The Odegaard family: in progress

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Visiting Aunt Nancy

Vacation frozen yogurt!

We miss Aunt Nancy! Time for a trip to Durham. Here's how it went:

The decision of who should go visit Aunt Nancy was a big one. Cost, time commitment and each family member's ability to sleep and roll with the punches of traveling were all factored into the decision limit the trip to myself and Kalina. We couldn't wait!

We wanted to thoroughly discuss every minutiae of the trip before the time came to leave, but we couldn't: Elise got jealous whenever she heard she wouldn't be included. So Kalina and I quietly planned and packed and then waved a cheerful goodbye as we headed out the door, only nine small stuffed animals tagging along (or 10, if you include the stuffed kitten Kalina had picked out as a new-baby gift for a friend).

All smiles before the plane
left the ground, but the
kitten was a bit nervous.

Before I tell you about the rest of the adventure, I should mention that Elise relished the attention of both Daddy and Grandpa while we were gone, and that she was even still potty trained when we returned. No toddlers were ignored in the duration of this trip, and in fact, they were probably a bit spoiled. (No more so than Kalina and I!)

Grandpa dropped Kalina and I off at the airport curb, where we spent a full five minutes (it felt like) helping Kalina figure out how to wheel her little purple fuzzy suitcase behind her, and me how to haul the carseat on my rollerbag. Good thing we weren't walking to North Carolina. We soon got the hang of it--Kalina was an expert by trip's end--and navigated the various airport lines and inconveniences with no trouble. Soon, we were on the plane.

We loved Aunt Nancy's new
house!

Kalina immediately wanted to be buckled in, and then her nerves and excitement prompted her to ask, "Are we in the air yet?" or, "Are we lifting off?" as we sat on the ground and wheeled around the airport for the next 20-ish minutes. Once aloft, we went through a cloud, looked down on the clouds, and scoffed at the people who might be getting rained on while we had the brilliant idea to be above the clouds. Kalina even saw muffins in the clouds. We also saw fields and rivers before shutting the window--apparently, being several thousand feet up is a bit intimidating for a 3-year-old. I resisted making her switch seats so that I, at least, could gaze out, and instead read stories.

Soon, we were offered the first of many treats of the trip: orange juice, pretzels and cookies, plus M&Ms just to sweeten the deal (and just in case we needed bribes to keep the seatbelt buckled--after all, the skies are not very friendly after all). Life was good.

Kalina knows dogs love bones! She
picked out this bone toy for Poky.

Then came the turbulence, and Kalina decided she was done flying. Sorry, kiddo. It ended soon enough, and then we were on the ground. Ironically, Kalina decided that landing was her favorite part, bumps and all (I hate landing, personally).

We were thrilled to see Aunt Nancy, and thrilled to be back in our old stomping grounds. However, they would have to wait until tomorrow to be explored: first, was a tour of Aunt Nancy's new house, and then bedtime in the cozy little blanket-bed nook set up just for Kalina, complete with a "sleep hippo" friend. To help her sleep, the girl decided, or in case her animals needed help sleeping.

The truck behind "truck park!"

Sleep hippo success: the next morning, I had to wake Kalina for our 10 a.m. park playdate. Time zone shift aside, clearly this was a big trip for my little girl. But she was elated to grab some special Honey Nut Cheerios out of Aunt Nancy's cupboard and head off to her favorite "truck park."

When we arrived, our friends Katy, Ian, Evan and Ben were already there. Kalina took off at a run--toward the truck. Then toward Evan. Then the truck. Then Evan. And finally, the truck won. It's a pretty cool truck. Eventually, the reunion happened and Kalina, while taking comfort in the fact that her old friend was around, pretty much ignored everyone as she played. Mommy thoroughly enjoyed catching up.

Poor little sick doggie.

Next, we picked up Aunt Nancy for pizza. Kalina's not a big fan, but we managed to convince her to tag along, anyway--and she settled into a big bowl of pasta. Then a Target trip, but not a "boring" one, as Kalina told Aunt Nancy: we needed a few things for the beach the next day: namely, sunscreen and an umbrella, plus a few extras because, after all, we're on vacation. Afterward, we decided frozen yogurt would be a good idea, lest anyone forget we're on vacation. And finally, back to Aunt Nancy's house for some much-needed low-key playtime.

Aunt Nancy's toybox is well-stocked, plus Kalina had aged into one of my and Nancy's favorite old games. What's more, there were presents! For Aunt Nancy's dogs from us, and for Kalina, whose birthday is at the end of the month. Kalina opened her pretend vet office set and book about doggy Biscuit, who sees the vet, and immediately set out to curing every animal in sight.

Even the mommies had fun!

