hearts from foam to stick on the walls when wet (these did leave a little mark on the tub), sprinkled fake rose petals in the water, and had hearts on a stick for her to play with. She loves it when the water is dyed and would have had more fun if she hadn't been so tired. For some reason that day, she wanted to take a nap at 12:30!! I ended up putting her down at 12:40, because that's what she wanted, but then she didn't fall asleep until almost 1:30! And, of course, I had make up piano lessons at 3:15 and had to wake her up from her nap at 3:00 (she wasn't too  happy about that).

My mom picked Lydia up around 4:30 so she could spend the night with her cousins. I was then able to clean up the house a bit, get dinner ready and get pretty for Brian. He stayed late at the basketball game, but was able to get home earlier than he thought - around 7:30. I had the table set up with a red tablecloth, a candle, and fake rose petals spread out on the table. I made a yummy chicken and broccoli pasta. We were able to have a nice, long dinner - talking and just enjoying the food. So much nicer than a quick dinner with a toddler constantly getting up and down and crying and interrupting us. After dinner and clean up, Brian gave me his Valentine's present - a new blender to make smoothies! Yeah! 

Friday: I worked at the preschool on Friday during the parent/teacher conferences. Lydia joined me around 10:30 when my mom dropped her off at the church. She was excited about all the friends and toys at first, but then showed signs of getting really tired. My mom had said that the cousins had stayed up late (til 10:45!) and woken up early....so I figured she was overly tired and worn out. I was able to leave a little early and we headed home. Lydia fell asleep on the way home, but woke up when I got her out of the car. While getting her changed for nap, she did a nasty-throw-up-like burp that made her quite upset. I got a little worried, but she didn't throw up and fell right to sleep. She woke up about 2 hours later, but wasn't in the best mood and just wanted to lay on the bed. She said her stomach hurt and that she was tired. We were laying on my bed (luckily I had thrown off the comforter and just had the flat sheet out to cover us up) when she wanted to lay in my lap. Then, of course, she threw up all down herself, down me, and onto the bed. As I was gathering her and the blankets up, she threw up again. I managed to get her to throw up once in the toilet in her bathroom. She was upset, I was anxious for her, it wasn't fun. I cleaned her up, cleaned myself up and the bed and got her situated in the front room (our room without a carpet). I put a big blanket down on the floor, put the small TV out there to watch a movie, and put some pillows down for us to lay on. About 30 minutes after throwing up, she was in a better mood and playing quietly. She didn't throw up again, but hasn't eaten much since yesterday. Brian didn't come home until almost 11:00 because he chaperoned at the Middle School Valentine's Dance.

Saturday: Today has been a lazy, boring day for Lydia and me. Brian left at 6:30 for school, as there was some UIL event going on that he would be at until 3:30. Lydia had woken up at 6:15, crying and acting like she needed to throw up, but she didn't. She woke up again at 7:15 and was ready to get out of bed by 8:00. She asked for a fruit bar and cereal for breakfast, but didn't eat much of either. While she rested, watched TV, and played with stickers and markers, I got busy cleaning the house. I was so bored, I needed something to do! We tried going on a walk, but she got fussy and didn't want to stay out very long. She asked to go down for a nap at 12:30 and fell asleep right away! She slept almost 2 and 1/2 hours and was in a great mood when she woke up! After a snack and some playtime inside, we decided to go outside. 

I put together a sensory tub for her with crushed ice, blue food coloring, and some salt to keep the ice from melting too fast. I put her painting smock on her and put the tub outside in the sun. She had a fun time stirring the ice and then putting some into a bowl. She pretended that the ice in the bowl was food that she was preparing for supper. She brought it into her play house and spent awhile stirring and adding dirt to make supper. 

After that, she played with her tee-ball set. She is not very athletic....I think she takes after me!

And I leave you with two cute pictures of my Princess Lydia. (And yes, she needs her bangs cut in these pictures.)

Hold On, This is No Time to Be Hysterical!

So, Lydia is officially transitioned into a TODDLER BED! Amazing! How do they go from being cradled in your arms to sleeping in a bed without rails (that they can get in and out of on their own)? How did I go from being the mom who would wake up at night to make sure my infant daughter was still breathing to the mom who is able to sleep straight through the night and not feel guilty about it? How do these things happen in just two and a half short years?!

