Adventures in Calgary

I don't know what possessed me but last Sunday I decided we should try Molly in a bed instead of her crib. Zoe and Jeff had given us a toddler bed frame to use so we just brought it in from the garage and set it up right beside her crib - just in case it didn't go well. First came the nap...no problem. Then came the night. And that was a bit of a problem. Molly woke up crying about 5 different times and I was so worried she'd fallen out or was freezing to death because she'd kicked off all her covers that I went running every time. Needless to say I was exhausted for my first day back to work on Monday. But I'm happy to report that Wednesday night - no wake ups, no cries. Thursday night - same story. So hopefully the big girl bed was actually a good idea after all.

I finally downloaded all the photos from both our cameras last night but I still haven't had time to sort through them or whatnot but I couldn't resist throwing these up. Enjoy!

I was so worried that we would ruin all progress Suzanne had made at the dayhome with Molly's potty training. I even went so far as to threaten Auntie Jessie that if she 'wrecked it' I'd be really upset. But, as usual, all my worries were for naught. Molly is about 80% potty trained. For the longest time she wouldn't poop on the potty but even that is fixed. She'll pee and poop on the potty regularly now. And she's only had 2 accidents (both pee) and both were because she was too busy playing to stop and pee and I didn't make her. She still doesn't really go pee without us telling her to but she will go to poop on her own. And she's so excited to tell us and show us when ever she goes. She went from not pooing for days on end when she was fighting the training to now squeezing out poops almost every time just so she can get another sticker. We couldn't figure out how to tell her to poop for the longest time. Suzanne tried to tell her to "push with her bum" but she didn't understand that at all. Now she says "I'm going to push with my legs" and sits there grunting away until she produces. Too funny. I'm just happy she's going back to Suzanne's better trained than when she left. Yay us!

Molly's dayhome shuts down each summer for two weeks. Other years we've filled these weeks with trips and visits. And while that is ultimately very nice, it is also very exhausting. So this year we decided to stay at home for our holidays. And what a great choice that was. It's really allowed us to reconnect as a family. With both of us working full-time and Molly in daycare full-time, we rarely get to have any down time together that doesn't involve grocery shopping, cleaning or laundry. And down time together is what we've been taking full advantage of for the last two weeks. Not to say we haven't gotten a lot of housekeeping stuff done too. We've cleaned, done all the filing, cleaned the car, gone to the dentist (finally), and gotten our passport photos taken. All the things we can never quite find time for in our day to day lives.

Molly had her very first dentist appointment last week. She was so great! She was in the chair for almost an hour. She let the hygenist polish and floss her teeth. She even let her do some minor scraping without putting up any fuss at all. Then there was a delay while we waited to see the dentist and she was great with him too.

We are constantly amazed by what a great kid Molly is. We've had so much fun taking her around to places like the zoo, Callaway Park, and Riley Park. She's also had 2 sleep overs with Grandma Nancy and was a star both times. I think I'm finally getting better about her doing new things as well...although I doubt I'll ever fully get over my worry wart ways.

Here's what we did today...just to get a flavour of what our weeks have been like.

Molly woke up at 7 am. The three of us watched a bit of TV and then had breakfast (scrambled eggs and toast). Then Molly and I went to Calaway Park for an hour. We went on lots of rides. And Molly got to meet one of the characters (a giant bunny) who she kept following around and hugging. I can't even imagine how much she'd love meeting the characters at Disney!! Then we came home for lunch and had a picnic with Julia, Savana and Max on the front lawn (grilled cheese, blueberries, and watermelon). Then it was time for a nap. After nap we watched Diego for a bit and then went to watch the bike race Noel organized. He's been incredibly stressed about it for ages but it went off without a hitch as far as I could tell. Molly was great at the race. She made friends with a Gr. 6 girl named Hanna and just cheered for the racers and played with Hanna all afternoon. Molly was loving Crazy Larry - the bike race announcer. He let her hold the microphone and talk right before we left. It was so cute. She sang Twinkle Twinkle over the PA system and loved every minute. We came home and had some milk and a popsicle because it was so hot!! And then it was time for bed.

It'll be so easy in some ways to go back to work on Monday because for once I really feel rested and relaxed after a holiday! That's not to say I want to do nothing on all our holidays from now on. But after such a stressful last year or so it was just what we all needed.

We've taken some photos but I haven't downloaded them yet so I'll have to post them another day.

I am incredibly grateful for these two weeks. And for having such an incredible little family.