Oh NO! The Garbage Man!

Mireya is terrified of the garbage man! She used to get excited about watching the garbage truck drive by, but ever since we gave the garbage truck and the man inside a name, The Garbage Man, she is terrified! She cries every Thursday morning when he comes and we have to cuddle her until he drives far enough away that she can no longer hear the truck.

Well, now apparently, The Garbage Man has invaded her nightmares. Poor Mookie. She woke up just a minute ago crying and I rushed into her room to see what was wrong. She was sitting up in bed, so I scooped her up:

"Honey! What's wrong? Don't cry baby! What's wrong?"

"Right there!"

"What? What's right there?"

"Garbage Man! Right there!"

"Oh no baby, there's no garbage man!"

"Right there! Garbage Man right there Mommy!"

"Ohhh, sweetie no. There's no garbage man. It's just you and me, Sara, Emily, and all your stuffed animals. I promise there is no garbage man in here, okay?"

"Okay."

"Go to sleep now baby girl."

"Okay... *pause* ...tooting..."

"Yes, sweetie, your tooting." *giggle* "Now, go to sleep."

"...tooting..."

*giggle*

Poor girl. I think next Thursday we are going to go out and meet the garbage man, so she understands that he isn't scary. As for the 'tooting', well, she ate too many fruit snacks. :)

Crib to Toddler Bed

Guess what we are doing right now? We are watching Mireya on a video camera. She is laying in her toddler bed (her crib with the front rail removed.) We decided that we didn't want to risk her climbing out of her crib, potentially hurting herself in the process; and with the camera installed, we can watch her to make sure she stays in bed and doesn't get into trouble.

She has been doing great! She had a nap earlier and stayed in her bed the entire time. Now, she is sleeping for the night and didn't put up a fight what-so-ever. She's such a good girl. She is so excited about it, too! All day, she has been putting her stuffed animals and dolls to bed in her new toddler bed. She's so cute!

Stay at Home Mommy

Guest post written by my buddy Bernardo Graham Well, we are down to one income now. I was a teacher, but we decided with three kids, it was better for me to finish out this year and stay home with them. We were spending almost my whole paycheck in childcare for three. Then the little bit we had left of my paycheck was going to pay doctor bills because they were always catching things from the other kids at their preschool. Not to mention, I used so many sick days that I started having to take days with out pay. So, by the time contracts came back around to be signed for the next year, we decided it was probably going to work out the same financially, sparing me the stress of all the things that teachers have to do in a week. We also looked to see if we could make cuts on our utilities. We decided we could do without HBO/Cinemax and our TiVo. We also bundled home and cell phones with our cable. With a little research at Just Energy Offers, I found that we could save by switching energy providers so we did! Hopefully, we won’t even realize that we’re down to one income with the little changes made and no childcare expenses!

Mommy, LISTEN!

Mireya is so cute! She just came up to me and said, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" I told her she had to wait one second and she said, "No! LISTEN! Mommy, LISTEN!" When I said ok she asked me a question. How cute is that!? My baby girl is growing up! :( :)

No, no, no Daddy!

Lately, when I snap my fingers to a beat around Mireya, she tells me no, no, no Daddy! She hates it for some reason. Mommy hates it too!

I am so PROUD of Mireya!

Mireya started potty training today. We attempted it several months ago, but it quickly became clear that it was too early. Today we started again. SHE IS SO AMAZING! My sweet, baby girl....well... not really a baby..... anyway, she only peed in her pull-ups once and she started pooping in them once too. She peed in the potty a total of 7 times! One of those was at a restaurant even! She just turned to me and said, "Mommy. Mommy! Potty Mommy!" When I asked her if she needed to potty, she got all excited and we hurried to the bathroom. Without any hesitation she sat on the potty and peed! It was so cool!

I made her the potty candy jar that I have posted pictures of previously here. She gets some candy after each time she uses the potty. She also has a really cool potty chart that she gets to put one sticker on each time she uses the potty. (Thank you Dad and Ellen!) She is so excited about the whole process and I couldn't be more thrilled!

I think it really helped to get her started this morning when I intentionally fed her a gazillion Saltine crackers and tons of juice. She was a peeing machine! :) I think that as long as Daddy and I stick to it, she will be potty trained in now time! I also realllllyyyy hope she doesn't just find it a novelty today and then in a few days the fun wears off... that would just suck! :(

****FYI--I published a new video of her on YouTube.****

1st Dentist Visit

Mireya had her first dentist visit yesterday. I have been concerned, because she chipped the face of one of her top front teeth a few months back and it has turned a dark color. I also recently noticed another dark spot on another tooth. I wanted to be sure they weren't cavities. Well, they are. Sh*t.

I feel so bad! Apparently it is really common for kids her age to get cavities, because they are learning to brush and they don't like to. It just sucks, because she hardly ever drinks juice, she was off the bottle by one and she never goes to bed with milk. She has been eating too many sweets lately with the holidays and I'm sure that made things worse.

Mireya has to go back when she turns two and have the two cavities filled. They will sedate her and I am trying not to totally panic about it. She is my baby and I don't want anything bad to happen to her EVER. I keep trying not to think about all the "what ifs." Stupid "what ifs" just need to go away.

The only positive about the entire experience was the office. It was a pediatric dental office and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. They had touch screens with all kinds of games, a whole little western "street" of sorts, toys, and other cool stuff. Mireya and Jason didn't want to leave! Seriously! I had to pry Jason off a touch screen game (he HAD to enter his name in the high score box) and Mireya cried all the way out the door. Maybe I should just drop the two of them off there on days that I need a little peace and quiet...