She's a big girl now!

When we were in Iowa over Thanksgiving, we discovered that Abby could easily climb out of the Pack & Play. She's such a good kid, though, that all we had to do was tell her she wasn't allowed to climb out and she wouldn't. When she'd wake up from a nap, she'd just stand there and holler until someone went in and got her.

Recently, we realized that Abby's getting too big for her crib. Back in May, we tried to convert her crib into a toddler bed because she'd been trying to climb out. It so did not work! We never did put the front rail back on, and just put the open side up against the wall. For months after, we'd hear her crash into the wall in her sleep! It never woke her up, and she didn't wake up covered in bruises, so we just let her be. At least that setup lasted almost a year.

Now, however, she's so tall that the shorter part of the side rail (where the front rail attaches) hits her at lower chest-level. I've gotten so worried that one of these days, she's going to flip right over. She's made a few half-hearted attempts to climb out, but she's never gotten as far as she did back in May.

As an aside, Abby's suddenly very much into being a "big girl" these days. She loves to go "peepee pie" because that's what big girls do (I bought her an "I'm a big girl, so I go to the Potty" book recently), although she doesn't want to go all the time. A few months ago, I accidentally bought a pack of Pull-Ups while searching for overnight diapers. They've been sitting in a drawer since. The other day, I needed to get a diaper back on her for her nap, but she was having none of it, so I conned her into wearing "big girl" diapers. Now, all she wants to wear are Pull-Ups when she's not running around bottomless. Also, I had my annual mole check at the dermatologist's office yesterday, so I sat her down before we left and explained where we were going and why. I told her that she needed to sit in the chair like a big girl while the doctor was looking at Mommy, and it worked! The whole way there, she kept saying "mole sick" (she has an Sesame Street DVD she loves where Elmo gets sick and goes to the doctor) and "big guhl chair." She was a crazy kid in the waiting room, but as soon as we got into the exam room, she sat herself down in the chair and didn't move until we were done. I had to grab a toy out of my purse occasionally, but she didn't get up from that chair once. I was so proud of her, I took her to play in McDonald's afterward.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, her crib. We'd already agreed to flip her crib around this weekend, but I tend to be too excitable and impatient. I couldn't wait! I told her all about the big girl bed while she watched as I flipped it around. Also, I kept her up later than usual before her nap, so she'd be good and tired. She was pretty nervous about it, so I tried staying in with her until she fell asleep thinking it would make her feel better, but after awhile it was clear I was keeping her up so I left and told her not to get out of bed. I could hear her talking to herself for a few minutes, and whine a little for a few minutes more, but she's now sleeping peacefully in her very own big girl bed.


Waking up.

It's been a long time since she's let me do anything with her hair. Occasionally, I've been able to sneak a barrette in if she's properly distracted, but pigtails have been unheard of. I finally figured out if I bribe her with a lollipop, she'll sit still long enough for me to put her hair up (I bought a bag of Dum-Dums as reward for potty training since there's less risk I'd eat the bag myself than if I would've bought M&Ms). By threatening to take the candy away once her hair's done, I've finally gotten her to leave it alone. It only takes a few threats before she's completely forgotten about the pigtails and moved on to something else.


Her hair's gotten so much longer since I first put it up in pigtails!

Abby loves to come up to me while I'm reading a book and have me point out letters on the front cover. Since she's become so interested in the alphabet, I bought her some spongy bath letters a couple weeks ago. Between the two, she's suddenly picking up so many letters. She can now recognize F, H, K, O, Q, T, and W. She gets a little confused with letters that sound the same, like B and P, and she struggles with M since it's just an upside-down W. She loves to imitate our excitement whenever we coach her on a letter. If we give her the answer, she'll repeat it back and squeal like I do when she gets one right.

She finally listens when I tell her to smile!

Just in time for some more snow

I went out to the house today since the weather's supposed to get bad again tomorrow. It's amazing how much progress they've been able to make this week!

Our house is never going to be finished

NO MORE SNOW!!! We are now in the middle of the third snow storm in as many weeks. We were only supposed to get 1-3 inches with this one (to add to the FEET of snow they've gotten in our new neighborhood), but it's only 8:30 and we already have 3 inches on the ground. This doesn't bode well for our house. I drove by yesterday since we had a playgroup in the mall near there, and they were finally starting to frame. They were supposed to have started framing 3 weeks ago, but the weather slowed everything down. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't trust the dirt road that leads me to my house (they weren't able to pave the streets before the weather turned bad). We'll be lucky if we're in our house by next Christmas!