It's Time!

Time to begin the potty training!

Gabby has moved up into the two-year olds' class at daycare, and they will begin potty training her ASAP. We have to reinforce this training at home. I suspect it's going to be easier than we thought it would be. She has already transitioned to wearing pull-ups (or rather the Pampers' brand of Easy Ups) and will willingly sit on the toilet.

But, it was last night's incident that has me convinced that it's time. She went to sleep (in her own bed!) and at around midnight, I awaken to see her standing right outside our door, asking, "Mommy? Where are you?"

"I'm in here, pumpkin."

She comes into the room and climbs up on the bed.

"Change diaper, mommy?"
"Why, Gabby? Did you poop?"
"Yes. Change diaper please."

So we changed the diaper. It's time to get this operation in full swing! But the question remains: where did my baby go?

The Great Pacifier Purge

We've begun the Great Pacifier Purge of 2010.

Gabby came into this world making sucking motions with her mouth, yet she wasn't a thumb-sucker in-utero. So, starting at the nursery at the hospital we consented to let her have a pacifier. While she was never one of those children who has to have a paci 24/7, and definitely is not a candidate for surgical removal of same, she is attached to it. We were able to wean her off of it so she only has it at bedtime.

Now, Gabby has probably half a dozen of those rubber abominations, thanks to Grammy, who seemingly bought them by the gross from WalMart. We are now in the position of discovering all of the places where Gabby might have a pacifier stashed, because we're about to get rid of them completely.

A couple of months ago, knowing that this day would come, I decided to try a little experiment. As we were leaving to go to school and work one morning, I told her to throw paci in the trash. She complied, but immediately this look that was a cross between panic and ... panic, came across her little face.

"Paci gone?"
"Yes, Gabby, paci's gone."
"Paci dirty!"
"Yes, Gabby, paci's dirty, so you can't use that one anymore."
"Want paci?" This one was said with a note of wistfulness. I giggled to myself, thinking she'd forget about it. Later that night, she asked about it, but we had a few (sigh) backups, so it wasn't a problem.

This past weekend, we tried the experiment again, this time starting to talk to her about having to throw paci away.

"Gabby, we have to throw paci in the trash."
"NO! Nononononono no!"

Eventually I took her to the trash can and made her toss one in. She wasn't happy; we just threw another one away this morning (I did say they were apparently bought by the gross, didn't I?). The goal is to have them all gone within the next week or two. The kid is turning two years old on Thursday, and I do NOT want to be that parent with her 5 year-old running around with a pacifier in her mouth. It's going to be rough going for a few nights after the final one goes away, but we can do it.

Next up: potty training.

Post-Snowmageddon III

Yes, it's apparently possible to have multiple armageddons, or, in this case, snowmageddons.

Our first snowstorm was nice, a couple of feet and a freebie snow day right before Christmas. Gabs and Bill had a great time building an igloo and playing in the snow.

Round 2, starting a week ago Friday and keeping on until Sunday morning was almost as fun... until we heard there was ANOTHER blizzard heading for us on top of that. Everything is shut down from about 1 PM Friday. Gabby developed a pretty awful cough on Sunday night, and by Monday was running a fever. So, Tuesday afternoon we took her in to the pediatrician who diagnosed an ear infection in one ear and the beginnings of another in the other. Antibiotics in hand, she started to recover pretty quickly.

And that is when we realized why some animals eat their young.

She couldn't go outside, and there's only so  many ways to entertain a toddler inside. Even she became bored with the store of videos and books that we have at the house, and was alternately amusing and intolerable. And refusing to nap. And not wanting to eat. And exercising her right to be a Terrible Two-Year-Old.

One week later, we're dug out and the federal government is open, which means that she gets to go back to daycare and I get to go back to work. Bill took unscheduled leave today (lucky man). As I dropped Gabby off this morning, she pitched a (reasonable) fit about being allowed to go play in the snow and lay down in the driveway of the school. It was a Herculean effort to resist the urge to leave her there, but someone might have run over her and I would have been charged with something, so I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder to carry her inside. Other parents exchanged knowing looks as they also unceremoniously thrust their offspring at the waiting teachers.

