The Linda Family

Today Bekah woke up and asked for Ashleigh and Daddy as usual. Once we got through Ashleigh is sleeping and Daddy is at work, she said, ‘poo poo’. Ok, let’s go downstairs and go potty.

She sat on the potty, nothing happened, so she got up and started to play. A few minutes later she is crossing her legs and starting to freak out. So, I put her on the potty and she peed! Yay! As I was telling her what a great job she was doing she stopped and got up to look. She then started to walk away, until she realized she wasn’t done. She started crossing her legs and whining again, so I put her back on. MORE pee! Yay!

We took the inside from the potty to the bathroom, flushed it, washed it, and talked about what a great job she did. I then grabbed one of the packs of silly bands from the box in the dining room and gave her one. Oh she was SO proud. She went right back and sat down to try again.

I bought a huge package of silly bands on woot.com at the beginning of the month. They were SUPER cheap. $2.99 for six packages of 12. Shipping was $5, so I bought 3 sets. $14 later I had 216 silly bands. Ashleigh was SO excited when we got home from a long day and I handed her a package and thanked her for being so helpful and well behaved while we were out. Score 1 for mommy!

When I bought them, I figured giving Ashleigh little rewards for being helpful would encourage good behavior and it would be well worth my $14. I never imagined that Bekah would love them as well!

So, now we’re 3 hours into our day, she has refused to wear a diaper, she has tried to go potty 4 times and has actually gone twice. She has not had an accident! Holy cow!!

I’m not sure I’m ready for potty training with an 18 month old again, but I don’t think it’s my choice to make.

I’m going to hang on to my seat. I think the next 6 months are going to be long ones!

Me: Bekah, do you need to go poopy?
Bekah: (shaking head yes) mmm…hhmm….
Me: Do you want to go sit on the potty?
Bekah: (shaking head no) nuh, uh.

Oh the joys!

Bekah,

I can hardly believe that you are one (and 3 weeks). How on earth did that happen?! The last year has flown by and you have gone from a full of energy baby in my belly, kicking every chance you had to a little girl who wants to explore every corner of every space at warp speed. You are weighing in at 19lbs 12 oz, and I can’t remember your height. You actually lost a few ounces between your 9 month and 12 month check ups. They tell me that this is normal when babies start walking, so I’m not going to stress it, but lets work on gaining before your 15 month check up, ok?

I have been pretty bad at updating since you started with this mobile thing, so let’s backtrack a bit. On September 15th you started crawling. It seems you have an affinity for your buddy Madison’s house. You broke your water in their driveway, and you started crawling at their house. Not that you weren’t fully mobile BEFORE the crawling, with the crazy cruising skills and your insane ability to go from sitting to all fours to sitting somewhere else, but once you learned that you could REALLY crawl, all bets were off. I’m thankful it took you two months to figure out how to climb the stairs, it made the transition a little easier. On December first you took your first steps, and now you’re running everywhere!

In October we went to Philly with Daddy, he had to go for work. We had great time at the zoo and the Please Touch Museum. You weren’t so excited with the Franklin Institute, but you’ll feel differently in a few years. It really is a cool place. You loved seeing all the cool animals at the zoo, and the please touch museum meant you could crawl and cruise all around and touch EVERYTHING! It was your dream come true. As long as there weren’t big kids to knock you down.

In November we had all of your grandparents and aunts & uncles here for Thanksgiving. It was a full house, but you were so glad to have everyone here to play with you. We spend Christmas Eve with Nana, Aunt Beth, & Uncle Roy and then had a quite Christmas morning here with just the four of us. We loved the look of joy on your face as you learned about opening presents. You get excited SO easily.

After the things had calmed down here we went and spent a whole week with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ted, and Pop-Pop. The week ended with a day in New Jersey with the entire Leifer clan! What a blast. You had fun chasing after the bigger girls. Next year you’ll be able to keep up!

You have an amazing vocabulary for such a little girl. You can say Hi, Bye, Dog, No, Mom, Dad, Ashleigh (pronounced eh-ee), Wow, Yeah, Yum, & Baby. I think there are more, but I can not think of them at the moment. You love to wave and blow kisses, and you cry when Daddy goes to work and Ashleigh goes to school. Of course, the squeals of delight when they come home make up for it.

This week you started taking off your diapers when you have decided they are wet. I pulled out the potty so you can get used to it. So far you like to pee on the floor and put your wet diaper in the potty, but you’ll get there eventually. You still like to eat every 3 – 5 hours at night, and while you tease me with an occasional 6 hour stretch I know it won’t last long, so I’m perfectly willing to feed you when you need it. I’m praying you decide to sleep 8+ hours before you start school.

You are full of passion and spunk. You never fail to voice your opinion, and we always know exactly what you are thinking. Your favorite things are babies, dancing, and your sister. You love to be surrounded by people, but as long as your needs are met (you’re full, with a dry diaper, and warm) you are very happy to play along side other kids for hours. On Sunday nights you see me walk by your room at church and you smile at me, then you turn around and go back to playing. You are very much the social butterfly.

I’m very excited to see the little girl you are turning into. Every day you amaze me in some way, please keep at it! You are learning and exploring your world and I can’t wait to see what you will achieve next!

As always, I love you and can’t get enough of you!

Mommy

Yesterday was Ashleigh’s first school field trip. She was supposed to go to Port Discovery last month, but it was during the week she was out sick, so she missed the trip. Yesterday’s trip was to North Run Farm. It was a bit chilly, but thankfully not raining (like it is today, the day the 2 yr olds from her school go!).

