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May 23, 2003
May 7, 2003
My last entry was dated April 7 so just by chance yet another month has gone by since I last updated. And now, today is May 23rd and last time I tried to write an entry, all I got down on paper (or the screen) was that first sentece. I guess it’s a true indication of how busy most of my days have been.
The sad thing is that there are many things I wanted to record from the last few weeks but some of the little anecdotes I wanted to record for future reading are hard to remember when you leave them too long to record. As it is, I will return myself in time to just before our move into the new house and go from there.
Getting ready for the move was stressful and kept us very busy but we got it all done and we moved at the end of April. Erika was thrilled by the obstacle course we had created with boxes all around the house. For the first couple of days until we started unpacking, she just loved the echo in the new house. On move day, I drove Erika to daycare at her normal time and she spent the day with all her friends while we moved and cleaned. We had movers do all the lifting and carrying so that was nice. It was worth to spend the money. My Mom and I were getting a head start on the cleaning that way and when everyone left, I was left to myself in the house to finish up everything. I had one more last walk through the house and I sat down in Erika’s room and cried a few tears over leaving our first home that we owned together and all the memories we shared in the home. The hardest room to say good bye to was Erika’s room because we put so much energy and love into creating and decorating it. And then I drove off……… I had enough time to make it to the new house for about ½ hour to see some of the moving in and then I took off to get Erika from daycare and then bring her to the new house. We figured that would give her the most structure and least amount of disruption because of the move. Erika adjusted beautifully. The first night was tough. She just wouldn’t settled down and we were exhausted. We hadn’t rocked her to sleep in a long time but after numerous attempts to put her down without success I took her to bed with me and held her and rocked her until she was sound asleep. That seemed to be the only time she had a hard time adjusting to her new home and after that, she fell back into her normal bed time routine.
We’re still getting settled but it is starting to look like home. I love my commute now. It is so much better. I spend less time on the road and Evan helps with picking up Erika from daycare so I get home before they do at the end of the day and that gives me just enough time to have some peace and quiet to change into my comfy clothes, maybe start dinner or even just read a book for ½ hour. I’ve really been enjoying that. And when I have to, it gives me the flexibility to work some extra time to get everything done. A lot of pressure is gone now and it feels good.
As soon as we get the time, we will turn Erika’s bathroom into a water paradise with fish and water creatures. We bought some cool bathroom accessories all staying with the fish theme. Her bath mat is the shape of a fish. We’re going to paint the bathroom in a matching shade of blue and then I’m going to get a bunch of big rubber stamps and decorate the walls with a stamped under water theme. I hope it turns out. We’ll do something similar in Erika’s room but we’re thinking of a pink/mauve/lilac type colour with butterflies, birds and flowers.
Speaking of bathrooms, Erika has been showing a great interest in potty training. As a Mommy, I wasn’t quite prepared for that event but she’s taking the lead. I discussed it with her daycare teachers and even though we’re not in full potty training mode yet, we are working with her by getting her to pull down her own pants. She has a potty at home and if she wants to sit on it, we help her, encourage her etc. At daycare, she gets to go to the potty in the morning with the other kids that are actively training and she’s actually gone twice on the potty already. She’s at the point where she usually lets us know while or just after the fact that she’s gone “poo poo”. This is quite an interesting stage in her life and one of those things that I don’t quite know how to approach. Any potty training stories or advice from any of you who’ve “been there, done that” would be appreciated.
Erika’s vocabulary is just exploding. She comes home with new words every day. It’s really exciting. Sometimes, it just sounds like a different language. We just figured out that “Hup Peeee” means “Help Please”. That took us a while but now that I know, it makes sense and we can react to it.
Erika had her first big boo boo in the new house, too. She was trying to climb on the coffee table in the hopes that I would let her dance on the table to one of the American Idol performers (must be one of Erika’s favourite shows…..). Well, somehow, I grabbed her off the table and she wiggled away from me and on the way down, she had a meeting with the coffee table. She had a cut right on her eyebrow. Fortunately it is healing very nicely. It was hard to see blood gushing from a part in her head and not know exactly what happened or where she had hurt herself. This all happened 5 minutes after we decided that we’d do away with the coffee table for the moment because Erika was way too interested in dancing on top of it.
Erika has developed a real love for going outside after dinner. She brings us her shoes, her jacket, our shoes and our jacket and one of us has to come. Last night, she wanted to go out in the rain and like any toddler she just loved jumping around in the puddles and playing in the water. Erika also collects pet rocks on our many outings and when we make her leave them behind they get a formal “good bye” from her and she will wave good bye to them as we are walking away. That’s one of the big reasons why we have started accumulating rocks in our front yard. We live on a quiet street but some cars just race down the street so we have to be very, very careful when we are out with Erika. Well, wouldn’t you know it that one day, she pulled out her “leash” that she never wanted anything to do with and gave it to us and tried to put her end around her own wrist and was quite happy to have us lead her on her little leash. Now we use it all the time when we go for walks. It gives me peace of mind when we are out on the street together and the best part is that she wants to wear it so we don’t have a battle over it.
Last weekend I planted my garden and we had fun in the backyard as Erika was exploring with the shovel, soil and other gardening tools, especially the watering can. I hope my plants will thrive and grow. My Mom helped me a little in the front yard. The back yard is all my creation. I have a little bit of experience but never having had a real garden of my own before (in our townhouse we had landscapers that kept the community grounds nicely landscaped) but I love plants and flowers and am so pleased that I have a little garden I can experiment with now. I guess gardening is a big “live and learn” thing.
At the end of this message, I just want to write down a note about Erika’s daycare teachers. I know how tough it is to find good daycare providers who you feel happy with and trust to take care of your children. So far, our daycare experience has been great and I was realizing how much more than just providing care for my daughter they are giving to us. When I didn’t know what to do about potty training, we sat down and talked about it and they shared their years of experience with kids with me. This morning, when I found out that Erika was trying out her teeth in ways other than chewing her food (ie. She’s been biting a bit – us at home and at daycare) we discussed how to work with her in a positive manner to work at stopping that behaviour. On Mother’s Day, Erika came home with a home made card for Mommy but they also gave every Mom a plant with little self made plant pricks one of which had Erika’s picture attached. On Tuesday, after a long weekend, I walked in and asked them “just, please get her back into her routine” because over the weekend we had totally abused her routine and so they helped her get back to a normal nap time etc. Anyways, the point is, I’m thankful that they have become more than just daycare providers. The two ladies I deal with most of the time have become a real source of inspiration and can offer so much experience and advice. Part of it comes from the fact that when I bring Erika in I sit and chat with them for at least 15 to 20 minutes every morning about Erika but also about life in general or what’s going on in our life specifically. We have come to know each other very well and I know what’s going on in their lives as well. That means getting there a little earlier but it’s worth it. So, even though they may never read this………. A great big thank you goes out to them for being there for us as a family.
Well, we’re about to head out for a nice lunch out. I’ve been looking forward to it all morning. I’m going end this entry in the hopes that I will soon be able to write another update.
Have a great week!!!!
Uli & Erika
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