When To Swim?

I promise that I will have at least one more post with pictures before NaBloPoMo ends this week. We took some pictures with a borrowed camera in Bend, but I haven't had the camera and the computer together to be able to get the photos off yet.

A few summers ago, when Darcy was almost three, we enrolled her in swimming classes in Simi Valley. They offered classes for her age, but they really didn't go well and I thought her instructor was pretty clueless about how to deal with preschoolers. Later, I actually read a little bit about swimming lessons and found that most advice on the topic says that she was too young. It kinda ticked me off that they accepted her as a student if it's not generally recommended. She didn't lose her love of water, but she gained some fears and stubbornness around learning to swim.

So I've been hesitating a bit about putting her back into swimming lessons and although I kept meaning to do it, I never actually took the steps to sign her up until quite recently. She needs to be able to swim sooner rather than later because the child has no fear of water whatsoever. She continues to try to walk right into the ocean any time she is near it. 

Her first lesson was today. I was nervous about how she was going to act when it actually came time for the lesson, but she was great. She did her usual Darcy thing and talked to everyone else (mostly much older kids) who were waiting for their lessons. And she told me, "I'm going to go underwater without even being teached how!" (We'll work on those irregular past tenses some other time.) 

Parents aren't allowed to stay near the pool for lessons, so I took a walk during a lovely sunset while she swam. I peeked in the window a few times and saw her laughing and talking pretty much non-stop, but also doing all the things that Josh-her-instructor told her to do. She let him help her start floating on her back and kicking on her back, both with her ears under water. She fights me if I try to do that as if I were attempting to drown her. Which is clearly not the case. All in all, I think swim lesson was a hit today and she's looking forward to Wednesday's lessons. The great thing about our pool is that sessions are just two weeks long with two lessons each week, so there's not a lot of commitment or pressure. If she likes these, we'll sign her up for another two weeks in January or February. Or March. It all depends on her level of interest and excitement.

Slacker Parents

Last month, as you may recall, Darcy turned four. This means that she SHOULD have had her four-year-old checkup and accompanying shots. We were slackers, however, and kinda forgot about that part. I called yesterday morning to make an appointment before we head south for Christmas. Lo and behold, they had a cancellation 25 minutes from my call, and I rushed over to pick up Darcy from preschool and got there five minutes early.

She did so well. She cooperated with everything without tears or struggles. This has not been the case for doctors visits for a while. And she has had a major growth spurt! She is 42.5 inches tall now, which shifted her height upwards by many percentiles.

Unfortunately, the visit did not end without tears. I don't really blame her. The nurse came in with FIVE needles. My poor little pincushion. She recovered reasonably quickly after they were all over and the bandaids were on, but she still got to go to the store after preschool to pick out ice cream (vanilla), sprinkles (rainbow), and sauce (chocolate syrup) for dessert last night.

Oh! The Light! The Light!

The light from the end of the "I only eat bagels" tunnel is so bright, I'm blinded!

We've been seeing signs of the bagel fetish starting to end, but the last two days have been incredible. Last night, she ate green beans with garlic and red pepper flakes, and mushroom ravioli. She even chose to dip some of her beans in the mushroom sauce that Michael and I ate with the ravs.

Tonight, Michael made falafel. And I made tahina sauce for it. Darcy tried both for the first time, with no fusses at all. She politely refused the tahina at first, but then took a giant serving spoon and dug right in. Smeared it in her pita by herself. Put a puddle on her plate. Licked the spoon.

After finishing an entire pita, she decided to drop her falafel into her milk. Then she added her cucumbers. And some tahina. She created cucufalafelmilkini. AND DRANK SOME OF IT.

Who knew the darkness could end so abruptly??

Post One Hundred: A Retrospective

Our blog will reach the grand total of one hundred posts when I hit "Publish Post" this time around. I thought I'd give you a little retrospective of Darcy. It's going to take a while to choose pictures, but I'm going to work on it off and on today in between wiping Darcy's nose, which is trying to run right off her face this morning. She found a cold while we were among people.

Ok, here's the first year plus a month or two. It was hard to choose because digital cameras let you take way too many photos and keep them in an easy-to-browse format! I'll do the next two years (that's right, she'll be three in just over a month!!) later because apparently a girl with a cold can only nap for twenty minutes at a time.

The First Hours: With Betty (Granny Mimi) in the birthing room.

