This is the first year that Ava actually understands Santa Claus and the idea of Christmas, so I have been living it up! Watching Christmas specials on TV, reading "Jesus" books, we sing songs, we talk about Christmas trees and reindeers and elves. One of her favorite books this month was "The Little Red Elf", a Christmasy take on "The Little Red Hen". She also loves her "Dinosaur Christmas" book, a book where Santa is Santasaurus with his eight "dinodeer". She has a book where there are some Angels and so rather than calling the celestial winged beings "fairies" or "birdies", she now knows that they are Angels. However, I've been to the library several times, and I am having issues finding good toddler books that tell the story of Jesus and the first Christmas. There are a million regarding the Santa theme, but most of the Jesus-focused books are dull and the artwork is very Thomas Kincaide, literally, Thomas Kincaide, the kind of artwork that 80 year old women just LOVE. My toddler, not so much. It kind of makes me sad, but I am going to keep looking for some decent books that explain Christmas, the real Christmas. Why do Jesus-themed toddler books have to be so serious? So artsy and prestine? I mean seriously, my daughter would be much more interested in a stick-figure Jesus with a happy face and a donkey. Can't the story be told without a thousand dollar illustration?
Speaking of Christmas...Ava's first holiday preschool party is this Friday, which just happens to be my birthday! I am actually pretty excited:) I get to make 2 dozen cookies and we are all supposed to show up in our pajamas and apparently Santa Claus is coming for pictures, which will most likely be a disaster with Ava, but she'll at least enjoy the party. Oh yeah, Ava started preschool! She attends Edgewood Preschool Coop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She LOVES it! Like obsessively loves it! On the first day, she painted on a large art easel the entire time and talked about it for DAYS! So much so that I bought her more paints and she now paints at least 5 days out of every week. She also plays with blocks, dolls, dinosaurs, she has made a few ornaments like a glittery pinecone and a cookie cut-out of a star and a candy cane. They "shake their sillies out" and she gets snack time where they pray and listen to a story read by Mrs. K, the preschool teacher. The best part? Oh yeah, I get to be there! Because it's a coop, it's run by the parents and the parents in the 2's class are required to stay with their child during class. It's perfect. Being 2 is hard enough on Ava, she is constantly trying to do things herself, but still wants me right next to her, but she also has this new little brother to compete with, which has turned her into a complete attention hog! She needs Roger and I to be next to her at ALL times, it is exhausting, but I understand that she needs us right now. Adjusting to the new little brother has been a challenge for her, and as he starts requiring more of my attention during the day, I can only guess that it's going to get harder. So the thought of a "drop off and leave" preschool for a 2 year old was not exactly what I thought would help her right now. Interestingly enough, they really don't exist in Indianapolis, so a co-op was the way to go for now and luckily it is less than 10 minutes away!
Also on the homefront, we are dealing with the dreaded potty-training. I really don't want to do it. Potty training makes my ovaries shrivel up and never want to have another child again. But in the past week, Ava has insisted that she go pee in the potty at sporadic times during the day. I don't encourage, and I really don't discourage, I just go along with it because I don't really want to be that mom whose daughter goes to college in diapers, although I wouldn't be totally against that right now either. When she squeals, "Mama, I have to go pee pee in the potty!", my first reaction is, "Oh good, can you just go pee pee in your diaper ??" Is that terrible? I really have no desire to start potty training with her. I hate toilets, I hate restrooms, I hate the thought of my daughter going into a restroom and touching everything within a 5 foot radius. Gross. Just thinking about it gave me temporary hep-C just then. The whole big girl bed thing mixed with potty training has kind of been a disaster. One morning Ava came into our room, completely naked, covered in poo. As you can imagine, I freaked out. Put her straight into the bath, me screaming, "Oh my GoD!" (which by the way, is one of Ava's new sayings...great). I was terrified to look in her bedroom, but there it was, diaper on the floor, poo ground into the carpet. It appeared that Ava had taken off her diaper, poo fell on the floor and so Ava, being the ever vigilant good daughter, took a bunch of baby wipes and attempted to "clean" the poo off the floor. The attempt was obviously a failure. Dozens of baby wipes with one smear of poop were scattered all over the room, poo rubbed into the carpet, poo everywhere. Horrifying. As I scrubbed the poo out of the carpet that morning, I wondered if this was going to become a routine...was this going to be my morning routine? What had become of my life??? Lol! Of course, I can laugh now because I haven't had another morning like that since. I must have traumatized her with my reaction that first morning. But God forbid if I just jinxed myself. Ehhhh... So anyways, Roger ordered some pull-ups since she has become fond of ripping her diapers off so that she can go pee pee in the potty for the fiftieth time. What am I supposed to do with pull-ups? I have no idea? I put them in her room, in a corner, and I am just waiting for them to potty-train my two-year old. Apparently they do that? I don't know.
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