Potty Trained! (and the F-bomb)

Dare I say it?

Maia is potty trained!

It took about 2 weeks. 

She has yet to go when we are out of the house, but she's been really good at holding it until we get home.

And she's still in diapers at night.

One of her potty prizes was this dinosaur egg that gets submerged in water and hatches.

Maia was so excited. She climbed up on her chair incessantly throughout the day to see if it had hatched. She even sang it a good night song.

The next morning it was hatched!

Aleks washed it off for her and let her hold it while she was on the potty.

I looked in on her and she was holding the dinosaur on her lap, looking at it skeptically. She looked up at me and asked, "Mommy is it just a toy dinosaur?" My heart broke at her disappointment. We had to explain about extinction and I almost went out to buy her a pet. 

Thankfully, Aleks talked me down; I don't want to clean up after anything else.

Later that day, she was rhyming and found a word that starts with an "f" and rhymes with truck.

This little girl has had me in stitches all week.

Today I finished a project in Maia's room.

I had three frames that I wasn't using and found a fourth, larger one at Goodwill.

I primed and then painted them all with gloss paint.

I filled the center of the large frame with chalkboard paint.

Anyone know what book this picture is from?*

I found this image here. It's an outline of Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life, which I colored.

I was unfamiliar with the work, but I love it.

I can't find where I got this free printable from, but it's pretty cute!

This might be a bit over my 3 year old's head, but I like the message.

Here they are on the wall.

Bad lighting and all.

Next project?

See that dresser to the left?

It's getting a coat of paint!

*The Paper Bag Princess, a must read for any independent little girl.

Quilts and Cherries

Today I went to a baby shower for a new friend.

She's having a baby girl probably sometime in the next week or so.

I made this quilt for little Ali.

Out of all the quilts I've made so far, this is probably my favorite.

It's girly, but in an understated way.

For my friend's sake, I hope lots of napping happens on this quilt!

And, remember the sour cherries I picked?

Well, I made these delicious cherry hand pies.

I'm not gonna lie, pitting the cherries was kind of grueling.

But having a huge bag of these beauties in my freezer makes it all worth it.

I baked them all and then promptly put them in the freezer.

I think I should have made them, put them in the freezer, and then baked them when I wanted to eat one.

Oh well.

It's a perfect bite of summer.

Good things

1. My biopsy results came back negative, which means I'm healthy as a horse! I just have to check it every 6 months or so to be sure it hasn't grown.

2. School is officially out, which has left me with lots more free time. These first few weeks after the semester ends are always filled with finishing things that have been on my list since Christmas. Like cleaning the cars or setting up an appointment to have a piece of furniture fixed. But, I've also had a little time to finish something for a friend who's having a baby. The shower is on Sunday, so until then...

As things get checked off my list, I'm really looking forward to a few big projects. One of which is painting our dining room. 

Another is creating some artwork for Maia's room.

I have to be careful not to get over ambitious, we do need to make time for the pool.

3. My darling daughter Maia has been wearing panties during the day this week and we've only had one accident (and that's because I was in the shower)! I'm not really sure how it happened, but it seems that she's getting the hang of it. She's really good at holding it in, in fact, most of the time she sits there for an hour, legs wiggling, barely able to sit still she has to go so badly, until she finally lets it out.

We've been talking about how babies are born and the other day Maia told Aleks that "pee is born because it comes from my vagina."

4. I'm still running and now that Aleks is home more I can go every other day. It makes me really happy to have some consistency.

5. An organization called Canta, of which I'm on the board, is planning a 5k in December.

 I offered to come up with a logo. I kind of know what I'm doing, but not really. 

Here are two ideas I came up with today. They are both rough, but it's been fun. 

Any graphic designers out there have any tips for me? (Sabrina?)

Tomorrow I'm going to pick cherries in my friend's backyard! I hope you're doing something fun too.

Happy Weekend!

My week without Facebook

My week off from Facebook was strangely effect-less.

However, it did coincide with the week that I read Quiet by Susan Cain, which effected me greatly.

It's a fantastic look at the culture of extroverts and introverts, with a sympathetic slant toward introverts.

Here are the 2 main things I got from this book.

