Cliona and her potty

No pictures of our little lady on the potty - that would be just too cruel. But we've had a breakthrough. Cliona started using 'big girl' panties on Sat. She has been in pullups since the new year - we threw the diapers away and things were just plodding along. We'd put her on the potty a few times a day and every so often she'd earn herself a lollipop. When she started to earn lollipops at 6am and we decided to switch the reward to a Hersey's kiss. It was easy - she loves sweets and was delighted that she spotted them near the cash register, asked for them and I actually bought them. I think that's a first in itself! Anyway, on Sat morning I nonchalantly asked her if she's like to wear 'big girl' panties and to my surprise she said yes. And did really well all morning. In fact she even told us once that she had to pee which was wonderful. We went back to the pullups for nap time and the afternoon wasn't as successful but Sunday morning was great again. She asked a couple of times to go and did so well that when she wasn't keen to get back into panties after her nap, we didn't push it. I'm so glad our 'leave her until she's ready' strategy worked. I think both Stephen and I were getting a little anxious about when the penny would drop (literally!!) . Cliona still claims that pooping in the potty is 'yucky' - so we've still a ways to go.

Big Bear with the Parish Philps Jan10th-12th

First I have to mention that on thursday morning we were going through the usual 'I don't want to go to school' saga when Stephen asked Cliona WHY she didn't want to go. Usually she has a hard time with the why line of questioning but this morning she was all ready for it. 'Cause I'm sick'! I know, I know - another 'Can you believe it? She's only 2' scenario. Luckily she does actually like being at school and so she ended up having a great day. That evening we headed up to Big Bear to meet up with Gk & Kerry. There is still a lot of snow in the garden and of course the girls were dying to get into it so we bundled them up and Cliona and Avery got to have their first snowball fight. Fortunately their aim was pretty bad because the snow was really crusty and hard. We couldn't even build a snowman. We did bring the girls sledding and then skiing the next day and they both did great. The chair lift was the highlight again - they really like that part.

This weekend we'll be staying local. Cliona's swing arrived so I predict a lot of time will be spent in the back garden :)
For swing pics and sledding video goto snapfish - this LINK should get you there.

Happy New Year!

Wishing all our friends and family a happy and healthy 2008.
We had a brilliant Christmas with the Philps in LA. The weather was fabulous, it was like summer. We played ping pong in the back garden, set up a table for board games in the garage and had football on the TV. Cliona and Avery played really well together and Cliona got to hold her newest cousin Katherine for the first time. Karen asked Cliona to sit on the couch, said she had a special treat for her and placed Katherine in her arms. After a couple of minutes of paparazzi-style picture taking, Katherine was removed. It was then that Clio asked for her special treat!
We had spent many weeks building up Santa for Cliona this year. We went to the mall once a week for a month and while Cliona started off afraid of Santa and not wanting to have anything to do with him, by the week before Christmas she was all ready to sit on his knee and tell him what she wanted for Christmas - a doll and a scooter. She didn't quite manage a smile, maybe next year. At night we would walk the neighbourhood looking at the lights and Stephen had Cliona looking for Rudolph. She would usually spot him flying by, high in the sky, his red nose guiding Santa's sleigh. We were out the other night and she saw him again and was a little confused but we explained that he was on his way back to the North Pole and that seemd to make sense.
On Christmas morning I awoke to hear Cliona and Avery talking quietly, scheming on how to creep out without being heard. I'm not really sure what they thinking of doing - Gk was already up with Kat so we met the girls as they were coming out of Cliona's room. They were a little suprised but once Stephen and Kerry got up we all went into the living room to see what Santa had brought. I think the adults may have been just as excited as the toddlers. Cliona and Avery opened a few presents and wanted to start playing with them straight away so it was easy for us to wait on Karen, Bill, Dana and Dave to arrive for the offical 'present opening'. It was a fun morning - I posted all the Christmas photos on snapfish - HERE