A Momentous Day for Me...

Before I became a mother, I had a couple of preconceived notions about how things were done (or weren't done) in the world of mommydom. One of these notions was that it was the mother's fault if her child was still wearing diapers past the age of three. This is where reality came into my life and taught me a humbling lesson...

No matter how hard I tried to get Lia to buy into potty training, I couldn't get her to do it. We dove in head first when she was almost two years old and again when she was just two and half years old. Both 10-day stints resulted in lots of messes on the floor that I had the good fortune of cleaning up and a constipated child. So, I hung it up this past fall.

However, with the new year came new year's resolutions. After the pacifier was miraculously pulled from her life in January, Ron was ready to try round #3 of potty training. For apparent reasons, I dragged my feet for many weeks, but a miracle happened on the afternoon of Sunday, March 20th. I walked into our house after being gone for a few hours at a church meeting to find Ron and Lia sitting face to face on our two potties in the downstairs bathroom. Within a matter of seconds, Lia successfully did her thing in her little toilet. As one can imagine, there was much clapping and screaming and hugging and doling out of rewards. The princess panties immediately went on and Lia has not looked back since. We are now on day #12 with NO ACCIDENTS (well, pee pee that is)! I couldn't be more thrilled.

So, today was a big day for me. After a final, thorough washing and bleaching, I happily packed up two boxes of cloth diapers that I have used faithfully since Lia turned six months old. That's right, with the exception of bed time, our weekly trip to church, and most vacations, we have been cloth diapering in the Hartland. As my saying goes, I've been "saving the earth one diaper at a time" and also saving a few dollars along the way. Regardless of the perks, I was one happy camper today when I carried the boxes up into our attic to store for the next baby who I hope and pray joins our family one of these days.

Until then, I will enjoy my diaper free world...

Our 21st Century Toddler...

Ever since Lia discovered how to climb out of her crib two weeks ago, her nocturnal activities have increased ten fold. While Ron and I were in bed tonight, we could hear her get out of bed, run downstairs, come back upstairs, and shut her door. Obviously there were all sorts of shenanigans going on, but it wasn't enough to get either one of us out of bed to check on her. However, a few minutes later, Lia came walking into our room and this is the conversation that ensued:
"Hi Lia. Did you go downstairs?"
"Yes."
"What were you doing down there?"
"I was trying to check my email!"

Is that so? I wasn't even aware that she had an email account. Guess I will have to keep better tabs on her online activity from here on out...especially at night!

A Moment of Discontempt...

Today a miracle happened. The sun came out. Yes, after many weeks, our favorite friend decided to poke her head out of the clouds for a few hours. With the sun shining, Ron decided to take Lia outside to mow the lawn and throw around the balls with her while I painted our master bathroom. When I was finished with my project an hour or so later, I wandered out back to check in on everyone. After Lia proudly demonstrated her new skill of climbing the chain ladder on our play set, I informed her that it was time to come inside for lunch. She immediately declared that she wanted to stay outside and play. With a little more coaxing from both Ron and me, Lia suddenly changed her mind and dashed past me, obediently running towards the house, yelling, "I'm not happy with all of this!"
Lia's little moment of discontempt just had Ron and me in stitches. This girl just cracks me up.

A Small Dose of Liaisms...

I have been meaning to find the time to sit down and record some of the funny comments that have come out of Lia's mouth lately. I am loving this stage of life when she is able to express so many of her thoughts, but doesn't always use the correct words while doing so. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite Liaisms as of late...

1. While reading a Winnie the Pooh book together the other night, I foolishly chose to skip over the title page (in order to get through the book quicker which would result in Lia getting to bed quicker). However, Lia was not to be fooled! As she saw me turning this page without saying any words, she immediately commanded me to "Talk to the page!" Well, I never thought of it that way, but I guess when we read the words from a page, we're kind of talking to it...right?

2. Lia loves drinking water morning, noon, and night. She loves to make trips to the various faucets in our house, fill a cup up with water, take a few, very serious sips, then carelessly toss the remainder back in the sink. It's a regular routine around here. The other day she made me laugh out loud as she announced "I need some piece of water" before we could move on with whatever we were doing. A piece of water? That's an interesting way of putting it.

3. Lia and I were talking recently about growing our garden again this spring/summer when the sun comes back. Lia declared,"You can grow the tomatoes and I can grow the groceries." As funny as it sounded, it made total sense to me. I mean, we grow the same vegetables in our garden each summer that we buy in the grocery store the other three seasons of the year. I guess we just need to start calling our vegetable garden a grocery garden!

4. Lia is the queen of adjectives. Since Ron and I are both former English teachers, we just love this attribute of hers. She will sometimes string three adjectives in a row when describing a queen from a princess movie or a dog on the street. I especially loved how she used a particular adjective the other morning when I walked into her bedroom after she had woken up from the night. Her hair was as bed-heady as you can get and all over the place. Since Lia is not a fan of her hair being messed up, she immediately said with some disgust, "My hair is cranky today." Cranky hair? Love the personification and the message it got across.

I'm sure with this little talker there will be more Liaisms to come...so stay tuned!

3-Year Photos...

Lia and I survived another photo shoot today. It's always a gamble as you never know what is going to happen. Except for the fact that Lia doesn't know how to produce a natural smile on demand, things went pretty well and we were able to get some half-decent photos...or at least enough to order a 4-picture collage. I have learned that low expectations are the absolute key to a successful toddler photo shoot. So, without further ado, here are the nine "blog worthy" pictures I was able to come up with (complete with the Sears logo and all)...

Lia and the big three.

Another shot of Lia and the big 3.

Hands attempting to be on the hips.

