When You Wish Upon a Star...

A Cupcake's dream comes true.



This image taken by Disney Photographers.




We went to Disney World. It was R's second time going. You may recall how she missed meeting Pooh last trip. We more than made up for it this time around. She saw Pooh three times!! The first, captured in the photos above, was at Hollywood Studios. The second, below, was breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.







The third was our last hoo-rah at the Magic Kingdom. We were on our way out of the park when I happened to spy this photo op right at the exit. We couldn't let R leave without saying goodbye to her dear friends.




It was a good trip.

This image taken by Disney Photographers.

One Week to Disney

There were so many accidents yesterday.

Getting tired of potty training posts yet? Sorry, it's all that's on my mind, therefore all I have to talk about. I gave Senpai a full play-by-play of what happened this morning when he called from work. I'm sure he was thrilled to hear about the minutia that accompanies getting a 20 month-old girl to stop wetting herself.

Yesterday almost had me putting R back in diapers today. There were so many accidents last night. She didn't want to sit on the potty when we'd tell her it was time, and she wouldn't signal that she had to go. This morning I enforced, "If you don't sit on the potty when Mommy asks you to, you have to wear a diaper." I watch her fluid intake. I have a pretty good idea of when she'll have to pee. For her to not sit on the potty when I know she's going to go, that now automatically means diaper. And she HATES wearing her diapers, which makes it a very good incentive. :-)

It's working so far this morning. I had to put a diaper on her once due to her unwillingness to sit on the potty first thing when she got up (I know her bladder is empty first thing in the morning because she goes in her diaper at night, but I'm looking ahead to when she won't be peeing in her sleep). When I went to the bathroom, she followed me in. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty now, and she did not refuse. Nothing happened, but I put her in training pants afterwards, simply because she had been a good girl for sitting on the potty when Mommy asked her to. Since I've put the fear of diapers in her this morning, she's signaled twice that she had to go, and each time gave results.

I don't know what will happen this afternoon. For some reason-- probably because I don't watch her as closely after Senpai comes home-- afternoons always yield accidents. Maybe I'll ask Senpai to cook dinner tonight and see if we can get better results.

We are flying to Disney World in one week. Hear that? ONE WEEK. What a way to put pressure on a mama. If I were sane, I would not be potty training my child in such a limited time span. But R is leading the way here. She is the one choosing training pants over diapers, and (usually) signals that she has to pee. Don't worry about poop. I haven't mentioned it before, but she hasn't been pooping in her diapers for months. So this is all her idea, and I'm just going along, trying to limit the number of wet underpants on the way. I'm so worried about the trip, though. If I have to put her in disposable diapers, maybe she won't hate them as much as her cloth ones, and maybe that will cause her to regress. If that does happen, it's quite possible that she'll go back to potty training mode once we get back home and try to put the cloth diapers on her again, but who knows. There are so many possibilities, so many projected outcomes, that I don't know which one to expect. And I certainly have no idea what to pack for the trip. Pull-ups? Training pants and Flip covers? Special training pants with a hidden PUL liner (Tinkle Time Trainers)? Everything?

Mommy has a lot to think about.

UPDATE: Today was accident free! We did need to put a diaper on her during dinner due to potty avoidance (and she peed in it), but I did not mop up any puddles today! I wonder how Storytime will go tomorrow... Do I dare take her out in just a Tinkle Time Trainer? Umm, I may not be that bold yet.

I'm Home!

It's been a lo-o-ong day. So long, in fact, that I went to bed that night after writing only that first sentence. Okay, let's try this again.

It was Senpai's idea. My parents' birthdays are both at the end of January. Mom had called me earlier in the month to remind me that Dad was turning 60 this year. Uh oh, I thought, I gotta do something special, but what? Then Senpai asked me, "Why don't you go down to see them?" He has to spend a week in Texas sometime soonish for work training, and he wanted to offset that delightful week on my own with R by sending me on a fun trip to Florida to see my family. "That's great!" I said, "But I'm taking R with me." He had braced himself for the idea of spending the weekend alone with R, but I convinced him that the surprise visit would be more of a gift to my parents if they could see their grandbaby as well (they've seen enough of me in their lives, ha!). I called up my brother and asked if he could pick us up from the airport and lodge us for a couple of nights, and he agreed. It was set!

There was a minor setback when my brother told me that Mom and Dad were spending the entire weekend at Disney World. Um... R and I don't mind tagging along at Disney World; they'd take us, right?? Bro was under the impression that Mom was looking forward to spending the time alone with Dad, but I was hopeful that R and my unexpected arrival would spur a family day.

The flight out on Saturday morning went (thankfully) without a hitch. Bro and his wife, pregnant with twins, and their 17 month old daughter, C, met us at the airport and took us back to their house until the birthday dinner. The dinner was at a hibachi restaraunt in Orlando (Bro made the reservations). Mom texted him an hour before the dinner saying that they were there already. I was worried that she would find out how many people were on the reservation! When we got there, it turned out the restaurant hadn't even opened yet; other groups of people in addition to Mom and Dad were all waiting outside. Bro and C distracted them while R and I unloaded ourselves from the minivan (no quick task when there are carseats involved!). SIL held back to take pictures. I sidled up to Mom just as Bro said, "I hope you don't mind we invited a few other guests..."

She screamed at us.
"OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!!"

Ahahaha, oh man, I wish we had recorded it. SIL got pics, which I can't wait to see. I didn't see Dad's initial reaction, but when he came up to R and I his eyes were shining. ^_^


SIL, C, Bro, and R at the birthday dinner.


Oma, Grandad, and C at the birthday dinner.

We all went to the Magic Kingdom the next day.


R with Oma and Grandad at Toon Town.


R and C in Minnie's House.


Mommy and R with her new Winnie the Pooh doll.

R's favorite Disney character is Winnie the Pooh. She already had a Pooh doll at home that Grandma had given her for Christmas, but when R was fussing at Disney World and in need of a new toy, a Minnie plush would not do. Oh no, she had no love for Minnie, so then I held up that Pooh doll you see in the picture, and she smiled real big. Yeah, she has two Pooh's now. Oh, and I'm so sad! We had just rounded the corner to the Pooh attraction and there were the Pooh and Tigger characters, getting pictures taken with people! They had just finished with one group and I held on to R for dear life and made a beeline up to them, but then the Disney guards closed in and the characters started walking away as they waved cheerily. I was so heart broken. :-( It made no difference to R because she was looking the other way and didn't even see the characters. Oh well. Maybe she'll get her picture taken with Pooh next time.

Our time in Florida was extended due to the storm as I mentioned in a previous post. Mom and I went to Universal Studios on Monday while Dad watched R (Butterbeer is gooooood), and then R and I packed up to finish our stay at Mom and Dad's house. I got to watch Mom's play rehearsal (she's always in a play. It's hard to keep up sometimes with what character she's doing in what show, but she's a very good actress.), and then Dad took R and I to the local wildlife park to see the manatees and Florida's only hippo.

It was a very pleasant trip. I missed Senpai terribly by the end of it, but he was making good progress on R's room, so it was good that he stayed up in the snowy north. Mom and Dad enjoyed their birthday presents, Bro and family got to meet R and vice versa, and it was overall just a great idea. Thanks, Senpai.

Update: Mom ordered this pic from Disney. Group photo! (Just ignore Mickey kicking R in the head.)