Monday, September 5, 2011

Knock Knock

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Baby in toilet
Baby in toilet who?
Baby in toilet

That's Allie's favorite joke to tell.  ;)

Allie is doing great!  She is potty trained.  There are still some accidents (most of them being malicious), but for the most part she is golden.   I was tired of her taking off her diaper and peeing on the floor so I had to decide what the perfect bribe could be.  With Selena sticker charts weren't interesting and there became too much candy which didn't even motivate to 100% in the toilet.  So I went out and bought little boxes that people use for wedding favors.  In the boxes I put stickers, junky toys, candy, money, and little slips of paper with fun things like a piggy back ride, or a cheer.  They work pretty good because the "present" aspect makes it a surprise.  The candy is the best one and it is intermittent throughout the day.  (Psychologists always say intermittent rewards work the best).  I was also unsure how I should include Selena in it.  At first she was upset because she wanted presents too, but I put two in each box so Allie could share.  Soon she realized the only thing she wanted was candy and since Allie shares with her she encouraged Allie to go in the potty too.  It has worked out pretty well.

She's also learned how to pedal her trike and been doing a lot of bike riding.  She's getting good at running and likes to run while I time her on my stop watch.  She still loves her baby doll and her puppy.  She loves Dora the Explorer and can spot Dora in a store from a mile away.  She likes counting, sometimes in Spanish and Japanese too.

She's starting to drop her nap, which is kind of good.  We have a hard time getting out of the house in the morning and having to be home for her nap in the afternoon made it hard to do things.  So she's been going to bed a bit earlier and sleeping in a bit later on the days she doesn't nap.

She's also had some rough times.  She got two bee stings.  Nothing a band-aid didn't help, but still kind of sad. She fell down the stairs at her cousins house.  That was really awful.  She had a bonk on her head, but was fine otherwise.  She got a bug when we went to Oak Harbor for the weekend.  She was throwing up constantly all morning, but by the evening she was just fine.

After refusing to eat any berries at the beginning of the summer, she suddenly changed her mind and we picked a lot of wild huckleberries, salmonberries, and salal.  We also did some blueberry picking at the local farm.  She really likes to chase her sister around with a banana because Selena doesn't like the smell and overreacts.  She also likes eating "stinky sandwich"  with me(canned salmon with mayo and mrs. dash), and both Selena and Floyd do not like the smell of.

She's a sweet little girl who is fairly sensitive and loves to snuggle.