Praying with a 2 year old and a baby is hard

These pictures were all taken during our family rosary the other night. If you will notice in the picture below, Elizabeth is stepping on her Daddy. 

Adelaide is bare bottomed because, well, that is just how she is happiest. If she is fussy, we take off her diaper and put her on the floor. 

Elizabeth loves her new slippers. They are frogs. Thanks Grandma!

They don't need me anymore

Elizabeth wanted to push Adelaide when we were walking to the playground. I could have just stayed home. 

She only pushed her for about one minute... then Mommy was needed again. 

Patio fun

Elizabeth really loves to blow bubbles... like, really. We sit outside on our patio and make a mess with bubbles regularly. The other day we also decided to have a picnic on the patio for lunch.

The green stuff is avocado dip, in case you are wondering... and yes, we do dip cheetos in it. 

Don't worry, we still have ducks

We may have moved... but we still have ducks. They are still borderline attack ducks. 

Do right

I read a post a while back on a blog I enjoy about parenting and teaching your child to do what is right. It emphasized something she had read about teaching your kid to do the right thing for the sake of doing good. Not because they will get a reward, not because they will avoid punishment, but just because it is the right thing to do. I really liked the idea but I have no idea how one would go about doing it. 

I ask Elizabeth sometimes if what she is about to do is the right thing. She says no and continues to do it. How would one put this into practice without using punishment or rewards when they make the wrong/right choices? We talk about being good because it is pleasing to Jesus, but sometimes, that is not enough for her. When we go to daily Mass, there is a family that Elizabeth loves. If she misbehaves, I won't let her go talk and play with them. I run into a problem when they aren't there. I want to be able to have her obey, be quiet, keep her shoes on, and not jump around like a loon because it is the right thing to do in Mass. That logic doesn't work for her. She is two and I understand that. I don't mind using rewards and punishment but, at times, it seems like a bribe. Don't worry, we don't have a huge behavior problem or anything like that. I just really liked the idea of having her do what is right but have no idea how that would work in practice.

Afternoon tea

One day, a few weeks age, Elizabeth and I sat down to some tea when she woke up from her nap. She loves to have sips of my Chai tea so I gave her a little teacup with some tea and a lot of almond milk. She loved it and I loved the two of us sitting together at the table drinking tea (or in her case, chugging). The girl finishes her tea so quickly and then she wants to share mine... not cool. I have no time to enjoy because if I don't drink it fast enough-she will... still worth it though.

Embrace the crazy socks

Elizabeth had one pair of crazy colorful socks. They were purple socks with Easter eggs that we got in the dollar section of Target for her Easter basket. Problem- I never wanted her to wear them anywhere important because they never matched. I have since decided to embrace the crazy socks. Her Mimi (my mother-in-law) got some for her for Halloween and I love them because she enjoys them. When I cringe at the thought of her bright pink socks with her green and blue outfit, I only have to remind myself how happy it makes her. Then I can get through (mostly).

My little photographer

Elizabeth found a big disposable camera that we received on our honeymoon but never used. She played with it nonstop until it broke. I can't decide if I want to pay to have the film developed to show her the pictures she took of the floor, who knows what else, and the oven.

Ponytail for the win!

I love to put ponytails in Elizabeth's hair, or pigtails, or bows, or really anything. It took her forever to get hair and now that I can actually put it up, she doesn't let me, or she doesn't keep it in.

If you will notice in the above pictures, she has a Christmas bow. In my attempt to get a ponytail to stay in her hair, I let her pick out the bow. Whatever she wanted. Even if it was before Halloween and she wanted a Christmas bow. Still didn't work. 3.5 minutes later- bow and ponytail gone. My desperation gets better.

One day, we went out to grab a burger at a local place. She wanted to wear her beach shoes. I don't like her beach shoes and don't often let her where them out and about. I agreed on the condition that she could if she wore a ponytail. She took it out in the car but let me put it back. I don't often resort to this... if it makes you feel any better.

