Corpus trip

Scarlett and I took a road trip to Corpus to see my family. We stopped in Austin to pick up my sister and niece (she's three weeks younger than Scarlett). We spent the night in Austin and then headed out the next morning. All I have to say is thank goodness for DVD players. For the most part, both girls did great.

Scarlett with Grandma (my mom) and her cousin, Allison

Me, Scarlett, Grandma, Allison, my sister - Lucy and her daughter, Megan. It was hard getting the young ones to cooperate with pictures. My poor mom closed her eyes.

Evening and morning routines

Most nights when putting Scarlett to bed she doesn't fall asleep right away. She usually starts with a little fussing after we leave her room, but it only lasts all of 30 seconds before her tune changes and decides to sing which is so cute to hear on the monitor.

In the morning, she also will end up singing as well. One morning she added something new which made us laugh because of the tone of her voice. (listen to video)

This one she is singing a song she learned in Mother's Day Out. "Pie, pie (this is her little lamb called Lammie Pie), jump up and down, jump up and down...now sit down. Ball, ball, jump up and down....

This is Scarlett singing in the morning after waking up at the top of her lungs. She's singing "Ring Around the Rosies" but changed the words a bit. "Ring around the nina (as in little baby girl in Spanish)...." then followed with "ring around the mommy, mommy...."

After her song she decided to call out for Mommy and Daddy.

Our little fish

Scarlett has been in swim lessons nonstop since she was six months old. A few weeks ago while swimming at our neighbors house she decided to wanted to swim underwater and from that point on, she wants to be in the pool ALL the time. I'm sharing photos of our little fish swimming and even a video from one of her swim lessons.

Sleeping in her "big girl" bed

Scarlett is officially sleeping in her "big girl" bed. We're going on a week and half straight and not once has she asked to sleep in her crib. She has done very well and sleeps all night like she usually did in her crib. The first week, she didn't get out of bed. She waited until we came to get her, but now she realized she can get out of bed and had a few episodes:

• turning off her humidifier which was on the floor, but taking a step forward by trying to pick it up and spilling the water all over the carpet
• being caught carrying off her fan (used for white noise) while it was still plugged in

I moved the items up on shelves, but that didn't stop her. She figured out she could use her step stool in her bathroom. I came in just as she was bringing it out of her bathroom. She wanted to turn off the humidifier. I explained to her that I would help her by picking her up so she can turn it off herself, but apparently that went in one ear and out the other. The next day she figured out to open the cabinet under the shelves to step up on and turn off the humidifier. She wants to do it herself.

She now comes out of her room in the morning, but because she is such a talker, we know beforehand when she is awake so it's no surprise to us when she walks in.

Rolly polly frenzy

A few weeks ago we discovered rolly pollies in our front yard. I don't know what I was thinking when I told Scarlett that they tickled when they walked on your hand because that was the start of the rolly polly craze. She became obsessed with picking them up every time we went outside and well, since she discovered rolly pollies, we were outside A LOT!

There was a Dora episode where she used a magnifying glass to look at the bugs and before long we had a magnifying glass for her to check out the rolly pollies and the ants and any other bug that we might have come across.

I have since had pest control come by and spray our yards for ants because we had tons of them and I know it was because of all the rolly pollies living in our yard. I guess I didn't realize that it would also kill off the rolly pollies. Scarlett now searches hard to find at least one rolly polly, but to no avail. One day as we were outside a bird was in the yard and she saw him eat something and I told her the bird ate the rolly polly. What was I thinking? She was immediately upset and started to cry because the bird ate the rolly polly (which I know it did). As any great mother would do, I tried to convince her that the bird did not eat the rolly polly and that it ate an ant just to calm her down.

I know, I know. Crazy. I have since discovered that we can go the park and play with the rolly pollies there and she's happy. Good grief!

Video at end - compliments of "Aunt Shell" aka Michelle. Not only was Scarlett excited about the rolly pollies, but the ants, too. Even I make a debut in the video.

Where do they learn this stuff?

Scarlett is starting to show signs that she is ready for potty training. We've made progress in that she will finally sit on the big potty, but it also consists of others having their turn such as Elmo and most recently a ball. When I explained to her that the ball can't go potty, she would not listen to me. She proceeded to grab the toilet paper and said the ball was done and needed to wipe. I tried to tell her that the ball does not have a "hiney", BUT lo and behold, she proceeds to turn the ball around and around until she found the little hole where you pump air in and she said "there it is" and wipes it with the toilet paper. It was so hilarious!! As I laughed and praised her for being so smart, I started wondering to myself "Where did she learn something like that?"

Sorry no pictures. It was just a story that needed to be told.

New room

We have been in the process of changing Scarlett's room preparing it for a "big girl" room. With Gerry's help, we painted her room pink. I am not a pink person, but the color came out great. Afterwards I had my friend Cami's best friend come out and paint the art work on her walls which also turned out fabulous. The pictures won't do it justice. It looks so much better in person.

I am currently in the process of repainting her bathroom. I had painted it a green color, but turned out horrible against the tile so I'm repainting it a neutral color - sandy white. The artist will be back in two weeks to do the art work in her bathroom.

Probably in another week, I will start the transition from crib to bed and I will start with her naps. It's going to be interesting for bedtime because Scarlett does not like to go to bed. Stay tuned for "Adventures in Transition".

Scarlett thought she'd get in the bed and try it out after she woke up from her nap in her crib. She looks a little comfortable.

It's funny how she's starting to look big in her crib, but so little in the twin bed.