Our dinner plans included a park, a picnic and a bunch of old friends: what could be better? The evening was gorgeous and the company was wonderful--Kalina and I both had a great time. Afterward, Aunt Nancy read Kalina's bedtime story as I headed out to an old favorite cake place with friends for more catching up, and realized how much I miss North Carolina.

Second generation friendships!

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful, and could not have been a nicer day for a beach trip. The 2-hour drive passed like nothing, the parking spaces were plentiful, the dead cat on the walk to the pier was only "sleeping," and by 10:15 we were set up and digging our feet into the sand.

Sweetest girl on the beach.

Or wallowing in it, in the case of the 3-year-old. So much so, that we soon decided our tentative itinerary of heading down to the aquarium later and crossing an inlet on a ferry would be downright cruel, and we instead determined to keep to the beach.

It's hard to tell what Kalina liked most: picking up every shell that caught her eye (many of which now have a home in our sandbox), endlessly filling and emptying her bucket, or jumping the (little) waves with the help of her two adults. The only disappointment was that Aunt Nancy never did manage to catch a minnow for her. However, we can't complain: we spotted one (and only one) dolphin surfacing through the waves, an older girl obligingly showed us a little mole crab she'd caught, and from the pier we could see a lone jellyfish floating in the ocean.

Kalina loved watching the waves from
her perch beside Aunt Nancy!

Also from the pier, which we sprang the $3.75 total to walk out on, we saw the waves breaking from above (I think Kalina could've watched all day had I not been a bit worried about replenishing her sunscreen), a few small fish that people had caught, and plenty of seabirds.

What's a beach trip without
ice cream?

Speaking of birds, Kalina caught even more attention than she already had (by being the cutest girl on the beach and wearing her pink tutu suit) by chasing and heckling them as she does the robins and garden-eating bunnies at home. "You bad birds!" I'm gratified to know is the worst thing she can think of to say, "Go away! Get away from here!" The seagulls, who were doing no harm, walked calmly away from the running, flailing, happy little girl, as the onlookers laughed.

Our parking meter ran out at 3 p.m., but it was 4 p.m. before any of us thought to check the time. Our perfect beach day remained unmarred as we somehow avoided a fine, but that didn't change the fact that it was time for us to pack up. Kalina sadly said goodbye to the ocean, while I vowed we'd get back, somehow.

Kalina avoided sunburn entirely, and I only turned a little red on my shoulders. Aunt Nancy's splotchy back proved an example of, "Look, Kalina, here's what happens when you don't wear sunscreen!" (Oops! but Aunt Nancy was only too happy to help protect Kalina's skin.)

The next morning, Kalina and I both stirred early:
Me, whispering: Kalina, are you awake?
Kalina, whispering: No.
One of us continued to doze, while the other gave up the battle. A bit later, we were both on our way to see our friends: Sarah, Stephen, newly 4-year-old Edward and baby Marie.

Edward and Kalina, while outwardly an unlikely pair, had been something like best friends when we lived in Durham. He was into light bulbs, batteries and circuits while she's more into animals, but both could anthropomorphize anything and enjoyed developing elaborate stories and worlds. Not necessarily together, though--I think what the liked best about each other was the fact that could play near each other in companionable quietness, as neither possessed the toddler impulses for hitting, hugging, or stealing from other kids. Needless to say, I was excited to watch the reunion of these two, as they'd known each other since they were about 6 months old.

Kalina and friends.

Kalina was all grins and the occasional hug, and Edward chattered about baby lightbulbs riding in a firetruck when we met. And then the kids picked up right where they'd left off: happy to play in the same vicinity. We soon headed out to a park and were joined by Katy, Evan and Ben, and did typical park stuff the rest of the morning. Kalina and Evan at one point pretended to be spiders, and Kalina and Edward sat beside each other on a little ledge. With Kalina becoming relatively social among her girl friends here in St. Louis, I was surprised more of that didn't show with her old companions. But after all, they are boys.

On the way back from the park with a wilted Kalina, I suggested stopping to see one more friend or potentially heading out to a restaurant with Aunt Nancy, but both were vehemently opposed. As soon as she set foot in Aunt Nancy's house, Kalina put herself down for downtime without lunch or a story, and rested/played for a solid 45 minutes on her own.

Finally, after some more playtime it was time to board the airplane, albeit reluctantly, for home. And would you believe it? Now we miss Aunt Nancy even more! I guess we'll have to go back sometime.

P.S. Happy birthday, Uncle Brian!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Potty self-training

Classic Kalina and Elise. Kalina
can get the toddler to eat more
green beans than I can.

If only Elise would fix her own meals and finance her own college education, we'd be set--after all, she's doing everything else for herself lately. The biggest thing, of course, is potty training.