First Christmas: Asleep on top of her car seat fleece in New York.

First Playdate: With Nia, in King Salmon.

First "Interactive" Play: With cousin Liana in North Carolina.

First Time In Play Center (King Salmon)

First Car: And with it, first independence! (In Baker.)

Potty Update: You Know You Care

I know, I know! You've all been breathlessly awaiting the next installment of our ongoing potty adventures. I don't want to disappoint, so here are the latest developments.

Yesterday, we went to Las Vegas, ran errands, went to a not-quite-as-planned play date/Meetup, and drove back to Cima, all while wearing panties and using various public facilities like one very big girl. Or, like Adam, if you are in the mind of Darcy. This time, when I suggested a diaper for the drive home, she refused, and we stopped in Primm for potty time and the purchase of much-desired milk.

And then today, even more potty news! I know that y'all can't believe your luck that I could have two potty stories for you in one day, but I do. So far, in her potty use, Darcy has been largely passive. She wants to wear panties -- again, like Adam -- and she's been willing to put up with having to use the potty in exchange. In fairness, she's really good at peeing on command, so clearly she's all ready for this; she just doesn't usually tell us that she needs to go -- we ask or insist, depending on her mood. But today, she was wearing a pull-up in the morning because our laundering of panties hasn't completely kept up with the need for panties. So although I had asked her if she needed the potty a couple times, I wasn't pushing.

And then the clouds parted (it flurried this morning -- there really were clouds), the sun shone on our girl, and she announced that she needed to use the potty! She proceeded to pee like a (very small) race horse, so the signalling system worked as designed. All very good.

In other news ... um, we live in Cima, so there's no other news. Sorry!

Oh, That Panty-Wearing Girl!

Here's a glimpse -- front and back -- of Darcy's wonderful panties. She's very proud of them and insisted on wearing them to Las Vegas today after our original plans of a play date with Miles was canceled. She wore them the whole time, through many errands (grocery shopping, flower girl dress shopping, etc.), and agreed to put on a diaper only when we were about to head home. She usually falls asleep on the ride home and I wasn't sure how she'd do with bladder control while sleeping. She did GREAT.

Get Used To It

Yeah, I'm a proud parent. I'm not ashamed. Get used to victory posts about the potty!

So Darcy wanted to wear panties -- "like Adam" -- to go to Kelso this morning and I let her. I carefully packed an extra pair of panties and pants plus a plastic bag to bring wet clothes home in. And I just as carefully left it on top of the freezer in the entry when we left. I discovered this when we got out of the car. Great. That made me a little nervous.

We went in and said hi to everyone downstairs and then went upstairs to find Michael. While we were up there visiting with Christine and Julia, Darcy started pulling at her pants, so I took her to the staff bathroom and she peed on a big-person's potty. We ate a bagel and drank juice at the fully-operational lunch counter and then went back upstairs to see the trains and read her favorite book in the reading room. Once again, she started pulling at her pants and successfully used the potty again.

The end of this story is a happy one. Despite having a neglectful and forgetful mama, Darcy went on a long-ish outing that even included drinks and came home dry!

In other news, the Adam fascination has not diminished in the least. It is definitely part of the motivation behind wearing panties. Poor Adam -- according to Darcy he doesn't wear boxer shorts like daddy, he wears panties like Darcy. At least her training panties are more like boy shorts than women's bikinis!

Guess Those Parenting Books Are Right Sometimes

I was waiting for that miraculous time when Darcy would suddenly indicate in some way her readiness for giving up diapers. I wasn't convinced that there was some magic moment that would make the transition a piece of cake, but apparently, we've reached it! Darcy has spent the last two days in panties. One nice, stay-dry pair for each of those two days. She isn't asking to go potty, but she is peeing pretty much automatically every time I have her sit on the potty, which has been every hour and a half to two hours.

This morning, Michael got her up and she wanted a diaper, which is fine because we're going to the Depot in a little while anyway and I'm not sure if we're ready for pantied outings yet. Although, if she asks for panties, I'll give her panties.

Potty Training Seems To Have ARRIVED

Let the record show that amid great fan-fare and praise, Darcy wore a single pair of panties all day long (with a diaper for her nap) and peed in her potty seven times. Dry panties for twelve hours and almost instant peeing once seated on the potty. Oh, the joys of parenting!

