Saying Goodbye

After 2.8 years … I'm finally able to say GOODBYE to Maree's bottles. The girl has been so attached to it… and requests chocolate milk in it all throughout the day.  It's her breakfast, snack, etc.   I've tried throughout the last year to get rid of it.. and every time I did, she would get sick, and the only way to keep her hydrated/give her medicine was in her bottle.  (if any of you have expert medicine taking advice for a child who will spit everything back out I would love to know it!!) And as I'm sure many of you know, with my face being paralyzed for 4 months.. having a new born who never slept.. etc. I decided I had bigger battles to fight… her drinking milk from a bottle wasn't one of them.  But, society/family etc. creeps in an everyone tells you/looks at you like you are a terrible mother for letting your two year old still have a bottle (even if they don't mean it to come across this way) and I would feel horrible about myself. Ugh.

However, two days ago, Maree came out with her blankie on her head and her sleepy little face looked up at me and said "Chocolate milk please"… I made her her usual bottle and as I handed it to her, I had this moment of "I'm sooo tired of making her bottles".  So at 7:15 I had the brilliant idea to offer letting her throw away her bottles in exchange for getting to go pick out a toy/play somewhere.  She threw away all the bottles immediately… and then I had to wait for 2.5 hours for stores to open… not brilliant on my part.

Anyway, she had no problem throwing them away at all… she said bye bye bottles, gave me a smile, and never looked back. Wait, what?! Rewind. My child who has thrown countless tantrums when I refuse to make her a bottle…. just threw them away?!?!?!!? And didn't throw a tantrum!?! Yes, you read that right… she didn't care. SO…. I waited, and waited, and waited for the meltdown.  Nap time was coming and bedtime was looming in the distance.

She must have been so worn out from playing at the mall, (yes the mall, our outdoor play equipment here would give you a 2nd degree burn) that she didn't even ask for it.  After nap time, she did ask for a bottle, and I reminded her that we threw them away and that she could have milk in a cup.. she was fine with it. FINE WITH IT?!?!?! Ok, so bedtime… we brush teeth, read two books, sing two songs, and pray before she notices that her bottle isn't in her bed…. I'm waiting for it, the absolute meltdown. She asks for her bottle… I again remind her that we threw them away…. and I'm not even kidding, she crooked her arm and did a "darn it" swing but said "shoot" and that was it. I'm still kind of in shock.

The last test was the next morning…. she's had a chocolate milk bottle for her initial wake up ever since I could remember… of course she asked for it, I remind her they're gone, and she was fine with a cup.

Hallelujah! I'm free from the bottle washings of two kids… down to just 1.. who will shortly be off hers too!!! Best feeling ever. It's so funny how we (the parents) dread, and I mean DREAD things with our kids…. and then they end up handling it way better than us.  I was so worried about moving her to a big girl bed, potty training, and this bottle thing… postponing both by weeks/months because  I was so worried… man this parenting stuff is tough.

Anyway - yay to my big girl Maree! The last thing on our list before I can officially call her a big girl… is the paci removal. I was too afraid to do both at once….

Reaching up & ready to throw them away

See ya later bottles!

No big deal!

The next morning's "bottle" was in a cup. SO happy

June

How is June almost over?!?!?! We've had a lot of fun this month -- here are some random pictures and some favorites from Instagram too!

She LOVES to do this… I come over and find that she has conveniently pulled out every diaper wipe from the container  - thank goodness for baggies or I'd be throwing away lots of dried out wipes!

These meal time smiles just crack me up - she eats SO much food

We've been attempting to cut out morning naps here recently… sometimes this is the result!

Pretty hairdo by Miss Amy!

My World Cup fan - she really does seem to watch it

Miss Maree getting into my heels again

Swim time!

Maree joined us at the gym and hopped right on the rower!  

She loves her yoga

both girls do

love these peanuts!! 

Play dates!

Maree has made a friend at school named Marlie - and her mom and I are now good friends too so it has been really fun doing play dates!!  It is also pretty cool that they are from Iowa too - Midwest people are so easy to get along with  :)

The first play date involved dressing up in princess clothes

And doing each others hair

I've never heard of a "mobile spa" but apparently they exist & these girls got their nails painted! 

Me, Maree, Marlie, Margaux 

Such cuties - I sure hope they grow up being good friends!!

Making Cookies

I feel like it is crazy that I haven't had Maree help me "cook" yet, especially since all my friends seem to post pictures of their kids loading the dishwasher/washing dishes etc.  I've never tried this with Maree mainly because anytime I ask for her "help"… she's so strong willed that unless it is what she wants to do… it doesn't end well.  Anyway, lately she has been much more grown up acting, and I thought I would give this a try.

She was so excited to see all the ingredients laid out - and she especially loved the eggs.  Obviously the cookie dough was the high light… and she kept asking for more.  Like every mom before me, I told her eating too much would make her sick, and like every kid before her, she didn't care.

Once the cookies were baked, she wasn't too interested in eating them… but was very proud to point them out to Daddy when he came home - and of course he was a lot more interested in eating them!

mmm

And then she really got down to business

My attempt at keeping Ellie occupied during this whole ordeal

Maree's First Haircut!

How have I gone 2.5 years without getting Maree's hair cut?!  Well, the answer is simple… the girl has great hair.  Even little Ellie.. I've trimmed her hair myself a few times already, but I've never touched a hair on Maree's head.  I finally decided it was time for a trim though because after two summers of constant swimming, I figured the ends of her hair had to be gross.  AND the other reason (probably the main reason) I haven't gotten her hair cut… I honestly didn't think she would sit still/behave well enough to get her hair done.  However, we have recently started a new discipline strategy and it has seemed to calm her down a lot… especially in these public types of situations where I feel like I'm always most embarrassed.  I'm SO happy to report… she did amazing :)

She hopped right up on the chair and followed directions of putting her chin down/looking forward etc. Our favorite hair dresser (Amy) told us she'd never seen a 2 year old with as much hair as Maree… ever.  I'm not even kidding, the girl has just as much hair as I do.

Here are some pictures

Had to start with dividing all the hair

She thought it was pretty cool

Another highlight of this whole ordeal might have been this texting conversation with Marc...

…… I mean REALLY?!!!!!!!!! As if I would have dyed my 2 year old's hair. too funny.