1. I'm an introvert.

We all lie somewhere on the spectrum between extrovert and introvert, but I am heavy introverted. This acknowledgement is a big deal to me because my profession requires heavy interaction with people. I really enjoy what I do and I like, dare I say, love my students. Since reading this book I've realized that I've created an extroverted persona that helps me to do my job effectively. Which leads me to my second point.

2. I've got to carve out restorative niches for myself throughout each day.

While I may appear to handle situations in an extroverted manner, it comes at a cost. On Fridays this semester, I taught from 9-5 with a 1/2 hour break for lunch. Some of you might think, "That's not a big deal, I work 12 hours days 5 days a week!" Keep in mind that what I do (outlined in this blog post)* is one on one interaction in which I must communicate ideas on a subjective topic to people of all different personality types. 

Exhausting for an introvert like me.

So, if I want to continue to be good at what I do and be a patient mother and support my husband in the way he needs, I've got to find times throughout my day to recharge.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to know more about psychology and personality and wants to improve their quality of life. I'm sure I will be going back to this one many times.

Other than reading a great book and learning how to be a better person, here's what happened this week.

Aleks got his regalia and participated in graduation as a professor. He came back from the ceremony with his super cute "I'm so thankful for how supportive you've been of my education" and "I think you should get a doctorate" talk.

I had my second biopsy yesterday.

This dude is my endocrinologist.

Personally, he drives me crazy. I think he's annoying and superfluous in his bedside manner.

He didn't numb the area with local anesthetic.

And thought that he should do 1 of the 4 swipes without the ultrasound.

You know, since it was a superficial growth and he could hold it in his fingers and just do it by "feel."

But, I'm in significantly less discomfit this time, so maybe he knows what he's doing.

And potty training continues with Maia. She goes when she wants to and doesn't when she's not into it. However, she knows that once this box of diapers is gone we're not buying more. Hopefully it won't be too traumatic for any of us.

Here she is with one of her potty prizes.

A wand!

Today Maia decided that we were all going to play sleepover.

(My new favorite game. Basically I can take a nap while Maia and Ruby arrange and rearrange their blankets.)

As Maia was tucking in "real tight" I heard her say to Ruby "sleep well sister" and then give her a kiss.

And that's what it's all about people.

*That student in my previous post who slammed the door in tears? She's like a different kid this semester. Totally respectful and open. She's made a ton of progress vocally and got approved to give a senior recital.

Sisters

Today we had an impromptu photo shoot.

Ruby saying, "Cheese!"

My two girls are complete opposites.

Ruby is quiet and cautious, while Maia is outgoing and fearless.

Maia's tall for her age with pin straight hair, while Ruby is short and got Aleks' curls.

Despite differences, they sure do love each other.

The Facebook

See that big empty spot in the lower right hand corner?

Yesterday I decided to take a break from The Facebook.

I deleted the app from my phone and iPad.

Why?

I just feel like there is so much noise surrounding me these days.

Things that are distracting me from becoming the person I want to be.

I mean, how many times can I update my newsfeed just to see that so and so commented on so and so's status, both of whom I don't really know anyway.

And how many George Takei photos do I really care about?

Don't get me wrong, I'll probably go back to the addiction at some point.

I mean, honestly, Facebook is fun.

I guess I just need a break.

I want to simplify things.

Everyone these days seems to be about more.

I want less with better quality.

The funny thing is, I keep thinking of Facebook statues. (Stati?)

Like last night when the episode of Downtown Abby we wanted to watch was going to take 2 hours to download and so we watched The Real Housewives of New Jersey instead and Aleks was really getting into it and I wanted to tell the world that my husband actually likes to watch RHNJ with me.

And like yesterday when I had a BBQ for my voice students and Maia came in completely naked, refusing to put on a diaper, and the college boys who were there were so uncomfortable they couldn't look up and I thought it was really funny.

Or that Ruby is now saying Mommy and Maia and about 50 other words.

But look, I suppose now I should just blog about it!

Ironically, according to my stats, most of my blog readers visit my site because of Facebook.

Then again, I don't blog for my Facebook friends. 

I do it for you!

Anyway, 2 more days of juries and then I'm a free woman!

School's out for summer!