Mom wins!

I'm guilty.  I bribed my child tonight.  We ate pizza for dinner, which Hannah gobbled down.  I also gave her applesauce...another favorite, but she wouldn't touch it.  I told her that she needed to eat her applesauce or she wouldn't get any "Dora snacks" (see below post) for dessert.  She threw a fit and flung herself around in her chair for a good five minutes, crying and moaning.  Apparently these "Dora snacks" have some major pull in our house.  She reluctantly opened her mouth and let me shovel the applesauce in.  And all was right with the world as soon as she had those gummies in her hand!

I've tried to use dessert as a bribe MANY times, but she has never given in before.  I'd like to think that this is a developmental milestone of sorts - maybe she is starting to understand that you have to do things that you don't want to in order to get the reward at the end.

I'm just desperate to make sure she eats healthy food on a regular basis.  I hope this doesn't make me a bad mom! 

Little Red Riding Hood

Hannah was so peaceful and innocent sleeping in the car this afternoon.  I couldn't resist sharing this one.  Sorry for the poor picture quality - it is the only complaint I have about my iPhone.

An Intro to Play-doh!

I think Hannah has only played with play-doh one time in her life!  And that was at a friend's house.  I'm not really sure why I didn't give some to her at home.  Perhaps it is my obsessive-compulsive nature and my dislike for messes that need to be cleaned up. I've been thinking lately that I should not let my issues get in the way of letting Hannah try new things.  So, we pulled out the play-doh!

***Yes, I put a shower curtain liner down on the floor!  I know it's a little OCD, but it makes for easy clean up too!

I really should have known better.  She's a picky child.  Not open to new things.  Has a strange aversion to crumbs and things that are out of place.  And she was NOT interested in touching the play-doh.  This is about as close as she would get to it.

"Mom, I'm not going to touch that stuff, but I will stand here and look cute for the camera."

She was quite interested in the heart pockets on the back of her jumper though!

Most of you know that Hannah is a VERY picky eater...and that drives me absolutely crazy.  When we went to the grocery store the other day, she saw a box of chewy fruit treats with Dora on the box.  She LOVES Dora!  I reluctantly bought them for her since I was pretty sure she wouldn't eat them.  I think I ate the first two bags since she would have nothing to do with the weird shapes and colors.  By the time we opened a third bag this afternoon, she decided to lick one.  Then she licked the next 10.  And of course, as soon as I turned away, she decided to pop a whole one in her mouth and eat it.  MISS INDEPENDENT!  At this point, I really don't care what new foods she eats, as long as she TRIES it!  We'll worry about the nutritional value later...

Struttin' her stuff

Hannah thinks she is something else!  She loved dressing up in her new bathing suits. She even did a little modeling, as if she was on a runway!  Silly girl!  And now that she is enjoying bath time again, she's ready to bring on the pool!

I knew it would happen!

It happened last night...Hannah either climbed out or fell out of her bed.  She is a very, very active sleeper and Mark thinks it is possible that she just pushed herself out of the open space above the roll-out bar.  On the rare occasion that she wakes up crying at night, we usually let her cry at least 5-10 minutes before we get her.  As soon as I heard her scream "DADA", I jumped out of bed and went into her room.  She was desperately trying to get back in her bed.  She was then awake for the next 2 hours...needless to say, so were we.  I hope she stays IN her bed tonight and that we all get a better night sleep :)

An "uh oh" and a new accomplishment

Tonight we came across several trucks in tow...nothing too unusual, right?

I guess it's not unusual to an adult, but Hannah knew that trucks aren't supposed to be like that.  She repeatedly stated "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh".  Once she processed the image, she said "choo-choo, choo-choo".  I guess she decided it looked more like a train.  Out of the mouths of babes!!

Hannah recently accomplished a new skill - drinking from a straw!  We've tried on several occasions to show her how to use one, but she just wasn't interested and preferred to stick with her sippy cups.  Now all she wants is a "traw" to drink from.  She drank this entire cup of milk tonight at dinner.  The cup was nearly as big as her!

Mommy Kisses!

Hannah gave me the SWEETEST kisses before bed tonight!  It completely melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes.  I picked her up to give her a hug and then she put a hand on each of my cheeks and pulled my face to hers.  She smothered me with kisses, much the same way I do to her all the time.  It's neat to see her express her feelings!

***Update on the big girl bed: it is going GREAT!  I don't want to jinx us, but she has been so excited to go to bed at night.  One night she even asked to go "night-night".  Each morning when I go to get her, she is wide awake just laying in bed.  She could easily get out if she wanted to.  I'm so proud of her for following the rules!  I know she'll test the limits one day...that's just expected from a toddler!

A long overdue update

I just haven't felt like blogging the last week or so, so this post will probably be pretty long.  Lots to catch up on!

Last weekend we celebrated my dad's 75th birthday and also my sister's birthday.

The guests of honor, Daddy and Katherine.

Here are a few random shots:

This is one of my favorites from the whole weekend!

Hannah played dress up this week.  She loves to walk around in my high heels!  Is it me, or does she look about 5 years old in this picture?

I think she realized that heels aren't as easy to walk in as they look!

On a positive note, the doctor has given me the go-ahead to start working out again.  My foot feels much better and I hope that it will continue to heal and strengthen.  I've had a few good workouts this week and went on my first run this morning.  I felt great...until my knee started aching afterwards.  I guess I'm expecting my body to do what it did when I was 16.  This is the first time in my life that I've ever felt "old".  

I really feel like God was watching over Hannah tonight.  Mark and I decided that tonight would be the night that we would convert her crib to a toddler bed.  When Mark took the crib front off he found a BLACK WIDOW spider hiding in her sheets.  I freaked out!  Of course this led to removing everything from the bed, changing the sheets, vacuuming, and cleaning the room.  I try very, very hard to keep our house clean, but this makes me think that I may not be doing as good of a job as I thought. 

Hannah was so excited to sleep in her new "big girl" bed tonight!!  She went down without a peep.  I'm anxious to see what she does tomorrow morning when she wakes up!  We had several "talks" about not getting out of bed when she wakes up, but to call Mommy or Daddy to come get her.  We will see!  Here is a picture of her in her new bed.

If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see that she found her "big girl" underwear tonight!  Since they have Elmo on them, she insisted on putting them on over her jammies.  Here is another view.

What a silly girl!  I told her that she could start wearing them instead of a diaper when she starts using the potty on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, she's just not there yet. Maybe this spring!