Bye Bye Binky...Hello Bed!

 The past 2 weeks have been busy for Molly.  Not only did she throw away her binky but she moved out of her crib and into a "big girl bed".  Getting rid of the binky has been on our minds for a few months, but we knew it would be hard.  Even though we weren't letting Molly have her binky outside of her crib, she had come to rely on it to help her fall asleep.

I planted the idea of throwing the binky away 2 weeks ago before Molly's nap.  At first she was completely against it.  I talked to her about being a big girl and that she didn't need her binky anymore.  "No throw away!"  So I told her she didn't have to do it right now but when she was ready she could have a treasure in exchange for throwing away the binky.   I thought this might go on for a day or two ending with a trip to the toy aisle.

About 30 minutes after our discussion, Molly asked for some m&m's.  It was getting close to lunch so being the good mom that I am I told her no.  She thought for a second and gabbered something like,"throw binky m&m's?"

Come on now, who in their right mind doesn't say yes to that?  We hurried upstairs to grab the binky before she had time to think about it.  I talked about what we were doing and gave her the binky.  She threw it in the garbage and I made a big deal about saying "bye bye!"  Then, for good measure, we tied up the kitchen trash bag and Molly helped me carry it outside to the garbage bin.  We said our goodbyes again and went inside where Molly made a beeline for the m&m's.

With naptime came the hard part.  Molly asked for her binky and I reminded her that she had thrown it away.  Then she cried.  She cried for 1 1/2 hours.  I cried a little too.  It took everything I had to not get the binky out of the garbage and comfort my baby!  She didn't nap that day and bedtime was almost as hard.  She was so worn out that she finally fell asleep.  She had trouble sleeping for the next 2 nights but she didn't ask for her binky again.

"So hey, since we're working on this binky thing why don't we transition Molly into a big bed too.  Change is hard enough so let's do it all at once!"  I don't know if that was smart on our part or if we were completely out of our minds.  We had Molly start sleeping on a twin mattress the day after she threw away her binky.  Truth be told, Shane was out of town and I was using this as a ploy to get her to take a nap.  I'd bring the big mattress into her room if she'd stay on in for her nap.  Genius! (or so I thought).  She had a great nap.  We decided to buy her a bed.

That night she figured out that she could get out of bed and come into our room.  I walked around like a zombie for a week from waking up so many times every night to take her back into her room and then cried my way through the next week from sheer exhaustion.  I was just so tired!

I think our consistency is beginning to pay off.  Molly only woke up once the last 2 nights and she's back on her schedule of 12 hours of sleep.  I'm going to trow a party the first night she sleeps through the night in her new bed!

Big Girl Bed!

Caught in the Act Take 1 and 2

Picture this: it's 9am.  Molly's dressed, but just barely.  I'm upstairs doing my make-up and I hear Molly walking downstairs.  A little bit unusual, since she usually hangs out with me while I get ready, but I don't really think anything of it.  10 minutes pass and I head downstairs ready for the day.  I hear noises coming from the kitchen so I peek around the corner and find Molly, knife in hand, trying to cut the butter that she's retrieved from the refrigerator that she just learned how to open.  She looks over and smiles.  Mac-and-Cheese!

Fast forward 2 days. Picture us eating cereal as a family around the kitchen table.  Molly's finishing while I put my bowl in the dishwasher and the milk in the fridge.  The dryer buzzes and I go into the laundry room to switch out the laundry.  Not gone for more than a few minutes this is the scene upon my return:

 "Mommy, I spill"

Notice the milk on the table?  Yep, that's the one I just put away.  Molly looked so sad and worried about the spilled milk it was all I could do to not burst out laughing.  She got a little embarrassed when I called Shane to come see what she'd been up to.  We moved her to a different chair so she could eat the bowl of cereal and milk that she'd poured, all by herself.  (A first with the milk.)  After much reassurance from us telling her that it was okay and that it was only an accident we asked that next time please ask for help.  When she finished eating she helped me clean up the milk.

Fast forward to today.  Molly's eating cereal.  I've put away the milk and am checking my email in the next room.  "Mama" Molly calls.  I go into the kitchen and find the milk back on the table and ready to be poured.  She looks up at me, "More, please."

My heart swells with pride, music fills the room and a small tear forms in the corner of my eye.  I love my little girl!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had such a fun Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and lots of cousins to play with.  Molly was in heaven!  We had so much fun playing, shopping, eating deep fried turkey and spending time together.  Molly was so sad Sunday morning when she woke up and everyone was gone.

 Molly and Cha Cha.  It's so fun to have a cousin your age to play with.  We went and saw Arthur Christmas.  It was Molly's first time going to the movies and she loved it!

 The lights at the Mesa Temple

 Playing "chase"

 We love Grandma and Grandpa!

 Smile!

 Yum!  Watching the Krispy Kreme assembly line.  It smelled heavenly.

 The lights at the Mesa Temple.  See the wise men with their camels in the background.  So beautiful!

Grandma bought fun holiday p.j.'s for the kids

Ready for the Show!

I asked Molly if she wanted to exercise with me and while I turned my back to put it the DVD she lined up some of her favorite things in front of the couch for the show.  Not only cute, but entertaining as well (she keeps books in the shopping cart and read them while I exercised.)  I only tripped over her a couple of times!

Happy Halloween!

Ready for some candy!  Molly was really excited for her 1st year of trick or treating.  She was thrilled to get candy but had just as much fun passing it out to the kids who came to our house.

