Today was Isabelle's 3-year well check at her pediatrician. We are pleased to report that she is thriving and developing just as she should be and is even advanced in many areas, like her non-stop verbal skills! She is in the 50% for weight and almost 75% for height so she is slightly long and getting lean! Unfortunately I confirmed to her this morning that there were no shots needed at the 3-year visit but I was wrongly informed. She did receive her immunizations and was brave and happy to have her clothes back on and her sticker from the nurse. We do need to continue visiting her ENT as her ear tubes are still needed and currently in place and her Cardiologist needs to be visited again soon as well to check on her holey-heart, but overall she is silly and healthy and just like a three year old should be!
Isabelle has obviously been influenced by both of her jogging parents and all of her running extended family. After participating both on the side-lines as well as in the jogging stroller for several races she honestly believes that the day starts only after your morning exercise! My mom and I laughed when we were shopping a few weeks ago and Belle shrieked with excitement as she found my very own running shorts! Of course Grammie had to buy them for her and she is so proud to wear them outside while she "exercises." I mostly love her skinny little 3 year old legs that hang out of them! What a fun age to be!!!
We decided to continue with the Christensen tradition of camping over Easter weekend and headed north to Bastrop State Park. This was Jelly's first camping trip and she was so excited especially to meet Alee and Nick as well as Grammie and Grandpa at the park. We were threatened by rain all day Saturday but enjoyed the day with multiple egg hunts, games, yummy foil dinners and the beautiful scenery of the Texas Hill Country. After pitching the tent, Belle and I decided that the back of the Acadia looked much more comfortable and left Ben to sleep alone under the stars. Jelly slept remarkably well for being in a mummy bag just inches from her tossing mom all night and didn't make a peep until 7:00am. Unfortunately, we barely had time to find our baskets that the Easter Bunny left us before the rain started in the morning. We packed up quickly and headed for breakfast in the antique downtown of Bastrop. We were pleasantly surprised to find a yummy cafe called Maxine's where we enjoyed some of the best griddle cakes in the world. It was a wonderful Easter weekend and Belle has been begging to sleep in the Acadia every night since!
In 1965, Congress passed the National Highway Beautification Act, largely through the efforts of Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Texas Bluebonnet, adopted as the State Flower in 1901 by the Legislature, was already native to the Lone Star State and therefore an obvious choice as tons of wildflower seeds are planted along nearly a million miles of Texas highways each year.
For Texans, you always know Spring has arrived when you spot the first bluebonnet of the season. What a beautiful time to live in the hill country of Texas.
I have been hesitant to write this post as I am afraid it will back-fire! However, in just over a month, Belle has only had 2 accidents, night or day! I believe she may finally be potty trained!!!
This has been a long process and I am eternally grateful for it to be nearing it's end. Last summer Ben and I decided we were ready to start the chore of potty training and we were quickly enthused as Belle took to the idea pretty well right away. Just as we thought we were making progress, she had a couple of kidney infections and doctors wanted more information so she had a renal scan done with a catheter, etc. Needless to say, this was a major set back and so after a few months, we were back at square one.
We tried everything that we were told by others was a sure success and we quickly learned that Belle is very rational and not easily bribed. Infact, we still haven't found her currency. I made her a chart for stickers and after about the first day she would say mom, can you just put a sticker on for me? So, into the trash went the chart. After promising her everything we could imagine she wanted, we decided we would "punish" her instead. She adores all of her furry friends, so we explained to her that each time she had an accident she would need to place one friend on our bed and he/she would be taken away by the Potty Fairy, only to return when she wore panties. I was shocked when after only one friend had sadly been given away, she came into my bedroom one morning and threw in her Brown Bear and said See you Brown Bear, I had an accident! Obviously, punishment wasn't going to work either. Before too long ALL of her friends were hidden in our closet where they remained for months. It was so frustrating because she could totally do it if she wanted to and she chose to do it about 75% of the time.
Finally, after telling her she CANNOT turn three years old and wear pull-ups, she DECIDED to use the potty by herself! I have to give much of the credit to her Aunt Alee and Grammie and Grandpa Elmo who took her endless times last month when we were visiting. For some reason, when they told her to use the potty it was greeted by less resistance than when Ben and I begged her several times a day. And since we left their house a month or more ago, she has been near perfection and is even sleeping in panties for naps and bedtime! One of our (unsuccessful) potty training methods involved Build-A-Bear and money! As I said, Isabelle loves animals and has dreamed of going to Build-A-Bear and bringing home a friend for as long as she has been alive. We made her a potty-jar with stickers on it and each time she went potty, we gave her some coins to place in her jar. Many many people have contributed to this jar and after several months of it sitting on our bar stool, the day finally came to count out the money. Grandma gave her an extra $1.31 to make it an even $20 and off we went to bring home a friend. Over the months, we had been in the store many times to try and motivate little Jelly, but again the rational side of her would kick in and after dreaming and picking out exactly what she was going to get, she would say goodbye to the animals and claim she would someday be back to get them...without a tear. She was so excited to actually shop in the store for real this time and she proudly exclaimed I am not her just to look mom! She immediately knew which friend would be joining our household after months of planning and Jack Russel quickly became her new best friend. Her experience was just what she hoped for and we had lots of family with us celebrating her birthday that got to share in the fun. She was proud to use her own money to buy Jack Whistle...his name is Russel but she must have heard whistle because that is what she calls him... and I guess all of the potty training effort wasn't totally lost.
