Firsts and Lasts

So year one seems to be all about the firsts...
first steps, first words, etc, etc.

Year two has some firsts in it as well...

First time in a boat/bike trailer
We took E out on the Kayaks a few time this year.  She seems to enjoy them, but doesn't like having to sit down all the time.  It's pretty hard to paddle with her in your lap but she really likes to chase and look at birds.

She LOVES the bike trailer and her helmet.  She gets excited every time she sees them in the garage and asks to go for a ride.  She's finally tall enough to reach the peddles on her tricycle, but hasn't yet figured out the motion required to make it move, and she still has to use her very tiptoes to reach the peddles at full extension.

first time using the potty
E has been working on potty training for a while.  She's pretty much there but still has her accidents. She may well kill me for posting this one day but currently she wears superhero training pants. When she has an accident, she lets me know by saying "Sad superheros mommy"

She's the first kid at her daycare to potty train.  They seem to think it's going well.  I honestly didn't think we'd start before 2, but she one day just asked to sit on the potty and we went from there.



first climb onto the bathroom sink/highchair/table/anywhere
I can't count the number of times I've found E up on something high.  I swear I turn my back for a second and she has climbed up onto something.  One of her favorites is to climb up onto Mommy or Daddy's chair and then into her highchair from there.  Another is to climb up onto the bathroom counter so that she can "wash-a-feet"

first time sleeping in a big girl bed/first time falling out of a big girl bed at 3 am
no more big girl bed for a while...especially not one that is taller than she is.

but it also seems to be the start of the lasts.
Last ride in the "pumpkin" car seat - I really miss that one when she's asleep in her car seat.
Last binky - E still gets sad when we mention her binkies...but it's very short lived
Last diaper - we only wear big girl "underwear" now (training pants)
Last bottle - that was tonight.  Tomorrow will be...rough, especially since she refuses milk from anything but a bottle...though the other day she did take a few sips from a horizon milk with a straw (I got photo proof I was so shocked)

It has been such an amazing year.  I can't believe my baby is 2.  I know she has so many, many more firsts and lasts ahead of her and I can't wait to celebrate them alongside her as she continues to grow and become more independent. Despite that, there is a small part of me that is sad tonight.  Sad because at some point along the year, and it was so gradual I can't put my finger on when, I had my last snuggle with my baby.  Despite the fact that she will always be my baby girl, my actual baby is gone.  She is 100% a little girl now.  Sometimes she still wants to be wrapped up and pretends to drink milk from her dolls bottle but even then it's just pretend.  So, on this last night of E's 2nd year I will let myself be a little sad for the baby she used to be, and at 529 tomorrow (which hopefully I won't actually be awake for...but E still doesn't like to sleep, so you really never know) I will begin the celebration of the first day of her third year.

We live in your heart

E has been having some separation anxiety issues. It started after Daddy and I went to Board Game Geek Con and left her with Grandma and Granddaddy.  We saw her every morning but weren't there to put her to bed.  Apparently she had some strong feelings about our absence.

Ever since then, she's gets upset when we leave.  Over Thanksgiving we went on a movie date after she was in bed.  However, earlier in the day we made the mistake of talking about it in front of her and when E heard us talking about going she started to wail. This made bedtime very clingy.

It makes daycare drop-off very clingy and cry-y as well but once I'm out of the room she stops crying within seconds.

Fast forward to tonight.  E had a MASSIVE meltdown, so massive that she took her "I'm so angry I'm going to hold my breath until I turn purple" meltdown routine to a new level where she got so overwrought that she actually started choking.  Once she was able to breath she proceeded to melt down rampantly.  It took a good bit to get her calm but once we were actually able to talk to her she told us she was scared.  We thought at first it was because we took her to see Santa today and she was a little timid with him but she laughed at that and said "silly mommy".  Eventually we got to the fact that she was scared of mommy and daddy leaving.

So, we had a good snuggle and a family chat about how we live in each other's hearts.  That even when we are not in the same room we are still with her and she is with us.  She touched her heart and ours.  We reminded her that she could use the mommy and daddy in her heart to pretend with when she is scared.  That she can close her eyes really tight and imagine mommy and daddy are there with her to help her feel better because we live in her heart and are always with her.

It seemed to help her calm down.  She snuggled up tight and was calm and ready for bed so I told her:

"Mommy is going to leave your bedroom now, but you don't need to be scared because you know where mommy will always be.  Where will mommy always be?"

She snuggled me tightly and said "In the bathroom"