Trick-or-Treat

Last night was our church's annual Fall Festival including trunk-or-treating for the kids.  Molly wasn't too keen on dressing up and she took off her witches hat as soon as I took the pictures, but boy did she love going from car to car filling her little pumpkin with candy!  After a few cars she was even saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" without any prompting.

trick-or-treat!

She was especially in love with the little packs of m&ms

We've been doing all things pumpkin lately: cookies, decorations, clothes; I love hearing Molly sing, "Good morning pumpkin!" first thing when she wakes up and see's the pumpkin in the window.

I've been teaching Molly all of the Halloween songs that I grew up singing: 5 Little pumpkins; Mr. jack-o-lantern; Witches flying through the sky; and Boo, Boo, boo, boo! I'm a ghost to scare you.

She loves to sing and follows along with the actions!

I hope you're enjoying this Bewitching Season!

Autumn...

 

It's October and suppose to hit 100 degree's today.  Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but despite my best efforts I'm having a hard time getting into it this year.  I'm homesick for sweaters and colored leaves!  As the weeks pass and the temperature dips below 100 I know that things will start looking up.  I'm counting down the days until we can spend all morning at the park or go on a walk without getting heat exhaustion!  Until then, I'm in need of some serious mental intervention ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone-it it's fall!")  My plan is to do something Fall or Halloween inspired every day this month.  I'm not going to blog about everything we do, but if I come up with anything super cute or fun I'll definitely share.

I got this idea from the family fun website.  We taped a couple pieces of posterboard together, cut out a jack-o-lantern, covered the back with yellow tissue paper and put it in our window.  So cute!

(view from inside) 

(view from outside)

The pumpkin made Molly a little nervous, but by morning she 

was pretty excited to see her friend still sitting in the window!

Friend

We're big fans of magazines around here and Molly has recently discovered that we get one for her too.  We started getting the Friend at the beginning of the year but recently Molly has become attached to her "zeens".  She's flipped through the 9 or so copies that she has and names them too.  Her favorites are "Happy Birthday" (Pres. Monson's Birthday pictures on the cover) and "upside down" (the cover with kids playing on the monkey bars.)  Pretty cute stuff!

Birthday Fun

 Our sweet baby girl turned 2.  Here's the play by play with pictures of Molly's birthday last week:

Wake up.  Ohh and Ahh over the birthday decorations for a millisecond before making a mad dash over to birthday gift - a Molly sized kitchen.

Mmmm breakfast.  Molly's choice: waffles, whip cream, raspberries, whip cream, chocolate milk and whip cream.  There might have been some bacon and eggs in there somewhere, but breakfast really was all about the whip cream!

Open some presents...

Get dressed, go to the car wash (one of her favorite activities), pick up birthday balloons, make cupcakes, talk to grandparents and cousins on the phone, skip nap because we're having too much fun today, and play more kitchen while watching the BYU game.

Molly chose pizza for dinner and then it was finally time for cake and ice cream.  Earlier in the week I showed Molly one of my cookbooks that has a picture for each of the cake and cupcake recipes.  I asked her to pick out the one she wanted for her birthday and she immediately pointing to the picture of strawberry cupcakes. "Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!" she sang with glee.  Those were the ones I was hoping she'd pick!

Yum!  They really were good cupcakes.  

(I'll post the recipe on glutenfreebetty.com soon).

 more presents...

Happy Day.   Happy Family.

Molly Loves...

 BYU

Stickers

backpacks, bags and purses

Pink

Purple

Helping in the Kitchen

She pointed out the church as we drove past the other day.

She reminded us to kneel down for prayers this morning

She asked for a purple towel during her bath
-she's getting one for her birthday

while we were making lunch she found the cupcake papers...

She knew exactly what to do with them!

Mac and "CHEESE"...

"Come on guys!  Is now really the best time to be taking my picture?  

I've had a busy day playing at nursery and I want to eat!"

 "Okay, but be quick about it."

 "Time's up!  My macaroni is getting cold."

"Why do I bother... I'll just ignore the camera."  

Lunch is served!

Girly girl...

I've never really thought of Molly as a girly girl - she's always loved her books more than her bracelets, dolls and purse.  Being the book lovers that we are, this is something that we've encouraged.  The other day Molly shuffled over to me in my sparkly sandals that she'd found in the closet.  The next day she asked me to put Mrs. Potato Head's earring on and at nursery I spied her cuddling with a doll.  She still carries her blankie and a book almost everywhere she goes, but even book lovers like to dress up and have a girls day every now and again!

Cupcake Craze...

One of Molly's favorite books is "If you Give a Cat a Cupcake".  She excitedly sang out "cupcake" and pointed at the cupcakes I'd baked while she was napping on Sunday.  I think she enjoyed putting sprinkles on the cupcakes just as much as eating them!

best buddies!

You Gotta Wear Shades

Molly got a new pair of shades this week and she loves them!  She wear her "Classes" inside, outside, and upside down.  There isn't a wrong time or place when your shade are this cool!

Helping Daddy mow our patch of grass, in her shades and pajamas

...you gotta do yard work early when the sun is this bright!

I was cracking up when Molly started posing in front of the mirror with my hat and shades.  Too bad about the smudges on the mirror - Molly was giving the mirror kisses as I was cleaning it.

Happy Girl!

What a tease!  As soon as I pulled out the camera Molly started giggling and playing peek-a-boo with her favorite new book - "Party" ( If you give a pig a party).  This picture captures the happy girl that she is; always laughing, dancing and singing.  She runs and hides when it's bedtime and squeals with delight when we chase after her.  What a cutie!

I think we've got a winner!