Anyway, Lydia did great with transitioning. I know she was really, really ready. I'm glad she is able to tell us when she's ready to do something. She let me know when she was ready for potty training and was fully trained in less than a month! She let us know when she was ready for a toddler bed and is sleeping great!

Night 1: The first night we didn't put anything up that would block her from falling over the edge of the bed. Brian was certain that she would not fall off the bed. It was super low to the ground, so even if she did, she wouldn't mind or get hurt. For some reason, I listened to my husband............and Lydia fell out of the bed three times by 1:00 in the morning! And guess who was getting up each time to help her back in bed? ME! And it was a Tuesday night, so I had to work the next morning! By 1:00, I was tired of getting up and Lydia was tired of falling out of bed and starting to get upset about it. So, since I didn't have any pool noodles (idea I saw on pinterest, of course), I got a thick blanket from the closet, rolled it up into a sausage, and stuffed it under her fitted sheet. Now, she hits the blanket and doesn't fall off! Yeah!

Several Nights Later: She is sleeping great in her toddler bed and rarely wakes up during the night. She even sleeps in until 7:15 or 7:30! Yeah! The only problem we are noticing is that it takes her forever to fall asleep at night. We used to be able to put her to bed at 8:00 and she would be asleep by 8:15 or sooner. Now, we put her to bed at 8:00 and she's not asleep until almost 9:00 or sometimes later! And, of course, no matter how late she goes to bed, she is always up at 7:15! But, despite taking a long to go to sleep and getting out of bed to get toys and books, she stayed quiet in her room and never tried to get out to join us. Even in the mornings I would hear her playing, but she never crept out into the hall and into my room. 

Several Nights After That: It's the end of the month and she's almost been in her toddler bed for a whole month! Yeah! She is no longer taking an hour to fall asleep but suddenly she's waking up by 6:30!!! No matter how quiet Brian is, she's waking up and staying up. This, of course, leads to her being tired earlier and earlier in the afternoon. She used to be able to make it until 2:00 or so, but now she's ready for a nap before 1:00! I've started purposefully ignoring her until about 7:30...hoping to encourage her to sleep in longer. Sometimes she does manage to sleep until 7:15, but most days she's up before 7:00.

Bedtime Routine: Lydia's bedtime routine has gotten longer and longer now that she's in a toddler bed. I don't know if it is because she's in a toddler bed now, or because she's getting older and knows what she wants before she goes to sleep. We used to be able to get her ready, have her in bed and walk out of the room by 8:10. Now, if we start getting her ready at 8:00, we're not out of the room until almost 8:30!! Her routine is pretty specific. My mom has had her a few nights now and tries to skip some of the bedtime steps...and ends up having to do them later. Lydia has always known what she wants and has a way of convincing you to do what she wants.
So now, instead of starting at 8:00, we start around 7:35 or 7:40, that way we can be out of the room no later than 8:05 or 8:10. Here's how the routine goes (on a good night):
               (1) Get Lydia to go potty.....this can be quite the process just convincing her to get into the      bathroom and sit on the potty....and if she makes a "stinky" she gets to put a sticker on her chart....and deciding which Sesame Street sticker to put on is hard decision.
                 (2) Brush Lydia's teeth....Lydia likes to brush her teeth by herself first, and then it is my turn. After brushing, she likes to drink a few sips of water and than practice spitting the water out. I usually have to cut this fun short.
                    (3) Get Lydia's pajamas on....this can be long and will test your patience. Now that Lydia is in the "I can do it" stage, she has to do everything by herself, including putting on her pajamas. Each item takes forever for her to do! I usually manage to help during the hard parts and if I do it fast enough, she won't notice that I just did everything for her.
                     (4) Read Lydia a few books....we usually limit it to three books. I give her 10 seconds to pick the books out and she will pull as many books off the shelf as she can. But, it's usually the three same books, so she's pretty happy with those.
                                 (a) While Daddy reads the books, I feed Lydia her yogurt. She has started wanting     yogurt when she is being put to bed....I guess it just fills her up a bit and it's yummy.
                 (5) Sing Lydia three songs....Lydia gets to choose the songs she wants and I limit it to three songs, or we'd be singing all night. I use to just sing the songs that I wanted, but she recently started to tell me which ones she wanted. We use to request songs when my mom came in to sing to us at night, so I don't mind Lydia deciding which ones she likes best. She will usually sing along, too.
                      (6) Getting Lydia in bed.....after songs we have to convince Lydia to get in bed. This is where the procrastination comes in big time. First she wants to put baby doll in the crib and we have to kiss it good night and baby needs a pacifier and a blanket. Then she needs her milk, but she really wants juice, but we make her have milk, but the cup isn't filled up enough, and we say "too bad" and she gets over it. Then she decides that the pile of books on her bed isn't big enough and she needs even more books on her bed...and they have to be stacked just right next to her head. And her cup of milk needs to be right next to her pillow. And then she doesn't want her blue blanket, so we cover her up with the pink, and then she decides she does want her blue blanket. Then she won't give Daddy kisses and hugs, but then she does want to give Daddy kisses and hugs. Her music must be on, her nightlights must be on, and her fan must be on. Then we can't close the door all the way (since we now have a doorknob lock on it and she knows she can't get out of the room).

