Rayna {27 months}

Age: 27 months

Favorites: Princesses (she knows them all by name), Moana (still...), Minnie Mouse, swimming, chapstick, purses, coloring, watching Beauty and the Beast daily, tattoos (had her very first stick on one from a birthday party and cried when it starting disappearing lol), Anna & Elsa from Frozen (sleeps with them at night, sings Let it Go all day, and asks to watch it), swimming (asks daily to goto the pool with her swimsuit and sunscreen),

New favorite words/phrases: *Talking up a storm! She is a little sponge these days and repeats everything we say, asks soooo many questions, and talks in complete sentences!
A few of my favorites: 'bonjour!' and 'be our guest' (from the Beauty and the Beast movie), yogi (yogurt), Dr, Pepper (starting her early lol), "oh come on!" - always in the right context lol, Really? (after something falls or if she drops something lol), 'Mali, NOOOO couch!' when we leave the house lol, 'NO crying!' when we go to the gym...she went through a phase for about a month of crying at drop off and thank goodness she is over it, toetsies (toes - always asks to get them painted), netflithx (netflix), Mommy watch!, Lets go!, swimsoup (swimsuit), hold me tight!, what happened?, says prayers with Mommy and then says AMEN very loudly, unicorn, why?, what?, Happy Birthday Yayee (Rylee) - has a hard time pronouncing the R but I just love how she says her name,

This month:

• Went on a girl's trip to Galveston and got a little black eye in the pool...so clumsy! Rode rides, rode in a horse drawn carriage, swimming
• Got another bad ear infection
• Sleepover at Aunt Mera's and KoKo's
• Celebrated Rylee's 5th birthday
• Soooooo smart! Knows how old she is and holds up two fingers, can count to 10 but I have yet to get it on video but hopefully soon!, counts on fingers while naming family (mommy, daddy, Rylee, Mali, MEEEEE!, knows her colors, understands what we tell her and consequences
• Getting a lot braver in the pool (jumping in, going under, kicking feet)
• POTTY TRAINED!!!!

Monthly photo dump:

Little Besties! Rayna LOVES baby 'Harpy' <3

 Sunday Funday with my sweet family! Pool days are the best!!

 Rough life for these two...

Girl's trip to Galveston! Pleasure Pier, swimming, horse drawn carriage ride, ice cream, and lots of memories made! Thanks Aunt Mera & Debbie!! :)

This picture describes Rayna perfectly right now...her newest smile, wearing her favorite Minnie Mouse jammies, and always in princess shoes (Beauty & the Beast is her fav).

So much sass!

Sister Sister

Finally got a video of Rayna naming all the princesses on her purse :)

Always dressed up and always picking her nose lol...

Fun at Pump it Up!

Potty Training:

Rayna showed a lot of interest and readiness for this and it was all about us finding the right time to begin this potty training madness... On Sunday (the day before full on PT) I bought her a new little potty (pink ladybug) and had the M&Ms out to show her. She stayed in a diaper (as usual) but I began prepping her by reminding her to keep it dry and every time she wanted to go tee tee she was rewarded with one M&M. Well, it worked like a charm that day and she did wonderful! 

Day 1 PT: Got her up and we all were super excited to tell her today was the day to wear big girl panties and throw away her diapers!! She insisted on telling us to throw them away to Baby Harpy (Harper - my best friend's one year old) so we went with that. She out them in a bag and threw them outside. Next we showed her the new goodies to begin PT...lots of panties, books, M&Ms, nighttime panties (pull up diapers). Took off her diaper to pick out her first pair of panties (of course princess ones) and she started doing the 'potty dance" then tee tee right there on the floor so I picked her up and rushed her to the potty where she finished so she was rewarded. She did NOT like the accident on the floor at all. She picked out Anna/Elsa panties (her current fav) to start and was dry for the first few hours (!!!) making several trips to the potty to have little tee tees that she was rewarded for. 

 She loves the reward system! ;)

She did not have any accidents in them but was not wiping good enough so they were a little damp. Picked out new Beauty and the Beast panties next (her other fav). 