I hadn’t planned on going on the field trip, Ash didn’t seem like she needed me there and I didn’t think a chaperone with a baby in tow was what the school really wanted. Tuesday morning she started panicing that she would be taking the bus to their trip and I would not be there. So, I emailed her cottage director. I was told that I was more than welcome to join them, but there was probably not room for me on the bus. I was to follow the bus in my car. PERFECT! I’ll be there to get her on and off the bus, I can enjoy the time with her, but when the trip is over, I get to go home! Plus, no bus full of noisy 4 yr olds!

The farm truly is a farm. They grow hay and feed corn as their main source of income. They also grow pumpkins and gourds. They are only open to the public for 8 weeks a year, and most of their customers are schools. We started with a tour of the “barn” where they sell the produce. We were shown several varieties of pumpkins and we talked about the difference between feed corn and the corn we eat.

Next stop was the animals. They only have 5 animal pens, the cows, the chickens, the goats, the pigs, and the sheep. The cow they have is a beef cow, not a dairy cow. The past 3 years she has had twins. The twin calves were only 3 weeks old, and we got to see them walking around and nursing. It was adorable. The goat also had twins, the kids were 3 months old. One of them was nursing when we first walked up, but they were startled away when 20+ kids came running at them!

The sheep, pigs, and chickens were also fun to watch. We learned that pigs like pumpkins. They were “yelling” at the farmer’s wife when we had our tour because she didn’t bring them a pumpkin. The kids really seemed to enjoy the animals.

Next stop was the hay ride. We went on a short hay ride down the field. We went past the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. It was a short little trip, but the kids enjoyed it. When we got back the kids got to find a small pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. They go through the patch in the afternoons and cut off the orange ones so the kids just have to find the pumpkin that is sitting next to the vine. Ashleigh picked a perfect little pumpkin! It’s bright orange and perfectly round. It’s sitting on the front steps getting us ready for fall.

Next up was the corn maze. The farmer’s wife led us through part of the maze (the whole thing was WAY too long for the kids). She showed them the roots of the corn and told them what animals eat feed corn. We learned that chickens, cows, and pigs all like the corn, but it is VERY bad for horses. More useless facts to add to a little corner of my brain.

We brought the kids lunches for them to enjoy at the farm, so after the corn maze we sat down at the picnic tables and let them eat. When they were done they got to play on the play area. They had a tire park, a mini corn maze (using bales of hay and big tubes), a hay area to climb on, a tipi made with corn stalks, and a corn box. A what? A corn box. There is no sand on the farm. Really, it’s an AWESOME idea. They took old tractor tires and buried the bottoms of them, and filled them with the kernels of feed corn. The kids climbed right in to play with shovels, buckets, rakes, and corn. They didn’t come home all dirty and sandy! It was great.

It was a chilly day, so Bekah and I came home and warmed up, but Ashleigh had a blast, Bekah was a good sport, and overall it was a good day!

I have some pictures, but the picture software isn’t working properly, for now you’ll have to check them out on Facebook

I purposely waited a few days, then got distracted. Now we have even bigger news…

Bekah,

You are the biggest ball of “I’d like to move now, please” that I have ever seen. Cruising is your new favorite activity. Once you figure out that you don’t need the couch to walk, I am in some serious trouble! Just yesterday you cruised from one end of the couch to the other, across the gap and down the next. You were quite upset that you couldn’t reach the entertainment center to keep going. I offered you my hand and you made it to Ashleigh’s rocking chair. You never did get up the nerve to move from the moving chair, but you stood there for quite some time.

Speaking of standing….You can stand for a good 10 – 15 second on your own now, or until you realize no one is holding on to you. Then you start to shake and you sit down. The only thing keeping you from walking is your own fear at this point. I hope that fear stays in you for a little longer. I’m not sure I’m ready for a walker yet!

The other skill you’ve mastered is clapping. You love to sit and clap your hands. It is adorable! You say “Muh, Muh, Muh” and “Dah-Dah-Dah” but I don’t think you understand the meaning behind the words. Your face still lights up when Ashleigh or Daddy come home from being at school or work all day. You giggle and squeal with glee. It makes me so happy.

You went to your first concert this month. We went to hear Chris Sligh’s Back to School Tour featuring Aaron Shust, Chris Sligh, Andrew Witt, & Lanae Hale. It was a great concert. You snuggled in the Bjorn with Daddy for a good chunk of it, and enjoyed a nap during the worship set at the end. It was a good time for all of us.

On the size front, you are about 18.5lbs according to our scale, and you were 26″ (I think) when I measured you last week. You? You’re SUCH a big kid. Funny thing is people tell me all the time how tiny you are and you can easily wear 3-6 months clothes still. Though the fall weather has me dragging out the 6-9 months. Im finding that we probably will need to move you to 12 month pants to accomodate your behind and the cloth diaper.

Speaking of diapers…Yesterday I was changing your diaper, and as I often do i let you run around without a diaper for a few minutes to let your butt air out. Really, who wants to sit in wetness 24/7? Not me! Since we do this fairly often I noticed the look on your face change. I knew this look, it means get a diaper on me now before I pee on you. But, I had a different idea. I took you to the bathroom. That’s right. The bathroom. When I put you on the potty you looked at me like I had three heads and you continued to sit there. I was trying to figure out how to communicate to you what it was that you were supposed to be doing. So, I decided to turn on the water. That did the trick. You immediately peed in the toilet, I wiped you off, and off we went! Score!

In other exciting news, today you learned how to CRAWL! Yup. Crawl. Finally. You were interested in my glass and Ms. Hillary’s power cord, so off you went! You crawled around for a good 5 – 10 minutes before you decided you were ready for a nap.

What a fun month it has been! Crusing, Clapping, Potty, Growing, Crawling!

You continue to grow and learn each day. Don’t ever stop, it keeps life interesting!

Love you kid,

Mommy