And FINALLY we're done! We have a happy, sleeping toddler in bed by 8:00 (or at least before 8:15)!

I've Been Dreaming of a....

(Side Note: I can't remember if I ever used the movie ENCHANTED for my one of my title quotes...but it is currently Lydia's favorite movie, so every part of it is stuck in my head all day!)

Wow, it's been awhile...I've been busy and at the same time haven't thought of anything interesting to post about. But, after tonight, I remembered why I started this blog - not because I'd have something super interesting to write about, but to keep track of Lydia. I want a place I can go back to to remember all her funny stories, her tantrums, how we dealt with certain situations, etc. 

So, a super quick recap since the last time I wrote...in pictures.

Yep, we saw Santa Claus, went to the Trail of Lights in Austin, took our family photos, and Brian and I headed off to an amazing Walt Disney World trip with my parents! It was an amazing December and end to the year 2012!

One of the best things about having a 2 1/2 year old is the vocabulary! I love, love, love to listen to Lydia talk...especially when she really concentrates on making herself understood. She is talking up a storm right now, and like all typical toddlers, she repeats what she says over and over until we acknowledge that we understood her (i.e. repeat back to her what she said). We can't get away with just saying "Yes" or "Oh, really?" anymore....she catches onto that! She wants us to really, truly understand what she is saying.

What constantly amazes me about Lydia is her ability to sing songs and to catch onto the words. She's been watching this Barney Christmas episode over and over and can now sing "Oh, Christmas Tree", "Jingle Bells" and "Up on a Housetop" all by herself and I can figure out what she's singing. She also knows all the motions to "Jesus Loves Me" and "I Thank God". She can sing the ENTIRE song called "Colored Kisses" (or as she calls it, "Daddy's Kisses")....BY HERSELF! Amazing! I love that she LOVES singing, and dancing, and reading books, and watching Disney princess movies! She's like a mini-me!

And of course, since she is almost just like me...she also has her moments. She will throw a tantrum over just about anything. One moment she's perfectly happy and content, the next moment she's screaming and crying and hitting and throwing herself down on the floor. We have learned that keeping calm and just putting her in timeout works wonders. Sometimes you just need to scream and cry. She's also quite stubborn (like both Brian and me) and will purposefully not follow directions or do what she knows she's supposed to do.

She can also get very wrapped up in her pretend play, which means we have to wait patiently for her to just get into her car seat, or walk out the door, or get ready for bed. Last Thursday as we were getting in the car after a trip to HEB, she was so wrapped up in making sure her baby doll was buckled into her car seat (yes, Baby has a car seat) just right, that she was refusing to get into her own car seat. I was ready to get home and got very frustrated with her. It's hard sometimes allowing her to do her pretend play when I really want to get somewhere.

Anyway....Lydia is no longer a baby in a crib! She's a big girl in a toddler bed! It's amazing how fast they grow and how they show you when they're ready to try something new.