On Thursday right before naptime (bad idea), we hauled Kalina's old potty up from the basement ("New!" declared Elise both ignorantly and blissfully). Elise glued herself to it for a good 30 minutes with no success before I wrestled her into the crib for her nap.

Elise persisted in practicing all afternoon. No success.

But the next morning, after holding it for nearly three hours and then two minor accidents: success! And that's pretty much the end of diapers, and the end of my story, unless you want the gritty details:

For one, you should know that Elise completely spearheaded this effort. So far I've always been blindsided by potty training, as my kids are traditionally far more enthusiastic about it than I am. It was Elise who got the bright idea to start using the potty in the first place, and Elise who persisted despite her mommy's chipper, "You'll get it, we'll just keep practicing, let's go do something else for a while!" and the like. It was Elise's energy that never gave out during frequent trips to the potty, and frequent checks to see if the potty had worked yet ("I think I've got it this time! Do I? Nope. I'll try again. Now? No. How about now? Now? This time for sure! Not yet." Etc.). Hardly discouraged by setbacks (i.e., a dry and clean potty chair despite her best efforts), this girl would fly to the moon if she only had wings.

These bridges stayed put all of .5
seconds after Daddy built them over
the girls. But it was still quite impressive
to see Elise lay still for construction!
Again, motivation.

We mostly stayed home for several days in a row to help Elise get the hang of it--and under my watchful eye, and with a potty chair handy, we made it through some of them with virtually no accidents (and, for some reason, virtually no naps). We also made it without going completely crazy, thanks to a neighbor with three potty-trained children who thought nothing of my lugging our potty chair into her house so my kids could play with hers with limited liability, and also thanks to Grandpa, who braved potty training long enough for me to dash to the grocery store.

And then just as we were getting brave enough to venture beyond our backyard (or the neighbor's house), we mostly stayed home because Elise held onto a fever for six days, but persisted in potty training throughout. I'm pretty sure I would've given up.

Elise, for some strange reason, seemed to be enjoying herself dashing back and forth to the bathroom. It might have helped that every time she headed in that direction, she was accompanied by an entourage consisting of her hopeful mommy and her helpful big sister, not to mention an armful or two of stuffed animals and anything else Elise (or Kalina) decided it'd be necessary to scoop up along the way. Or maybe she's really that motivated to learn.

Elise shows Grandpa the best
strawberries, while Kalina
seeks out hidden gems.

But it's still a strange thing, potty-training a 20-month-old--for some reason, even stranger than potty-training my 23-month-old. In fact, I'm stunned enough to regale anyone who will listen with the tale of Elise's potty training, and help the child pick out underwear at the store louder than I probably need to: "YOU DON'T NEED DIAPERS ANYMORE, DO YOU, SWEETIE? YOU GET TO WEAR UNDERWEAR!" Either that, or I've been trapped at home potty training my child and I'm lonely for conversation, any conversation at all.

Strangest of all is that we've hardly used bribes. I only implemented them out of desperation when Elise went most of two days without pooping, and began to voluntarily lay down on occasion requesting a diaper (that was when I knew she was really desperate, too). So now, she and Kalina both get marshmallowy rewards when Elise's efforts in that direction pay off. It's kind of working.

And, of course, we're not completely done with diapers. For some reason I can't quite count on a 20 1/2-month-old to effectively manage her bladder all the way through the super-exciting local kids' museum, or even the grocery store--but possibly as we dart into and out of the post office.

The girls like to alternately jump and
rest on Kalina's bed.

However, evidence says I shouldn't worry. Despite Elise's precautionary diaper, she let me know when she needed to go potty during our visit to the kids' museum (while Kalina was in preschool), and used the public facilities as if she'd been doing so all her life. Perhaps she hasn't yet learned to be terrified of loud flushing. (But she will.)

That, of course, won't stop me from constantly fretting while we're out for at least the next few months--because inevitably, I'll have to take her out of diapers so as not to send mixed messages (you don't have to use the potty while we're in public, but you do at home???). But that just goes along with the territory--and if you're not worrying about the condition of the local nature center's carpet, you're worrying that your child will climb to the top of the stuffed bear. It's always one thing or another.

Still to overcome: the giant road trip and family vacation, plus any larger outing we want to take on this summer (the zoo? The pool???).

Of course, we still have the occasional accident and I occasionally have to remind myself that Elise is only 20 months old, and not to expect too much of her. But if the girl can pretty much potty train herself, shouldn't I be expecting a lot?

In truth, Elise has truly amazed us all, but Daddy the most. I don't know whether he doubted my sanity or Elise's motivation more, but either way, he's been pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure I've ever been happier to prove him wrong. I bet Elise would agree. :)