David, Lisa, Kayla, Isaac & Annika

I thought I'd do a quick update on Kayla, since a lot of my recent posts have been about Isaac!

She is potty-trained, more or less (0-1 accidents a day). We started over Memorial Day weekend by just letting her run around in the house naked. She would look at us with wide eyes and say, "I'm going to pee on the carpet!" And then we'd run her to the potty. Pretty soon she was running over there on her own. She has had very few accidents (only 2 that I've had to clean up after... a few others that just got her undies a little wet), and hopefully we continue along that trend! She still wears a diaper at nap time and at bedtime. However, she'll knock on her door during nap time to tell me that she needs to pee. In the last few days I've started letting her leave the house without a diaper and she is doing great about "holding her pee" in the car and on walks and such. I bought pull-ups (which I haven't used yet) for her to wear during nap time, to make it easier for her to use the potty and put the pull-up back on (in case she does fall asleep and pees in her sleep). I'm thinking I'll probably start putting a little potty chair in her room too, so she can do that all on her own. That is, once we do a better job about wiping and pulling the undies back on! But she has been so good about it, I'm really proud. I had hoped to do this much earlier... like last summer! But then I got pregnant and was so sick.... then came the holiday's.... then I was so large and pregnant that I didn't want to be running to the bathroom every other minute... then I had a newborn... and now it's almost summer again! But she has trained so quickly with so few accidents that I'm actually happy that it worked out the way it did. It has been pretty painless, which is an answer to prayer! We are still at the point where we often ask her if she needs to pee, but actually she knows when she needs to go and usually refuses to try if she knows she doesn't.... so we probably don't have to ask so often. If we are ever watching a movie or something, I always tell her that we can pause it if she needs to pee and then we'll turn it back on.... and she'll suddenly yell, "stop the movie, stop the movie" and go running for the potty! The other day I was reading her a book and she said, "Pause the book! I have to pee!!" So cute.

A few other cute statements she's made that I don't want to forget:
"Mom, could you please pull off to a safe place and stop the car and get that blanket for me?!" (this comes after me explaining to her on a previous outing that I can't just stop the car because she needs something, it's not safe!)

I was trying to get out of the house the other day and I’d just put Isaac in his car seat when he promptly spit up so much that he needed a new outfit, new bib, and I needed to wash his car seat fabric and belts because there was a puddle leaking out of the bottom! David was still upstairs in bed and Kayla went up and told him, “Issac yakked (our work for spit-up) everywhere… it was RIDICULOUS!”

She has started making conversation with everyone. At David’s doctor she was talking to the nurse and was asked who Isaac was (we were expecting her to say her little brother) and she said, “that’s yacker-man” (which she made up – we’ve never called him that before!)! Then in the lobby she sat down next to a lady and started talking to her. I went over to try to get her to leave this poor lady alone and she looks at me and says, “Mom, we’re talking!” At Costco she was chatting with some workers, “I’m Kayla Taylor… I’m 2 ½, this is Isaac, I’m growing up to be a healthy girl and I can do lots of things like go to pre-school…. Do you have kids? What’s your name?!” She cracks me up!

She often incorporates family (pronounced "fam-a-LEE") into her play. She likes to draw a mommy, daddy, Kayla and Isaac.... she builds mommy, daddy, Kayla and Isaac towers, creates mommy, daddy, Kayla and Isaac bites of food, etc... and then says, "It's my fam-a-lee!!" I love the way she says it!

She's started saying, "Mom, you're a good cook" to everything I make for her (including snacks like crackers!). This was prompted by a library book called, "Pizza Kittens", but it's so cute and so sweet for her to compliment like that.

She tells David (about his knee), "It's ok daddy, you'll get better every day!"

We had been looking for a swing set for Kayla off of Craigslist, but hadn't found anything that worked out before David's knee surgery. But then the day before his surgery one of his co-workers told us their neighbor was looking to get rid of one and if we could take it down we could have it for free! So.... the night before his surgery we borrowed a neighbors truck and took it down and then put it up (in the dark!). We were outside until like 11 working on it, but we are so glad we were able to get it done before David was incapable of helping! Kayla LOVES to swing and be outside, and it's nice that we have something like that right in our back yard. We do live within about a mile of 3 different parks, but on nights when we don't have time to go there, it's really fun to have something in our yard!

Also, she is reaching a new level of independence. I thought she was already pretty independent and did most things on her own. But I was wrong! Now she needs to open the cereal box, pour it on her own (and I get scolded if I try to help), unscrew the milk top, help pour, put the milk top back on..... open the PB, help spread it on bread, open the jelly, help squeeze it on.... wash out her dishes in the sink, etc. Oy! It takes quite a bit longer to prepare her meals these days! It is fun that she wants to be helpful, and of course I do want her to learn those skills! But, man, I need extra doses of patience to deal with it all!

She continues to be challenging, testing every boundary. She is starting to be sassy in the things she says (“I’m not going to be nice to my friends…. I’m going to hit you…. I’m not going to listen”, etc). We are working on that! I know that defiance is typical for a 2/3 year old, but it is sometimes really hard to deal with. It is interesting how God has totally given me patience for her, though. I am not the most patient person; I’m the first to admit to that. But I am able to have a lot more patience with her than I ever thought possible. However, she sure does like to push my buttons. Some days we have so much fun together, and other days bedtime can’t come soon enough! Such is life with a toddler!