A Happy Little Girl

I need to start off with 2 things I forgot to mention yesterday. The big one is Sunday night Pumpkin went “POTTY IN THE POT” for the first time. I don’t usually like all caps but after 18+ months of diaper changing it seems necessary. Also we are keeping a really positive attitude about potty training and stuff so there is a mini party anytime she even thinks about potty or pots.

The second not that exciting thing I forgot was asking for show ideas. Heath and I between TV shows. We recently got all caught up on Dexter, True Blood, Weeds, Walking Dead, plus many regular over the air shows. So what have you not heard me mention watching that you think we should watch? some of my ideas are:

Last night Pumpkin and I said “Bye bye” to the Nanny and waved her out the door. Then she started pointing to her mouth and I started finding food stuffs to put in there. I gave her some mac and cheese and stout bread and I started dumping any leftovers I could find into a baking pan. I ended up mixing, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, peas, sausage gravy with some seasonings. Once it was all casserolified I topped it with cheese and broken up pieces of bacon, wrapped the top in foil and stuck it in the toaster oven.

Then our Parents as Teachers lady, Amy showed up for our meeting. I asked Pumpkin to help me answer the door and she remembered the lady and knew the tub in her arms would be fun stuff to play with. Pumpkin did her happy feet dance and started shrieking. We all sat down in the family room and Amy opened the tub. There were a few books on top and then a big pile of white beans and bean playing utensils.

(not the beans tub but Pumpkin played with this toy for a while earlier and the idea came from PAT)

I was surprised at first but Pumpkin showed me right away what it was for. It was like a sandbox but way cleaner and easier to keep in the tub. Pumpkin used large spoons to scoop beans into measuring cups and then poured the cups into funnels and watched the beans spill out. Amy is good at getting us excited about everything Pumpkin does. Watching how her fine motor skills develop and she gets more skilled at using the spoon. She also talked about how the tub is a boundary for the beans and Pumpkin will test the boundary and see if we will let her spill beans out. We talked about how Pumpkin is a problem solver and really good at independent play. We spent an hour playing with Pumpkin and talking about her. She appeared to be ignoring us on the surface but when we talked about food she pointed to the kitchen and when we talked about her going potty she decided it was a good time to try and ran to the bathroom pointing at her butt. Heath gave her a chance to try and go but she did not.

At the end of the hour I was getting hungry and so was Pumpkin as she pointed to her mouth and started searching the room for food. She found some eggs with fruit snacks in them and we all had a few. Then we gave 5s, nucks, real kisses and blown kisses and Amy left. We opened pears, put on House and scooped leftovers casserole out of the pan.

At first it was too hot for Pumpkin but once some cooled down she started eating it like crazy Heath and I also had 2nds and 3rds. We ate till there were 2 pear slices left and no casserole. Then we headed to Home Depot, we ran through and got a few quick things. Pumpkin filled her diaper and we rushed home to change it and get her ready for bed. I read her and put her in bed and Heath did work work the rest of the night. At Home Depot we got a 2nd maul for splitting wood so Heath and I could both split at the same time. It’s a light sharp one and she liked using it this morning. My maul blade was looking pretty rough so I fired up the grinding wheel and cleaned/sharpened it up. Then I did all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. I played on the computer till bed. This morning I am headed downtown for a broadcast with the Surgeon General so I better get going.