Train set, my best-garage sale find so far.

Sometimes victory is as small as a Tic Tac

[photo credit: Audrey. Yeah, the image is blurry but I also look like that most of the time. Except, I don't think my nose is really as big as it looks here. Is it? Tell me it isn't.]

We're not on the fast track to toileting triumph, to be sure, but we celebrate our modest successes with high-fives and dances and hollering, and small rewards. For every "try" that Audrey makes on the potty, she gets a Tic Tac. Audrey will do anything for mints. Recently she ate an entire roll of wintergreen lifesavers while our backs were momentarily turned, and refused to give up a single one when we discovered her, chipmunk-cheeked and unrepentent. So I decided that Tic Tacs would be an appropriately small, but tempting, reward system. For now I've put away the Elmo panties (and my mop) until we've gained a little bit more ground with our scaled down methodology.

Now, if you happen to know that Tic Tacs contain a dangerous chemical that is toxic to toddlers, because you are a chemist, or your cousin's wife's brother's girlfriend works at the Tic Tac factory and has it on good authority that they are little white pellets of minty poison, please: don't tell me. I don't want to know. I can't afford to have this tiny bit of leverage taken away.

Brains, and good taste to go with 'em.

We were kind of excited when she began singing the "A,B,C" song and pointing out letters to us. And when she started to read along with her favorite books, like Goodnight Moon and Bad Kitty and all the others, we thought, "So cute! So smart! How very like us BOTH!" One does have to wonder though whether a rock would be able to recite these after the number of readings they've received in this house... but I digress.

What really made us beam and even turn to each other in surprise was when we realized today that as we were driving along in the car listening to "Ring of Fire," Audrey was singing along back there in her car seat. Just the chorus, but still-- actually singing the words!! Seriously! She loves her some Cash.

At the piano with our friend John

As so many concert pianists do, Audrey ends each performance by lifting up her shirt and flashing the audience.

Doesn't it sort of look like she's really playing?

Cuter as still images and not video, with all that ear-drum jarring sound.


Duet.
Contemplating another shirt lift...

Audrey with "ponies"

This blog just writes itself

For today's pictures, I refer you to the blog of our dear friends, whose backyard birthday party we attended the other night. Audrey is in there getting muddy and eating cake for Bethiah's Big 2.

Audrey now says that she is also two. And I am two. And Scott is two. You are two, too, did you know that?

http://sparklebaby.blogspot.com/

Ideas?

All right. Those of you who've dealt with toddlers and smallish children: I need your thoughtful suggestions about Audrey's latest "She's doing what?" behavior, which is driving me a little bit out of my mind. As preface, some of you may recall listening to me for hours on end describe how Audrey is not a Great Sleeper in the classic definition (you know, the kid who slept through the night at 2 months and has ever since and never skips a nap, and goes to bed singing "Edelweiss" to herself instead of screaming-- that kind). And most of you know by now that I'm kind of into my schedules. I rather insist on them. Which makes Scott a bit crazy sometimes, but that's the breakes-- it already says on our wedding certificate that he has to respect, if not always agree, with my ways. Audrey's birth certificate has no such language on it, but I operate on the same principle with her, because I'm the Mom, and that's the way I roll.

Anyway. Audrey is only napping about every other day. She will (thank heaven) spend time quietly playing in her crib for up to two hours if she decides not to sleep (the only reason, I might add, she is not now attending Swiss boarding school, though I do love her to pieces) but she has started to take off all her clothes, and her diaper, during the naptime/quiet-time in her crib, so that I find her prancing around totally naked, a happy jaybird. This, as you might imagine, has resulted in some pretty unspeakable messes, plus she's just not sleeping which makes her really cranky by the end of the day. It does seem to me like she still needs a nap to feel better, and more importantly I need them.

Duct-tape has already been suggested. She is able to work her way out of all types of clothing, including that with snaps and tigh-fitting waist bands. Is this a question of more restrictive clothing, or do I just have to buy a lot more crib sheets to clean up the foul aftermath?

Real suggestions. Please.

Yours in unswerving committment no matter what to preserving the afternoon nap,

Kris

Then WHO, I ask you?

Just when we thought we could not possibly read this classic again, Audrey added a new twist to the routine by reading along with us. She's begun doing this with many of the books she's heard upwards of 1,000 times, and it makes for a nice break for the adult reader, who has maybe grown a wee bit exhausted with these books and might-- just might-- be sending some of them on "sabbaticals" to the closet to maintain her sanity.

Audrey doesn't demonstrate it on this video, but often when she gets to the "Then WHO?" line, she says it in this very prosecutorial voice, like she's trying to trip up the witness. I love the indignation.

A fine porker

Look closely and you'll see that on the Pig Scale (at Drumlin Farm) I weigh a respectable "Finishing Pig" and am now ready for market.

Another one from Aunt Janna's visit

Here we are on the extensive grounds of our estate, that ten feet of patio that hugs the house and abuts the street... We were on our way to return Janna to the airport after part II of her extended visit in Boston.

This doesn't happen very often...

Whether by habit or training or just personal preference, Audrey almost never ends up in our bed with us, and when she does, it's typically a pretty poor night's sleep for everyone, but here was a rare instance of Audrey making it into our bed in the middle of the night and-- this is the even-rarer part-- actually sleeping until morning. Like her parents, she thrashes her legs and pinwheels her arms a lot while sleeping, so I won't say it was a comfortable fit for the three of us on a queen-size mattress, but it was sweet to wake up to this scene of my little family, plus a couple of stuffed animals.

Augie and Eeem

He calls her Augie, she calls him Eeem (Liam is what his parents call him). They will both be two years old in just a couple of months. Amazing. Soon the days of going boating in the living room on a yoga mat, wearing only t-shirts and skivies will be long, long gone...