One hour and fifteen minutes later, I made it into work. The District of Columbia could take lessons from the City of Bowie on how to clear streets so that the traffic lanes on major thoroughfares (absent of parked cars on the snow emergency routes!) can pass by instead of being forced to merge at unpredictable junctures. Why did I drive, you may wonder? My spidey-senses told me that despite protestations to the contrary, metro might be a clusterfuck, and so it was! One train every 25 - 30 minutes actually meant one train every 45 minutes or so, with tracks above ground still not clear and riders frustrated and pissed off at every turn.

Awesome sauce.

Not Straying Too Far From the Gene Pool.

Gabby will be turning 2 (!) in about two weeks or so. It's pretty amazing how the tiny little thing that stuck to me like a barnacle when she was first born has grown into a barnacle that still sticks to me, but talks back. Her patterns of behavior are also very striking because she tends to exhibit some very specific character traits that are common amongst myself and my 14 cousins and siblings. Being the oldest of that group, I've been able to catalog a lot of these traits, and again am amazed at how they  translate into my own stinker's genes even though she's away from the direct influence of the other cousins who are closer to her in age. I guess this sheds some new light on the nature vs. nurture argument, eh?

Gabby is a drama queen. Cherisse, I'm looking at you! Melodrama from the cradle, and no signs of stopping at 17 1/2.

She loves to climb. Now, one can argue that all toddlers will do this, but there is a fearlessness common among the Gordons that is breathtaking. Randy is an excellent example of this, having retired our sainted grandmother from caring for the grandchildren after he wore her out, and driving a daycare teacher to near-insanity. My mother was over on Thanksgiving Day and witnessed Gabby climb to the top of the arm of the sofa, where she nonchalantly perched in order to watch TV. This resting spot is about 4 feet off the ground, and I'm really not going to worry too much about her falling because quite frankly, it would mean me or Bill running after her all the time with a cushion to catch her.

Gabby is a chatterbox. I have no idea where she might have gotten this particular character trait, but let's just say the girls of my generation all spoke reasonably early. And we all had a lot to say. Still do...

Gabby is very charming, and a natural flirt. This one could come from Granny, but is also very present in Dale, Derrick, and Symone, to name a few. The two aforementioned boys, in fact, used her to pick up girls when we were there back in October 2008... But, the story I will never forget is Gabby at 5 (?) months old: we are at the grocery store, picking up some Pedialyte, and I hear this guy behind me at the register cooing at her. I turned around in time to see her look at him, make eye contact, hold it for just a second, then break out in a wide smile. I hope Bill has that baseball bat ready!

Gabby is super-smart. Okay, this one is a Wilson-Gordon collaboration, no question. She seems to use both sides of her brain equally, which spells trouble when she is plotting her next course of mischief.

She is very cute. Another Wilson-Gordon integration, but it's heavy on the Gordon side. Those eyes. That smile. So what if that's not a character trait? She knows how to use it though.

Gabby is VERY popular at daycare. This is partly to do with the above-mentioned charm and flirtatiousness, but we walk in every morning, and she has to say, "Hi!" very enthusiastically to everyone she sees. One day in particular, people came out of a classroom to greet Gabby and I asked a teacher why she was so popular? She responded that Gabby is always very happy to be there (ha! Getting her out of the house is a trial...) and she's so effusive in her greeting!  The other kids love her. If another mother is to be believed, her son (two months younger) talks about "Gabby, Gabby, Gabby" incessantly on the way to school in the morning. This is totally a Derrick and Randy trait. They were always everyone's friend, young and old. It was quite entertaining to watch, actually.

Finally, Gabby is naturally bossy. Okay, I'll totally look in the mirror for that one.

My baby is growing up! Can I stick her in a time warp?