Milestones for us all

As you can tell from the heading picture and the picture of Miss Mouse above, the crocuses were outstanding this year at the farm. A friend recently mentioned that she didn't realize they grew in the wild. My response was that until a couple years ago, I didn't realize they could grow anywhere else.

We've all had quite a few milestones lately.

Here are a few from Miss Mouse:

*Gave up her pacifier at about 25 months....right after her two year molars all came through and surprisingly close to when Baby Mouse (avec le pacifier) moved in. One night the white pacifier was lost, so I thought I'd try out how it would go if I told her the two green ones were lost as well. She said "oh" and hasn't had one since. I held off until after the molars were through because the sucking motion helped her ears drain. Apparently she was ready to give it up!

*Potty training is still going strong. We're in "pretty pants" which are basically reinforced panties without the plastic outer covers now. There are still accidents fairly often, but she's really into being a "little girl" instead of a "baby". There are little girl privileges such as turning on the tv for the news, helping Mommy cook, etc. that she doesn't want to miss out on by wearing a diaper except for naps and bedtimes.

*Gave up rocking to sleep around 24 months. Right around the time we brought Baby Mouse home, Miss Mouse decided she'd rather go to sleep in her bed. I still stayed and sang until she was asleep and then tiptoed out of the room. This turned into a bit of a struggle, as she would force her eyes to stay open so that I would sing longer. We instituted a rule called "you have to have your eyes closed, or I won't sing". It helped for awhile but turned into one more thing I had to be 'bossy' about (obviously I'm bossy a lot as the mother of a toddler....). The past few weeks, it has been working just very, very well for us to read a book, say prayers, and for me to sing "Kitty, Kitty" (my family are likely the only ones to know this song....who knew it would be passed onto another generation!!!) and two verses of "How Great Thou Art" and then to just leave the room after goodnight kisses. There were many times during the teething months where I wondered if I'd be rocking her until she was 15. I thought I must be crazy still rocking a toddler, especially when almost all the literature and "research" on proper child development tells parents not to rock a child until she is asleep. Everything I've read says that she couldn't possibly have learned how to fall asleep on her own unless I let her "cry it out" at some point and "trained" her by forcing her....I'm sure that is true for some children. All are different, and so, of course, the smooth transition we've had with The Mouse wouldn't happen with some. But, I'm glad I held out for this transition. Waiting until she was ready to fall asleep on her own is, perhaps, the best decision we've made so far. Keep in mind, I don't post the bad decisions! :)

*Counting - up to three is really solid. We're shaky but can sort of go up to ten. We're working on French numbers now. She used to yell at me when I'd speak it to her...most days she likes it now.

*Talking - five word sentences are very common. She repeats everything we say.

*Praying - We still pray every night for Grammy's cats. I guess she can sense any cat of her Grammy's would need a lot of prayer. We also pray for Baby Mouse's tummy ache and Daddy every night. Everyone else gets a varied amount of prayer, but those cats, Baby Mouse, and Daddy are regulars.

Baby Mouse:

*She is a super-smiley little gal. Super, super cuddly, too. She naps on my chest in the recliner or in the Moby Wrap if we're outside with Miss Mouse. She'll sleep a solid three hours that way. Miss Mouse was a cuddly baby, but this little Baby Mouse just outdoes her older sister in that way completely!

*She's gotten lots less fussy. This is a major accomplishment for all in the household! Miss Mouse also talks about how it is "hard when Baby Mouse cries", so for all involved, especially Baby Mouse herself, we are thankful for this.

*She slept from 11-6:30 when she was 10 weeks old. Now if we can just get this to be a trend we'll all be doing really well!

*She had her first hotel stay at nine weeks for my small business conference. She did just as well as her sister did with her first stay. We'll hope this trend continues, as well, even though we don't do a whole lot of hotel overnights.

The Mouse King:

*Has grown a full beard.

*Has full range of motion back in his shoulder and, consequently, has completed therapy!!! Yay!!!

*Has gotten back on his bike.