27Apr2009: Day 336: Officially Two and a Half

So now we’re caught up – with that part of the blog on to our daily routine.
We figured out that Chris drove over 3300 miles and over 73 hours. I had the exact figures written down but I foolishly left it where little hands could get to it and now I can't find it.

Sure enough I was right. The night was spent sorting through dirty laundry and making piles that will most likely take all week to get through, plus unpacking all the suitcases. Makenna was a real treat and was making more messes than I could take. The house was already a wreck with all of our unpacking and she went and dumped her crayons, took all the books off one of the shelves and went through a lot of toys like she’s never seen them before. I finally had my limit and she wasn’t helping to pick up like I repeatedly requested.

I was so frustrated I walked away and told her no story before bedtime. Daddy had a little talk with her and she came into the kitchen with her head down and just looked at me and after about a minute said, “Tell me sorry.” I repeated it back to her and then she said sorry. I read her one book.

We started again with the potty and I was out of the room but she was all excited when I came back in and she said she went. I believe her as usually when I ask she’ll tell me no, that she didn’t go so I don’t know why all of a sudden she would just say yes if she didn’t actually go. I did my little potty dance and she got a piece of candy from daddy.

Today, my little angel, and she truly was today...during the day, is now 2 ½ . I can hardly believe it except for her typical two year old tantrums. All the hitting, spitting, pinching, kicking, and throwing of things she has been doing has been very frustrating at times. I was reading a mom’s website today and it talked about different ways to try and stop the hitting. I think sometimes she just does it to get attention and the other times it’s out of her own frustration. I was able to employ one of the techniques which was to just take her hands, have her pat me nicely and tell her no hitting, to be nice and gentle, and that hitting hurts mommy. She turned around and hit me three more times (once after each time I employed this technique). I think that I just have to pick a way to handle it and be consistent. I get so erratic with how I react to it depending on my mood.

In actuality though, this day couldn’t have been any better regarding her behaviour. Maybe she’s flipped a switch now that she’s 2 ½ and will improve. I know, I have high hopes but here’s to wishing. I was able to get her to the nursery at the gym and then grocery shopping. By the time we got done and through lunch it was almost time for nap. I kept her up a bit longer and she went down pretty quickly.

I think I’m going to have a huge problem when she’s a teenager. Right now, I love the fact that she loves to go to sleep. It’s when I have to wake her up from sleeping that it get’s hard. She did not want to get up and kept saying “sleepy bunny!” I told her that I was going back downstairs and that I would give her 5 minutes and then I would come back up. It was actually longer than 5, and she came down on her own and was in a better mood.

The reason it was longer than 5 was that I was looking for my cell phone. She had absconded with it and I needed to call Chris to see if he needed me to pick him up from work. I was unsure of his cell phone number (as the numbers here are about 12 digits) and I had it on my cell phone. I looked in all the places she usually hides things – both garbage cans, the dryer, the laundry basket, her bike, in different drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. I even checked the piles of dirty laundry and the dishwasher. I just couldn’t find it. I took a guess at Chris’s number and somehow got it right. When she came down I kept asking her where she took it and she just would say, “ahhh” like she was thinking. Daddy found it later when he got home as I had him call it. It was in the dining room under the table.

Another cute thing she did today was during lunch. We were sitting down to say the blessing on our food and as I was saying the blessing, she started telling me, “Shh, we’re praying, fold arms.” She kept telling me “Shh.” I told her that I was the one praying so I needed to talk. I chuckled though. In fact, while I was talking to daddy, she actually talked back to him on the phone. She told him very clearly what she was doing when he asked which was, “I’m watching Little Bear,” which is a TV show here that I recorded on the DVR.

Well after doing four loads of laundry, I have no more room to hang clothes around the house as it’s been rainy today, and still at least 4 more loads to do. Plus we got a letter from the rental company on the house telling us all the things we have to clean before we vacate. They have high hopes. Some of the things they’re asking us to clean weren’t even clean when we got here. One thing they are requesting is that the windows are cleaned inside and out! I’m like how the heck am I supposed to clean the windows on the outside on the second floor? Also, cleaning the curtains, but some of the curtains are not the type that can be put in a regular washer. Chris checked at work and they basically expect us to do what we can and they realize the rest will be taken out of the deposit.

Well, the fun starts to begin as we start to wind down our time here and get ready to go. It’s going to be busy the next few weeks as we start to pack up and figure out what day will actually be our day of departure. Unfortunately, we’ll lose internet sooner than I would hope but we’ll update it when we get a chance.