Isabelle is learning her place in the world. I am proud to say that she really does listen to us, even when we think she isn't. And for now she does know that we know best, even if in the moment, we think she doesn't.

Isabelle had her first lesson in negative behavior reporting.... John went to pick her up from daycare and was told that she had been very mean to one of the other kids that day. For seemingly no reason she had repeated and rudely told her "no," and at naptime walked over to the little girl, who was lying down ready for nap, and hit her over the head with a toy flower. When I got home that evening, Isabelle and I had a talk. During our talk she looked like she was listening for part of it, but then really did not want to listen and was avoiding eye contact, wriggling around etc... I had no idea what kind of difference our talk would really make.

The next day at daycare. I walked her over to the little girl and told her she needed to say she was sorry for the way she acted the day before. She started crying, and we sat for a little while. (We'd had a hard morning as it was, so she was already extra sensitive.) I didn't push it. I talked to the daycare provider about Isabelle's increasing sassiness and went on my way to work.

Later that day Isabelle took a toy away from another little girl. The day provider was on top of it, and told her that it wasn't nice to take things away and asked her to give it back and say she was sorry. Right away Isabelle said, " I'm sorry Anais." The she went over to the little girl from the day before and said "Luna, I'm sorry I was mean to you yesterday." (That's my girl) And for the rest of the day Isabelle taught all the other kids the golden rule. " No Austin, that's not nice." No Logan that's not how we treat each other." Now if we could only get her to practice that with her brother all the time!

Isabelle is potty trained!! We're so proud of her!! She still wears a pull-up for nap and a night-time diaper at bed, but during the day she only wears panties and has sucessfully peed and pooped on the potty for at least a week! More and more often she wakes up from nap dry, so that's a great sign! She's very excited about her new fancy panties, and likes to take them all out to look at them before deciding which pair she'll wear that day.

We hope that David will be easy to train as well. He can recognize when he has to poop, but hasn't done it on the potty. He does like to sit on the potty and clap for himself though!

OH HAPPY DAY!!! Isabelle pooped in the potty for the very first time at 8:37a.m. We are very very excited!!! (She flushed too fast to get a picture... ha ha)

Last night was a challenging night at the Kirby house. We've all been a bit worn out from my knee surgery recovery and David's bizarre fever that came out of no where. It's hard on Isabelle when the routine changes and seems to cause some adverse behavior. Either all of that or she's just 3 and challenging authority.

So we had a problem listening to Mommy and doing what she asked. It was after bath and everyone was tired and Isabelle decided to knock David's milk cup off the table with a wild sweep of her arm. I told her she neded to pick it back up from the floor and put it on the table. She didn't listen and started crying. Then I repeated my request and she continued to cry dramatically, so I gave her the consequence that she would not get to have her milk until she picked up the cup. The crying continued... finally we told her that she needed to stop so we could read a story or go brush teeth for bed. More dramatic, tired, whiny crying...

After much more crying and objection she did end up in bed. She wasn't being punished, we were just tired of hearing a tired Isabelle cry on and on, and it was time for bed. I went in to do our usual good night routine of singing and hugs and kisses. I asked her what song she wanted to sing..." you pick" she says. So I start "Twinkle Twinkle little..." "
"No Mommy, not that one"
"hush little baby don't..." "No Mommy not that one"
"Ok how about Mary had a little lamb,"
"no,"
"How about Sweet Child of Mine"
"No"
"How about, I lost my milk, 'cause I didn't listen to my Momma"
Sniff, Sniff, Pause..."Yeah, lost my milk..."
So that's what we sang...

Who can forget that old country hit single??

I think that David is going to be a world famous chef. He loves to be in the kitchen! He does the usual things like wanting to pull things out of drawers and cabinets, but when we are cooking he wants a wooden spoon to help stir whatever is on the stove. He also likes to play with the toy cookware and food we have. That seems to keep him occupied longer than most other toys. He stirs and transfers one thing to another and makes imaginary meals for us to try. He takes great delight in our slurping on imaginary beverages, yummy sounds and chomping of imaginary food.

He also really likes to play with the computer. Banging on the keyboard and turning the computer off and on are his favortie things to do. I try to buy cause and effect toys, but those are not quite as fun for some reason!

After a couple of days of neither of the kids feeling well from yet ANOTHER cold, Isabelle was back to her sweet self. She and David played well and shared nicely for the whole morning. David had brought out his sandals to put on for daycare, and Isabelle was happily giving him a lesson about them. "Shoes" David said, "Yes David, those are your shoes, " says Isabelle. "And what color are your shoes? Green! Good David!"

I was listening nearby and told Isabelle how nice it was that she was helping David and being such a good big sister. I asked her, "Are you going to be a teacher Isabelle?" "No" she said... then I said " What are you going to be when you grow up?" She paused thoughtfully and then said "ummmm... a rainbow."