I'll love you forever

Elizabeth has a runny nose and a sad cough. I don't know why I say a sad cough, because it's not like there is a happy cough. Adelaide has a stuffy nose which makes nursing difficult... especially in the middle of the night. Elizabeth does this super-annoying thing where she just blows the boogers out her nose no matter where she is, and then she keeps blowing until you come to her with a tissue. She was doing this tonight, after we put her to bed. She also claims to have to go the bathroom after she gets put to bed, even if she just went. Needless to say, it takes a while for her to fall asleep. Tonight, she had been quiet for a while, but then she started coughing, then crying a little.

 I went in there and found her in the dark (she moves all over her bed). I lay down and pulled her to me and snuggled for a few minutes. She had apparently fallen asleep and the coughing sort of woke her up. She had been crying in a half awake state. As soon as I was holding her, she stopped. Even though I knew I could get up a few minutes later, I stayed for a little while longer. I love how she takes comfort in me. I wonder how long that will last. Hopefully she always will, just maybe not in the same way (I do not plan on being that mother in the Love You Forever book who climbs in her GROWN son's window and rocks him-Thank you very much.)

Comparison

So I said in my last post that Adelaide wore the same costume that Elizabeth had worn. Then I decided that I should have a post with both of them. Two amazingly cute bunnies. Both pictures above are Adelaide and the one below is Elizabeth from two years ago.

Halloween

So I scored this amazing costume for Elizabeth at a second hand store shortly before Halloween. I wasn't sure if we were going to do the whole Halloween thing or not... I'm not a big fan, but we did. The picture above is Elizabeth bouncing on a trampoline at the Halloween party her gym had (which was our official last event with them). I think the costume may have been worth it just for this picture.

We dressed Adelaide in the same bunny costume that Elizabeth wore for her first Halloween. It is beyond words! I put a bow on the bunny because people often think Adelaide is a boy, so I wanted no confusion.

We did a little bit of trick or treating for the first time. The candy is already gone... but we only had about 10 pieces. We went with my siblings-in-law and had good fun.

I like how I look stoked and Adelaide looks like she is pooping.

Elizabeth was very good at knocking on doors... people, however, were not very good at answering. Twice we had people open the door who were a different nationality and clearly did not know what Halloween was. That is the most awkward. Your poodle daughter is standing there holding out a bag and looking up expectantly at people who may not even speak English. I just said, "Okay, thanks, nevermind, okay" or something along those lines. Oh well, now that Halloween is out of the way, we can move on to bigger and better holidays (aka all other holidays).

Pumpkin carving at Grandma's

This is a, "I don't really want my picture taken" face.

She watched Grandma do the hard work and refused to touch the gunk.

Grandma and I took turns poking to trace the picture and then we carved. While we did this, we gave Elizabeth the other poking thing, and she went to town on the other side of the pumpkin.

Success!!!

All out of diapers

So I have been meaning to try to potty train Elizabeth for a while now. I sort of tried a little before she was two years old but she wasn't ready. I was going to try right before Adelaide was born, but that isn't supposed to be a good idea. Then we moved. There have been lots of reasons to postpone it... so I did. The poor thing would actually ask me if she could potty train and I would say, "Soon, baby." I wasn't sure if I was ready for the commitment. Last week, I decided that this was it. I ordered some books and movies from the library and didn't buy any new diapers. On Wednesday morning (which also happened to be my birthday- didn't think that through) we started teaching her doll, Baby Neri, to use the potty. The plan was to start Elizabeth on the potty after her nap, but alas, she pooped in her very last diaper. I asked her if she wanted to potty train and she excitedly nodded. She has been diaper free since. 

She is doing really well. Her main problem is that she doesn't always want to try and will get so wrapped up in playing that she won't go to the potty. We are working on it.

She especially loves public restrooms (gross) and we usually have to go multiple times while we are out and about even if nothing comes out.