We thought we were done with cold season, but then three weeks ago, we were hit again for what certainly must be the last one for a very long time (right?!). We were all at the dentist office having our teeth cleaned (Leighton and I; it'd been two years...), and people were coughing and sniffing all around us in the waiting room. That following night, Lilly started getting congested. Runny nose the following day, then I get sick, and for one whole week we were both out of it. Then we got sick and tired of being sick, and for one week we were out and about again, planting in the garden, playing with the kids in the neighborhood, just a lot of snot to blow or wipe. But then week three begins with Lilly throwing up all over me in bed and then I get to deal with the nausea too, which for Lilly turns into a four day ordeal with diarrhea. So. We're at three weeks today, and finally feeling better. We've gotten Lilly all cozy in her "new" room (our former study/second bedroom, which she's been going to bed in since we came back from Europe last fall, is now *all* hers, meaning our desk and bookshelves are gone and she has her toys, a play/sleep tent, a kids table with chairs, books, etc., in there. And she *loves* spending time in her room, such a big girl.) Then, of course, as of yesterday, it's Leighton's turn. He's been sure to get lots of rest right away and so we hope he'll not have to go through another three weeks of illness.
So that's some of what's going on for us.
Other than that, most things are growing fabulously in the garden, some other things are not. We had friends over "syttende mai" for dinner and drinks, which was fun. The day before we were at a friend's birthday party in a park. And last Saturday, we were over at some friends' house (and fabulous garden) for dinner. Lilly loves playing outside, looking at what's growing in our garden with me, walking along the paths in our neighbor's gardens, sliding on our various neighbors' slide & swing sets, playing in the sandbox one of our neighbors let us have for now. This weekend we should get our kids pool out and filled up with water for Lilly. The weather is perfect now. After a stretch of some unbearably hot and humid days, it's just really pleasantly warm with a sweet little breeze now.
On Saturday, Lilly will be 23 months, almost 2! Such a big girl. And now entirely diaper free. I'm so glad my friend Amanda told me about the Diaper-Free Baby book with it's explanation of elimination communication. I had never heard of it! We had considered cloth diapers, environmentally friendly diapers, and regular diapers, but I had never heard of the E.C. approach.
Lilly pooped in the toilet before she was a week old (in this post, there's a couple short videos of Lilly as a tiny infant pooping in the toilet) and continued to do so till she was around six months and could sit up by herself to poop in the potty. We had a setback in Greece last summer (she was around one then) because we hadn't brought her potty and she didn't like being held over the toilet again. She got back into doing it in the potty when we returned to the US last fall.
Then this past February, she suddenly just refused to wear a diaper and we accepted that; I feel we'd been a little lazy not practicing diaper free more at the house, so she was still peeing quite a bit in her diaper. She was diaper free in days. She had maybe only one or two accidents while we were out of the house. By March she was peeing in the potty on the plane. Now she even naps without one (but still wears one at night, though it's mostly dry).
I'm very proud of her big girl achievement, but it really wasn't work at all. What the book says make sense: why train our child to be ok soiling herself and then have to go through the trouble of untraining
her from it when her instinct tells her not to soil herself from the beginning. It's been easy, really.
And Lilly loves not wearing a diaper! She loves being without clothes in general, as you can see in this little video of her from earlier this week, spinning around dancing, taking Baby Rita for a turn too.
Other than music and dancing and mothering her babies and stuffed animals, she loves reading, making "kaffi" (coffee!) and "mat" (food) that she'll feed her babies before putting them to sleep (sove), organizing her things, (pretend) counting them (she's learning...), and playing with her cell phone and new laptop (thanks uncles Blake and Rick!).