I had decided a long time ago that Lydia would stay in her crib as long as she wasn't trying to climb out and as long as she was happy in it. Well, she finally realized that she can get her leg over the crib edge. She has never climbed out of her crib, but I have started worrying that, since she can get her leg over the top, she would soon attempt to get out on her own. Brian and I discussed this and decided that soon, probably in a week or two, or in February, we would transfer her to a toddler bed. Well, Lydia decided she wanted out now.

Yesterday she didn't want to nap in her crib, she wanted to sleep on the floor. So, I let her. She stayed on the blankets I put down on the floor and fell right to sleep. I even had to wake her up after 2 hours, since I had piano lessons. Then, last night she didn't want to sleep in her crib, but on the floor. We decided to let her to see how she does. She stayed on her blankets and didn't get off of them once! I heard her at 7:30 this morning and when I peeked in, she was just sitting sweetly on her blankets, waiting for me. (Plus she slept in until 7:30 - she usually wakes up by 7:00!) So, when Daddy got home from work this morning, we made her crib into a toddler bed.

Brian had to do a few adjustments, since for some reason this crib turned into a toddler bed where the mattress was still high off the ground! I didn't want my baby falling off and hurting herself! But, my handy husband was able to move things down and we figured it out! Lydia was super excited about her "new" bed! She was eager to go to sleep and try it out. We plan on getting a knob cover for her door so she can't get out during the night, but we'll see how it goes tonight. As of right now, she went to sleep just fine, staying her bed. We read her books, sang songs, said goodnight and left the room with her still awake. And we haven't heard a peep! Hopefully she'll stay in her bed when she wakes up in the morning....but we'll see.

Mother Always Taught Me: "Never Eat Singing Food"

It's been a long while....haven't had too much to post about, although I wish I had posted some of the super cute Lydia-stories that occur almost daily. 

So...here are the 10 Things I Love About My Daughter Right Now:

1. She is really starting to put sentences together. It's fun to watch her really concentrate as she puts together a sentence and says something she really wants us to understand.

2. Lydia is constantly saying that she "needs" things. "I need this" or "I need goldfish" or "I need go play" or "I  need go to Dearest's house". Super cute!

3. When Lydia's in a really good mood or really happy and excited about something - she sings about it. Yesterday I put a headband on her before going to HEB and she wanted to look at herself in the mirror. She stood in front of the mirror and said, "Oh, cute" and started singing. When she decorated her Christmas tree, she was singing while she put the ornaments up.

4. Lydia is super, super excited about all the Christmas lights! She loves looking out the window of the car when it's dark and looking at all the lights. She says, "I need more Cri-mas ights". 

5. I absolutely love how much Lydia loves to sing and how much she can remember! She said she was going to see the "I Thank God" song at the table the other night and she just started singing the first few lines all on her own! She remembers hand motions and the main parts of songs.

6. When Lydia counts she says "6, 8, 9, 10, 8, 9.....10!" She will say "two mimis" when she has two pacifiers in her hand, but when she counts them she says "8, 9". Funny girl.

7. I love that Lydia adores her cousins! She is always excited to see Adah and Abram. I pray that she gets to be the best of friends with all her cousins. I love living near our family so she can see everyone on a daily basis.

8. Lydia calls my parents "Dearest" and "Buddy". We didn't think those names would stick - but they did! And, boy, does Lydia love seeing her Dearest and Buddy!

9. We have been letting Lydia play outside in the backyard on her own lately and it's so much fun watching her play independently. When I'm out there with her, she wants me to push her in the swing or she sits with me. But, when it's just her, she plays in her little house, talks with her dolls, rides in her car. Super cute and super fun to watch.

10. Lydia loves the piano! She always wants to "sing" and play the piano. She likes to "teach" me - I sit and play and she sits in the chair I use during lessons. She will tell me, "No, play, C, play C!" And she wants to write on the music like I do (I tell her only Mommy gets to write).

I'm H2O Intolerant

I have not been keeping up with my weekly activities for Lydia. There are simply not enough hours in the day - at least, not enough hours in which I am being productive. I really don't like doing chores while Lydia naps - that's my time to relax and be on my own, not time to clean the house and do laundry. But, then I don't like to clean while Lydia is awake - I want to watch her play, entertain her, get her to help me with things, go on a walk. One day, I will have a maid come clean my house every week....but until then, the house may be a little messy and clothes may stay in the dryer for awhile! Brian doesn't seem to mind (or notice), so we're all good.

