The Potty Training Battle

Happy long weekend everyone! Hope that yours was more enjoyable than ours was.

This past weekend we embarked on a rather ambitious 3-day potty training regime for Kira. While I had heard success stories from lots of other parents, and the recommended age to do this is 22 months (Kira is 26 months); I was pretty skeptical about it actually working for Little Ms. Stubborn. However, we tried it anyhow. We began on Saturday morning, and by the end of the 3rd day (today) we were pretty much at the same point as day 1. That said, she is staying dry during the night and during her naps, so we will keep her diaper free during the night.

Here's a little snippet of what the weekend went like...

Me: "Kira, is it time to go pee?" (noticing that she is dancing around while holding herself)

Kira: "No."

Me: "Let's just sit on the potty anyhow, just in case." (proceed to get her on the toilet)

Kira: "No, no, no, no, no!" (fake tears)

She then stands up while still 'crying' and then pees on the floor next to the toilet. Sigh.

It was pretty frustrating for both of us, thankfully Jon was around to help out because there were times that the pregnancy hormones were getting the best of me!! Oh well, hopefully in a few weeks I'll be singing a different tune about how wonderful it is to have a child that isn't in diapers anymore....

I have a fun video of Kira 'making me dinner', I'll try to post that tomorrow sometime.

On a side note, just want to pass on our congratulations to our friends Steve + Anna, who welcomed their 3rd (!) baby last weekend, a little boy named Miro; and a congratulations to our friends Mike + Lilli, who welcomed their 2nd baby last night, a little girl - just want big sister Amber wanted all along.

Apologies for lack of posts lately, I've been pretty tired and lazy. Here is a video of Kira watching her "words" dvd. Grandma Rose got her the "Your Baby can Read" DVD and book set, it is supposed to help kids learn to read before they go to school. Basically, it runs a series of 30 words on repeat with pictures, songs, and rhymes. Honestly, there are some words now that Kira will shout out before they've said what they are on the DVD, so I guess that it works (of course, one of the words she can 'read' is No). At the very least, it's really helping her vocabulary. Though it is difficult to understand her, she is starting to say a lot more words now, which is very exciting for us. Anyhow, here is the video - I had to take it off the side of the table during her breakfast so that she wouldn't be distracted by the camera...

Next weekend we are going to attempt potty training. A friend recommended this 3-day potty training method, and it has worked for a few friends so far, so we'll see how it goes for Kira. It's not the ideal way to spend a long weekend, but I'm hoping that the results make it worthwhile!

Kira has started back at her gymnastics again. Her class this time is a mix of 1 and 2 year olds, which suits her just fine as she tends to do her own thing instead of following the circuit given by the teacher. The 1 year olds do the same thing.

Kira's first 2-year molar cut through her gums last weekend. She was pretty miserable for the first bit of the week, but she seems to be back to her normal self now. 1 down, 3 to go...I can't wait till this teething thing is over.

The last couple of weeks we have been hit hard with colds and norwalk-type bugs. Kira picked up a cold from daycare, which she then kindly shared with Jon and I. After that she picked up a norwalk-type bug from who knows where and shared it with us as well as her entire daycare and now her cousin Marcus. It was a doozy and I'm glad that it has passed! Unfortunately, it meant that we missed a final playdate with my friend Maya and her 2 boys. They have now moved out to Ontario, hopefully we will catch up to them this summer if we make it East. We'll miss you guys!!

Otherwise, Kira is doing well. She continues to develop her words and has learned to count to 1 - 5 in sequence. She can read and identify the numbers from 1-9 but is only just learning what order they go in. She is also getting very good at reading letters, here's a great video of her reading the letters off Jon's t-shirt.

Here's a photo of Kira and Jon, she really loves being around her Daddy.

Ready for a bike ride with Daddy

Cheeeeeese!

Daddy's favourite outfit, thanks for the shirt Eliana!

This is Kira's new run bike that she got for her birthday from her grandparents. It's a bike without pedals, it is supposed to help kids learn to balance on a bike earlier and hopefully eliminate the need for training wheels. She seems to enjoy it so far, we'll keep trying to get her outside with it this summer.

Kira's birthday pics! (Finally)

Ok. so things have been super hectic around here, and when there is a free moment, I've been sleeping. Sorry. Kira's birthday party was held last week Sunday, on her actual birthday, March 28. We rented out the gymnastics place, invited a few friends and family and let the kids run wild. We had some cake and snacks as well, I think the kids had a good time. Here are a few pictures...

Oh boy, why do I get the feeling that I will be seeing this face a lot when she's a teenager...

Hanging out on the bar with Daddy spotting

A few of her buddies that came to the party

There were 11 kids + 4 babies at her party, everyone seemed to have a good time and left good and tired. Hurray!

Kira had her 2 year check up earlier this week, she passed with flying colours. She is 25lbs now, about 6 pounds heavier than when she turned 1, and is about 88cm in height. This puts her in the 25th - 50th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. She continues to see the opthomologist every 3 months, her eyes seem to be getting a little bit worse - we'll see what the doctor says at her next appointment on April 12.

Hope everyone had a great Easter long weekend.

Gymnastics Pictures

Hanging on the rings

Jumping on the trampoline with her new boyfriend

Climbing the ladder into the ball pit

Hanging out in the ball pit

Heading down the slide

This has been a busy week for Kira. She attended her friends first birthday party last weekend, she had a lot of fun and played very well with the other kids -- even sharing with them (thank goodness). We had her gymnastics again this week, but I didn't take photos as she managed to lose her glasses at daycare (!) and was a little cranky during gymnastics, likely as a result of a headache from not being able to see properly. We ordered her a back-up pair of glasses and daycare managed to find her glasses the next day, thankfully.

Today, we went over to Victoria for Nicholas' 4th birthday party. Kira played on the ferry the whole way over, then played with ten 4-year old boys and 1 girl her age with no issues (she even attempted to play simon says with them, so cute), and then played for most of the ferry ride home. Poor kid is exhausted! It was a lot for her to do in 10 hours.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kira that were taken this week...

Playing with the car at her cousin Nicholas' 4th birthday party

Bath time with cousin Marcus

Her new way of checking out what we are cooking

Vegetables?? Boo!

Hiding under her umbrella from the bubbles