Hodge Podge

So, I've been very busy lately stressing over my solo art show in June. So this will be a highlight of all the things Grace has been doing these last weeks.

Slumber Wars
Accept for a few brief weeks before her teeth came in, Grace never slept through the night and has always been a fighter when it comes to sleep. My husband and I got into the habit of nursing her to sleep because she would cry bloody murder otherwise. Then when she woke up in the night we would wisk her into bed with us which was great for a while. Then she got big and wiggly. After we started to wean her night nursing became painful and so she and I were up a lot more. So I figured if she was already up so much at night I would start sleep training her. I bought her a new monkey to snuggle with and turned her bed into a toddler bed on a Thursday the last week in February. She loved the bed!! she got in and out and played on it. This was good since it had been her time out space and I liked that it changed to a more positive space for her to be in. We now use a "naughty step." The other great thing about changing her bed was we could talk about how this physical change meant a psycological change for her as well. I told her that we were going to learn to sleep like a big girl and in some way I think she got it. I thought sleep training was going to be horrible, filled with long sleepless nights and lots of screaming. No. The first night there was a little crying (less than 5 minutes), and she woke up 10 times. But the next day there was even less screaming and she woke only 4 times. We now have had nights were she sleeps all the way through the night. In fact some nights she wiggles in my lap until I put her in the crib. She actually likes it. We still snuggle at 6:30 when she wakes every morning though:)

Potty Success
So I have been off and on potty training Grace since her first birthday. I would let her off if she was sick or grumpy, but now I have decided to stick with it. We got a sticker chart about 5 weeks ago. She loved that and still does although I am not above bribing her with whatever she wants at the time which can be anything from toilet paper rolls to her favorite book. the potty sticker chart also gave me the feeling of progress since it charted her increase over time. We started at 9x in the potty the first two weeks and moved to 15x the third, 16x the fourth and now 25x in the fifth. Go Grace!! Not only that she is starting to wake up from her naps and sometimes in the mornings dry.

Talky talky
Grace is now saying crude sentences about her favorite objects. Like "dancing doll," "run bow-wow run," and "I said no." And no the last is not learned from me. Apparently she didn't want to do something Grandma said she had to do and she used it on her own. I swear it is not a staple of my vocabulary. She has even taken to bossing the dogs around by telling them no bow-wow and sit bow-wow.

Grace continues to be a surprising adventure. I feel that there is nothing that she can not accomplish if she really puts her mind to it. I am so happy she is turning into a feisty girl who loves to talk to everyone, shows empathy and manners and can't help giving kisses and hugs to every baby she meets.