And Her Parents Party, Too!

'Cause our girl wore panties for over four hours this morning and peed in her potty three times during that time. Enough said.

Darcy Sings!

Apparently, Darcy hit some sort of new threshold in language development over the past week or so. Up until now, she's been able to finish lines of songs or help singing other, small parts of songs she knows well. But now, she can sing whole verses and songs. She is very fond of singing the ABC song, as you can watch, if you'd like. Michael's singing along only because Darcy tends to sing a bit louder if she's singing with someone instead of singing by herself.

Happy Belated Halloween!

So, this post isn't really about Halloween, but it's a picture that I'd already resized, so this is what you get. I need to get a post up about our trip to Tucson for Jenna's wedding. Darcy danced late into the night (ok, not exactly, but it had been dark for a while). She had fun. This picture was taken after the frog costume got just too hot for a girl to wear at the playground.

This post is really about checkups and snow. Darcy had her two-year checkup today (yes, a month late; life gets in the way sometimes). She's staying on track for her weight and height gains. She's in the low-middle percentiles for both, and still has a larger-than-normal head circumference, although I don't see that. But the low-middle sizes does explain why quite a few 24 month/2T size clothes are still too big for her.

She didn't exactly love the doctor's visit. In fact, she has NEVER been that upset/loud/clingy before. Not once ever. She was climbing me as if I was the only thing that could save her. And that was just while I was trying to change her diaper in an exam room that wasn't even the one we were going to be in for the appointment. It didn't get better.

Tomorrow will make her forget all of that, I think. We are supposed to get SNOW, and maybe lots of it! The prediction is for 6-12 inches at our elevation, with the snow starting late tonight and continuing on through Monday night. I'm glad Darcy and I don't have any pressing engagements tomorrow, 'cause I'll be glad to stay put. I hope to get some good photos of Darcy and the Joshua trees in snow. It will be my first time seeing these odd plants snow-covered! I'm just sorry that I didn't get Santa hats at the dollar store for them ... that was my plan!

Hope This Isn't A Jinx!

With any luck, the house pictured here will soon be our new house! We're waiting for the bidding to close and the official word, but we believe that we will be moving here in the near future. Why, you ask, do we want to move seven months after getting here? Moving isn't fun, it's true, but neither is life in Baker. It looks like a town, it really does, but it doesn't feel much like one. We're not losing much by being away from town and we're gaining a lot: peace and quiet; beautiful views, pleasant places to walk; 3000 feet in elevation (and therefore, much, much lower temperatures); affordable rent; neighbors with cows as pets; greater proximity to all parts of the park; shorter commute for Michael; and the list goes on!

We'll let you all know as soon as we hear definitive word and set a moving date!

In other news, Darcy Jo is trying to learn everything all at once. Her vocabulary grows at leaps and bounds, and she now points to letters she recognizes on all sorts of things (like her cup at lunch yesterday; it took me a while to figure out why she kept saying "emm" because I couldn't see the writing). She can pick out maybe a third of the alphabet and grins like a maniac when we confirm that it really is the letter she said it was. Likewise, she is extremely proud that she has (how? I have no idea!) learned the concept of "two". It started with her saying "two" if she was holding two of the same object, but now extends to just having two things, alike or different, and fingers! If you hold up two fingers and ask how many there are, she'll tell you -- and she did it the very first time we tried it.

Her other new trick is crawling! Finally! We took her to a mall when we were visiting in Simi Valley last week and it was crawling (forgive the pun) with kids. There were a lot of tunnels, which Darcy loves, but they weren't tall enough for her to stand in, so she couldn't take advantage of them. It's a little heartbreaking to watch her in those situations because it's clear that if she had had a crawling phase, she would now have a much better grasp of climbing on, under, and over things. She has to just watch the other kids a lot. She loves that, but I want her to be able to DO, not just watch.

She's been doing what she calls crawling every once in a while for a month or two. It's sort of like swimming on the carpet, as her belly is still flat on the floor. But after spending quite a lot of time watching so many other kids crawling around and seeing that she was missing out, this week, she crawls! True, hands-and-knees, belly-off-the-floor crawling! She mostly just uses this to crawl to something that will help her stand up if she's plopped down on her tush, but we also set up the couch cushions as an obstacle course and she's almost able to crawl up and over a stack of two. It will only take another visit or two to a play area for her to get up to speed.