This week we were supposed to learn about Moses. We only got as far as Baby Moses (she water colored a picture of Baby Moses). I don't have any pictures because we used up all the memory on the card and I haven't emptied it yet...oops. I will redo Moses next week and hopefully stick to my routine a lot better. I need to stay motivated and not get lazy! For some reason, I'm much lazier now than I was over the summer....maybe because I have to do everything on my own now; I don't have Brian to help out during the day.

Anyway, the month of October is going to be an extremely busy month! Every weekend is filled with something fun to do. Which is great, but at the same time overwhelming! 

This past weekend, Brian and I rushed up to Austin to visit his parents. His mom was put in the hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia. The doctors also found to large masses in her lung. After helping Brian's sister, Tamara, with her classroom (boy does she have a lot to do!), we headed over to the hospital. Karla was pretty miserable when we got there - couldn't stop coughing and was worn out from the coughing. The nurse finally gave her some strong cough medicine and Karla was able to relax and talk with everyone. We stayed the night Saturday at his parent's house and then visited with them in the morning before heading back to San Antonio. Leah and Jessie were watching Lydia already (Lydia stayed over Friday night - we went to California Pizza Kitchen and watched movies), so she was pretty excited to be back with us.

Lydia got a little sick over the weekend, so I didn't get much sleep Sunday or Monday night. By Tuesday she was better. It was just a cold, but she had a stuffy nose which made it hard to sleep, so she was pretty fussy during the day because she was tired. By Wednesday she was pretty much over it.

This Saturday (tomorrow), we're going to eat at a burger place called Big'z Burgers with our Sunday School group. Hopefully we will get the chance to meet the other members. We're stuck at a table with Leah and Jessie, since we're divided by area groups, as we're the only ones who live in our area. There are a lot of young couples our age in the class, so it would be great to meet some new people and maybe make some new friends.

Sunday we are headed to the Maize Maze after church with the family. We went two years ago and it was a lot of fun! A field of corn is turned into a maze and you try to find your way through, as well as finding all the clues. It will be fun to see how Lydia likes the farm. I bought her a cute pumpkin shirt she'll wear and we can get some good Fall photos of her.

Next Saturday, the 13th, is my mom's birthday and a baby shower for our friend, Ashley. I don't think we have anything planned for that Sunday...maybe a trip to Six Flags for the Fright Fest?! That would be fun!

The Saturday after that, the Pfeiffers will (hopefully) be in town. It all depends on how Karla is doing. She went home from the hospital yesterday after finding out that the masses in her lungs are NOT cancer, but that she does have a very rare form of pneumonia. She is at home resting and resting and really wants to come down on the 19th. If she's unable to, we will definitely head up there to visit. Sara and Michael (her new fiance) will be visiting as well. We'll have a full house and it will be a lot of fun (and a good excuse to clean out the guest room!).

The Saturday after that (the 27th) I am holding a Piano Party for all my students! We're going to play games, learn about a composer, eat some healthy snacks, and play the piano for each other. I have enlisted Brian's help this time, since there are more kiddos and it got crazy last time. I'm also not allowing sweet snacks or even interesting snacks (the food was a big distraction last time). I know the kids will really enjoy getting to see each other and showing off.

Wow, that's a full month! In between I have music at the preschool, piano lessons, I need to schedule a flu shot for Lydia and perhaps a dentist appointment. Lots to do and so little time to do it in!

Last Friday we went to the zoo with Leah and Adah. Here are some pictures:

Yeah, I Really Wish I Had a Better Idea Than This

So I've gotten lazy since Brian went back to work and it's been just Lydia and me. I hadn't even started any laundry until today! And yesterday I put away towels that had been washed last week! What is going on with me? What I really hate about being lazy is letting Lydia watch all her TV shows....all at once! She'll have the TV on, a laptop on and have my iPhone....all watching her favorite shows. And then there's me, relaxing on the couch with my laptop. Plus, Lydia's gotten re-addicted to her pacifier! Enough is enough!

