Diapers be gone

Elizabeth loves her diapers. I'm sorry, that is not accurate. Elizabeth LOVES her diapers. Why do we know that? Well because she says "I LOVE my diapers" and she says it often. We prepared her prior to her third birthday that the diapers were going away. There were previous attempts at saying goodbye to the diapers that failed miserably partly due to her not being ready, partly due to us not having the energy to stick with it and partly due to the fact that she LOVES her diapers.
So over labor day weekend we said bye bye diapers and it went well. Then she went to school and she was devastated to wear panties. She cried and her teachers said 'Elizabeth is a happy girl and we don't want her to be sad so she will wear diapers'. Elizabeth immediately reported to me that 'I get my diapers back at skoolg. I love skoolg. I wear panties at home but not at skoolg.' I was annoyed for a moment but then thought of my mom. How she could never stand for us kids to cry much less her grandkids. All she wanted was for us to feel safe and be loved. How she would be so happy that Elizabeth is loved this much at her 'skoolg'.
So last week, Gui, her teacher, said Elizabeth is now ready and won't wear diapers to school. We told Elizabeth and guess what... she was ready. Not a tear, no sadness, no fits. Guess her teachers were right. So happy they know my little girl this well.

Dinner Time

I swear she has manners. She uses her utensils for eating, napkin for spills and even says a lovely 'may I be scused' when leaving the table. Dessert on the other hand, especially ice cream, allows for deviations from our good manners. Elizabeth, like her mom, does not want to miss even a drop of her ice cream.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Elizabeth went to her first play this past weekend. It was fun talking it through as she didn't really understand what it meant to see a play. In her mind it was something like her dance class. She kept saying 'we are going to a play and momma and daddy will sit and watch my performance. I can't sit with momma'.

I would then try and explain comparing it to a concert but she didn't get it and wanted to then know if she would be able to take a bow at the end. Even though she can now articulate I know there is so much happening inside that little head and I so wish I could see those thoughts. Despite not knowing what was going to happen she was thrilled to just go.


At the end we got to go up front and meet the actors. She told them all 'thank you for the performance'. When asked what her favorite part was she declared loudly 'the dancing!'.

The play fort for the forty year old girl in our family

One of my favorites parts of having a kid is being able to play like a kid. Consequently part of my request as we did the back yard was to add a play fort. I have always wanted a tree house and since we don't really have any large trees in our yard a fort would do just fine.


The back yard has been a wasteland and until this summer I had only ever been back there twice which is sad and time to remedy. We had to haul in tons of dirt and bark to cover up the wasteland and then planted well over 150 plants.


Added a nice little patio and fort construction began. Elizabeth loves to help daddy cause 'girls can be workers'. We mostly do a lot of running around with the tape measure which entertains Jeff as he works.

The bridge is up and functional.

Luckily the three year old finds the fort equally entertaining and I'm just happy that I can keep playing.
Don't be concerned by the lack of sides as it is not quite done yet. Still need to add the ladder, slide, roof and pulley system.