She kept telling us all day long, "I tee tee, Mommy or Daddy!" She was so proud of herself all day and so were we!!! There were two major accidents on day one...the first time was mentioned earlier right before she picked out her first panties and the other was when she was sitting in a little fold up chair watching a movie (she tee tee in chair then stood up and it got on floor...she said uh oh and then we rushed her to potty to finish). At nap time she was in a nighttime pull up and woke up with it dry which was great! She will be sleeping at nap and bedtime with pull up until her little bladder can make it all night long. Overall, the first day was very successful! Lots of being positive, lots of little tee tees (no poo poo yet), lots of M&Ms, lots of drinks, and lots of her wanting to do everything on her own (no big surprise) -  taking panties off to potty, getting paper, wiping, flushing, getting M&M, and putting panties back on...Little Miss Independent. Rylee was a big help too! A few of my favorite things she said today was..."Awe, you look so cute Rayna!", "Tell me if it is a big or little or white or yellow tee tee!", "I'm proud of you!", and "You want to see my panties, Rayna? Let me see which ones you are wearing!" <3 Hoping day two is even more successful...

Day 2 PT: Rayna woke up happy and excited to use the big girl potty but not dry. She immediately went to tee tee (little). At breakfast time she has a big accident in the chair (poo poo & tee tee). She did NOT like it at all! All morning she was doing great and telling me when she needed to go by saying..."I need to tee tee!" or "Mommy tee tee!" After a few hours she (and I) were getting bored inside watching movies, coloring, playing, and staying only downstairs so we went outside for some fresh air and a change of scenery. We brought the potty chair and she did great using it (at first wanted to tee tee in grass like she does when swimming lol but told her that we use the potty now). 

Day 2 has been good but a little more of a set back in the morning because I can tell she needs to go poo poo but she is scared to do it so she holds her bottom and a few times has refused to sit on the potty to tee tee because I think she is scared it will come out....so we have had several accidents on the floor. I am hoping she can learn to sit longer on the potty to get ALL the tee tee out and try to poo poo on the potty too. After nap time she woke up dry (again!!!) so that was great. She cried in the bathroom because she really needed to go potty and was holding it in then FINALLY I put her on the potty and she went BIG!!! It was definitely a page turner after the rough morning we had. All afternoon she did wonderful telling us when she had to go and having no more accidents. {Sidenote: this girl ALWAYS has a little wedgie and it is maybe the cutest thing ever! Her little booty and tan line lol...} It was a LONG morning BUT I am so very proud of her for knowing when to run to the potty, when to tell me, and still wearing panties instead of diapers! Slowly but surely we are getting there!! (fingers crossed sooner than later)

Day 3 PT: Rayna woke up wet but happy and went to the potty downstairs to tee tee. She is able to hold her bladder longer today and tells me, "I need to tee tee Mommy!" or just runs to the bathroom by herself to go! No accidents today except when she went to the potty to sit then stood up because she was scared to poo poo. The poo poo ended up on the floor and she did not like the looks of it. I am glad she was able to do it but with more practice I hope it ends up in the potty instead next time! Overall, today has been wonderful!!! I can see that Rayna is really understanding when she gets the feeling of when she needs to potty and she tells me every single time! She is also sitting longer on the potty instead of tee tee just a dribble. I have been singing songs or counting to help her sit and wait longer for all the tee tee to come out. *{side note} I was getting ready for a much needed GNO and Mike quickly went outside to move his truck while Rayna was inside. I heard her whinning so I went to check and she had NO panties on and looking for us. She ran to the potty to show me that she tee tee (big) all by herself!!! WOOHOO!!* I remind her often throughout the day to keep her panties dry and to tell me when she has to potty. Every time she tells me, "Ok Mommy Daddy!" and also she likes to remind me..."not on the table! not on the floor! not on the chair! not in the swimming pool!" She is such a smart little thing! I am so very proud of her progress over the last three days and how quickly she picked up on using the potty! We are excited to be diaper free forever (now if only I can just get brave enough to leave the house with her now)! It will never get old to see her so confident and proud of herself! After every single tee tee I tell her, "I'm so proud of you!" then she responds, "I'm proud of Rayna too!"

Her reward for a successful three day potty training was a Boss Baby doll! :)

Day 4: Poo Poo in potty and had first outing with no accidents!!!!