Tuesday during Lydia's nap I came up with a game plan....at least for Lydia....haven't figured out the laundry/cleaning game plan yet. I've decided I really want to start working on Bible stories with Lydia. She loves praying and hearing "Jesus songs", but I want her to know the stories. So, we started talking about Noah and the flood last week, but I only read the story from the Bible a few times and mentioned it here and there to her. I've decided to make simple lessons/activities throughout the week centered around a Bible story. I'm going to stick with the Old Testament for awhile, then move on to the New Testament. 

This week, we're still learning about Noah. I started the activities today (since Wednesday I worked until 2:30). Here was today's list of activities:

Read: Genesis 7 (Forgot to read the story today, but talked about it several times. I also have a simple story version of Noah, but forgot to read that, too....oops.)

Art: Paint a rainbow using water colors (I printed off a rainbow picture and set the paints out. She wanted to pour the water onto the paints and when I didn't let her, she threw about a 10 minute screaming fit. I had to rock her and sing to her - Noah's song, of course - until she calmed down. Then she started painting all on her own and did a great job.)

Cooking: Make rainbow cookies. (We used a bagged recipe for sugar cookies and added food coloring, making four different colors. I should have used more coloring so the cookies would have turned out brighter, but they sure are tasty!)

Snack: Eat animal crackers. (Almost forgot to pick these up at HEB, but remembered at the last second! I was worried Lydia wouldn't like them, but she loved them! I sang "The Lord told Noah to build him an arky arky" while she ate and she loved it! She liked talking about the different animals and watching me eat them too....yummy!)

Fine Motor: Sort Fruit Loops into color groups and string on a necklace. (I forgot Fruit Loops.....)

Outdoors: Go on a wagon ride, water flowers, play in the hose. (We went on a walk this afternoon....but nothing else. Didn't have time.)

I got to several of the activities, which is great for the first day! I'm glad there's a song that goes along with Noah....Lydia loves music and singing. Lydia was a bit fussy today (threw a fit at HEB) so that's partly why we didn't get to as many things as I would have liked. I need to get better at showering and getting ready faster so that we can leave for HEB sooner. Lately I haven't showered until 10:00 and just took my time, but today I wanted to be home so we could do activities before and after lunch. We managed the painting after lunch (and after her tantrum).

If I have a plan, I'm good at sticking to it! I also don't let Lydia have her pacifier during activities, which is great. And we didn't watch nearly as much TV today as usual, which is a plus! Didn't even turn the TV on until Daddy came home! Yeah!

Here are the pictures from today:

Painting

Animal crackers!

Rainbow cookies

Adding food coloring

Yummy!

Forgot to take a picture of the finished product

Love this!

Do Not Be Such a Crybaby....Hold Still!

It's amazing what a two-year old can comprehend, remember, and mimic. I promise (really, I do) that I never spent time tutoring Lydia on how to work my iPhone...she figured it out by watching me. She knows how to unlock the screen, choose Netflix, stop/play/rewind/turn the volume down on a movie, exit out of a program, choose her favorite game app, text and send the text, and how to answer the phone! She's seen me do it so often, she just picked it up on her own. One thing that she's recently been obsessed with is taking pictures. I just love it! I have taken so many pictures of her with my iPhone (one of the main reasons I wanted one - to text pictures of Lydia to Brian and family), it's about time that she's figured out how to do it on her own! She has even realized that there is lag time between the moment you hit the camera button and the moment it actually takes the picture (she'll hit the button, turn the phone to face her, and say "cheese" before it actually takes the picture). 

So, today I sent Lydia on a photo "scavenger hunt". I can justify this activity by saying that I was trying to see what objects she knew the names of - if she knew what I was talking about. But really, it was just cute to see her take pictures with the phone and to see how those pictures actually turned out. So, here are the pictures Lydia took on her photo hunt.

A picture of her Baby.

Her horse.

Her pajamas (we were in the living room, so she went into her room to find these).

Her drum.

Super Grover.

The oven.

The piano.

Her bed.

She told me she was going to take one of her baby's bed.

Her favorite book: Baby Dear.

Mommy.

She decided to photograph her potty trip.

Mommy...I'm sitting on the stool, not the potty, promise!

Herself...not a very attractive picture, though.