My absolute favorite one of the bunch.

CHEESE!

Just the sweetest thing.

Lia and the daisies.

A reverent Lia.

A relaxing Lia.

And there you go...

I looked out the window

...and what did I see?

This cute, snowy scene.

Getting their attention.

Ron sending a snowball my way.

Lia and Ron dividing and conquering.

Atop the slide.

Down the slide.

Onto the ground and straight into a snow angel.

Now that's talent.

"I have three fingers now!"

"I have three fingers now!" Those were the words Lia proudly announced to us on her big day today. Although I can confidently say that she has seven more fingers, I thought it was a very poignant way of describing one's age. Too bad I won't have 35 actual fingers come this May.
But I digress.
So, as you can see, our little baby turned the big three today. I have no idea how it happened. Time has just flown by, but we have truly loved every minute of it. I can honestly say that Lia completely skipped over the entire "terrible twos" stage. She was the easiest two-year old a girl could ask for. She is an absolute joy from morning til night every day. Since Lia is the only child I've got, I'm sure grateful that she is so wonderful.
Alright, I'll quit bragging.
We celebrated Lia's birthday in three stages...not because I believe in over the top, multi-day celebrations, but because of the convenience of a Sunday gathering and because her father had Monday and Tuesday off from work. So, here is a quick blow-by-blow of the celebrations...


We started off on Sunday, February 20th, at my parents' home for the third annual Lia/twins joint birthday party. As always, Lia had a grand time racing around with her cousins. We had a delicious dinner, followed by presents in the living room, and then back to the dining room for cake and ice cream. Here is Lia examining her new Noah's Ark magnet gift with the help of the "giver," her Aunt Rebecca.

Lia flipping through the pages of a new book under Riley's careful supervision.

Lia showing off her prized possession of the evening: a baby Iggy to go along with her newly named "Mama Iggy," compliments of Grandma and Grandpa.

A few of you know that I am currently taking the basic Wilton cake decorating class at Michaels this month and am learning all sorts of skills to apply to future birthday cakes. I was able to try them out for the first official time on this Dora cake for Lia's big bash. I didn't think it turned out too bad, but Ron thought her skin looked more orange then brown and began singing, "Dora, Dora, Dora, the orange explorer!" Oh dear.

Lia attempting to blow out the last of her three candles on her cake with Vivi looking on!

A bunch of the gang gathering around the cake for round two of the candles and singing in order to honor the twins' tenth birthday!

Brynn huffing and puffing!

Lia enjoying her cake with Vivi and Callie at her side! It sure was good!

We decided to go on a family adventure to honor Lia's birthday and the fact that Ron had the day off, and so we set out on Monday, February 21st, to find a new beach on the Puget Sound. Being true Washingtonians, we bundled up and headed out in 42 degree weather and rain! However, the rain stopped for most of the hour we were at Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom. We hope to return again this summer when the weather really does have a sunnyside to it. Here are Ron and Lia filling up that trusty green bucket with sand.

Lia and her tongue on her last day ever of being two. Sniff.

Ron throwing rocks with Lia looking on!

On Tuesday, February 22nd, we celebrated Lia's actual birthday with a simple evening at home--complete with dinner in the dining room with the china and crystal, strawberry shortcake, and a little more gift opening. Here is our darling girl moments before blowing out her candles.

Lia opening her Tinkerbell tea set in her current favorite "gown ball" (although it's really a 50's poodle skirt of sorts...but who's noticing?).

Look at that happy birthday girl with all of her Tink loot!

We love you Lia Elizabeth!! Happy Birthday baby girl!

And no birthday post would be complete without my quarterly update on the comings and goings of Lia these past three months. So, here we go!

1. It's official and it's for real. Lia gave up her sucker at the beginning of January. Miracles do happen from time to time and the entire thing was made possible due to the presence of one small monkey named Iggy.

2. Lia has become obsessed with opening and closing doors. I am constantly opening doors whenever I have to enter a room upstairs.

3. One Sunday, Lia discovered her church voice. Although she has been singing for months and months in our house, she has never joined in with us at church until recently. It was really quite funny as one day she just started belting out nonsensical words with a very serious face in sacrament meeting. She now sings like this every Sunday. So funny!

4. She is just like her father and has now become anti-fetter. She is very aware of diapers and waste bands that are too tight, requiring immediate adjustments.

5. Her imagination has really taken off these past three months as she now will play with pretend people or animals or objects and will narrate about them as she goes. She also has become a bit better about independent play, but still LOVES to have someone to play with all the time. Oh, how this poor girl needs a sibling...I just don't know when it will ever happen.

6. Lia is still absolutely fascinated with playing with older girls. She much prefers them over girls her age.

7. Lia now loves to watch me cook and help me bake. The counter next to the stove top has become her new viewing platform in the kitchen where she can readily help me with the adding of ingredients and the mixing of them with a large spoon.

8. She really escaped the terrible twos without ever being remotely terrible. I am proud to say that this girl is now three years old and has never had a timeout in her life. Simply amazing.

9. It's all about princess mania over here. We are practically living in a fairytale on a daily basis. She loves their stories, songs, dresses, stickers, movies, etc. It really is quite adorable to observe. She has specifically become fascinated with dresses that go all the way to the floor and loves to wear them and watch the hemline touch the ground as she walks down the stairs.

10. Although her vocabulary and conversation skills are superb for a child her age, she still says a few words incorrectly....but I just love this! She still says "lellow" for yellow, "gown ball" for ball gown, "maked" for naked, "maggots" for magnets, and "secrets" for sequins. She also constantly asks Ron or me if we are happy and also always wants to know who gave her a specific item that she is playing with. So cute.

And there you go....