This is in the evening, but I thought it was a pretty nice picture.

Don't Move, eh, Don't Breathe, Don't Do Anything...Except Pray, Maybe...

It's been a rough day and it's only 1:30! I really don't need a rough day on my day off! 

Toddlers are so unpredictable. You think you get them down to a routine and you've mastered how to control their tantrums and how to convince them to do what you want....and then they learn other ways to get out of your control. It's an endless cycle. It's a good thing Lydia is so darn cute, or I'd have a hard time forgiving her today.

Yesterday was Lydia's first day of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). She started going to BSF with my mom when she was only 3 months old! Last year, she went with Leah and Adah (Adah started when she was about 2 weeks old) and this year she's heading off to BSF, again, with Leah and Adah. I dropped her off at Leah's house on my way to the preschool yesterday. Despite waking up at 6:30 (after not falling asleep until almost 9:00), Lydia was in a good mood and ready to have some fun. Leah said she napped in the car on the way home from lunch at about 1:30....and decided that a 15 minute nap was enough for the day! I got home around 2:45 and Lydia didn't fall asleep until 4:00! We had to wake her up at 5:30! I let her go to sleep at 8:30 (we've been trying to get her in bed at 8:00), but she didn't fall asleep until after 9:00.

This morning, she thought 7:00 was a good time to wake up. Almost all summer she's been waking up around 7:30 or later....until now. She needs at least 11 and 1/2 hours of sleep...she does really well with that much....any less and we can have a somewhat rough day. Today is one of those days.

She has started screaming in her crib if we don't come get her right away. We've always had her stay in her crib until the time we want her to wake up (7:30 would be nice) to teach her to sleep longer....it worked during the summer, but I guess she's changed her mind. I remember the days when she would just play around in her crib until we came and got her....those days no longer exist - it's screaming and yelling "Mama!" over and over and over. You'd think that alone would wear her out.

We went on a 2 mile walk with Leah and Adah and the girls played in Leah's front yard while we finished chatting in the driveway. Then we headed back home so I could take a shower and get ready to head off to HEB. We left for HEB around 10:30 and got home at about 11:45. She was really good at HEB, even though we did forget to bring a baby doll, which caused a mini meltdown as we got out of the car. When we got home, I put the groceries away and made us each a sandwich for lunch. Lydia likes to "feed" her baby when she eats...keeps her busy, but she hasn't been eating much lately. After lunch, I put on Yo Gabba Gabba so she could watch a show while I picked up lunch and cleaned the front of the house and started laundry.

After Gabba was over, it was 1:00, so we headed to her room to read our Bible story (Noah and the Ark) and read some books (her new favorite book is Baby Dear by Eloise Wilkins). She refused to put on her pull-up and started screaming, so I sat her in time out for a bit. That convinced her to let me put on her pull-up. She wanted me to sing and rock her, but when we sat down in the glider together, she started playing around. I told her it's time to relax and cuddle, but, of course, she didn't listen. I put her in her crib without songs. She screamed and cried. I came back and rocked her - she sat nicely in my lap and enjoyed my singing. Then it was time for nap. I put her in her crib at about 1:15....it's 1:45 and she has screamed, thrown her pacifiers, asked to go potty, and I have walked in to cover her up several times! She is finally quiet now!

Let's hope that she naps at least 2 hours and is in a better mood this afternoon. Brian is staying late at school and I don't look forward to an evening with a cranky toddler!

Lydia and Adah on their first day of BSF!

In other news:

• I started teaching preschool music at the church on Wednesdays - yesterday was my second day. My first day went really well, but the new kiddos gave me a hard time. It's hard keeping 3-5 year olds entertained for 20 minutes! Yesterday went a lot smoother and we had a lot of fun. It's amazing how my lesson changes from the first class to the last class. My poor first class gets the "okay" lesson while my last class gets best one!
• Lydia's rash has gone away. We applied Cortizone cream for a few days and it's almost gone...you can sometimes see a hint of it, but it's not nearly as bumpy and red!
• I am loving my Fall piano schedule and my students! I had to get really creative with my new 5-year old, but he's doing great! And, I learned that I can convince him to do almost anything if I say he can have a stamp! Sweet!