You will be glad to know that most mornings as she wakes up dry and hops on the potty, she is greeted with one of her friends being returned from the Potty Fairy! Each milestone we have reached with Isabelle has come with work and sometimes tears but none have been as joyful as her wearing panties
We have been celebrating Isabelle's 3rd birthday for a week, so we thought it was pretty funny when Jelly asked us When is my actual birthday?
We started the celebration in Houston cheering for Grammie, Aunt Alee and Uncle Nick as they finished the Seabrook Lucky Trail Half Marathon. When Grammie was awarded her 3rd place plaque, Belle gladly accepted on her behalf and posed for many cameras. While the Christensen's went home to rest, we met some of the Cosby clan downtown for a little fun. Fortunately, it was Spring Break, so we were lucky enough to meet in Houston for a few days and Ben even shared in the fun for the first day before catching a quick flight to NYC for the rest of the week. We had fun eating yummy food, touring the Houston Aquarium and visiting. Jelly especially loved riding the carousel, in the rain, with Aunt Katie, and playing in the splash-pad in her clothes with Grandpa Van. On Tuesday night, we hosted a birthday party for any and all of our family who were in town at my parents home. Belle kept asking, When is the party going to start? Once I tied balloons outside and told her it was officially party time, she started singing Welcome to the Party and kept singing it for hours. We had a lot of fun eating our favorite sweet pork with tomatillo dressing, playing lasso golf and opening gifts. Belle loved each and every present that was picked out just for her and graciously hugged and thanked each guest! Unfortunately, just moments before the party began, Jelly was a bit too excited and fell on the cement and was scratched and bleeding on her knees, hand, forehead and nose. The scabs gave all of the photos an authentic 3-year old look!
After our fun in Houston, we kept the party going in San Antonio. Grammie and Grandpa Elmo, Nick and Alee and Aunt Tara all arranged to be in the Alamo City for the weekend and we ran from one thing to another from sun up to sun down. Saturday after a trip to the airport to grab our last guest, we ate lunch at Culvers and all enjoyed some custard afterwards. We then headed to La Cantera where Belle FINALLY went to Build-a-Bear and brought home Jack Russel, the newest member of our family. (More on that at a later time.) At home, Ben had a treasure hunt waiting and we all followed Jelly as she searched for her gifts. She was surprised with more wonderful gifts, including a pink electric JEEP. After eating her chocolate cake, Belle could not keep her eyes open and was asleep in bed dreaming of cupcakes and sprinkles.
Today, her "actual" birthday, we ate lunch at Chipotle, her request, and dropped Aunt Tara off at the airport just moments before Ben took off himself. We have had such a fun and busy week and little Jelly is simply exhausted. She was again in bed before 7:00pm and will need a few days to recover from all the excitement. She is such a sweet little girl and tries so hard to make good decisions. Sometimes after she has a "toddler moment" and yells NO, she quickly starts singing When my mother calls me, quickly I obey! She is such a joy to be around and continues to amaze Ben and I everyday with all that she learns and understands. I remember when I was expecting her I saw a picture of a little baby on a parenting magazine and I thought, "I hope Isabelle looks like that!" Of course, she has completely surpassed any expectations I ever had and I look forward to her future. Thank heavens, for little girls!
On a side note, Ben and I were fortunate enough to be granted 2 tickets to the Elton John vs. Billy Joel Face 2 Face Tour Saturday night. My family was kind enough to excuse us from the fun and we were blown away by 4 hours of non-stop singing and piano playing. It was absolutely one of the very best concerts we have ever been to and everyone in the box couldn't help to get up and dance a little. We got home at midnight, deaf from all the sound and grateful we had such wonderful babysitters!
Today was a bittersweet day because Jelly had her first haircut. She is lucky to have nice pretty hair that has always grown fairly even and thick. We thought it was finally time to cut that baby hair off the bottom though so today was the big day!
Isabelle was very worried to get her hair cut so I took her to Sharkey's, which specializes in children's cuts, to hopefully make her first experience as pain-free as possible. Sad little Jelly literally cried up until she was sitting in the Barbi Jeep with her hair wet and scissors in the beauticians hands. Once the initial cut was made and she realized SHE was not going to get cut herself, she was fine and sat quietly watching the first episode of DORA in her life. I didn't want much taken off obviously, just a little trim to even all her hair out, so she was done in no time. She was very proud when she was finished and they even gave us a little bag with her baby locks tucked inside. She has always had a little natural curl at her ends which I call her "Cosby curl" as she certainly didn't get any from me and I was afraid that once they snipped it off, it would be gone. However, when we got home tonight and her hair had dried, there was a little wave in the bottom and she may be blessed with some body in her hair yet! I know this is a first of many and although it was planned and easy, it still made me feel a little sad to think she is growing up and so quickly. When she saw her dad tonight she proudly claimed "I just got my hair cut all by myself and they cut it blonde!" Hooray she is still a little girl!
Today was Isabelle's 3-year well check at her pediatrician. We are pleased to report that she is thriving and developing just as she should be and is even advanced in many areas, like her non-stop verbal skills! She is in the 50% for weight and almost 75% for height so she is slightly long and getting lean! Unfortunately I confirmed to her this morning that there were no shots needed at the 3-year visit but I was wrongly informed. She did receive her immunizations and was brave and happy to have her clothes back on and her sticker from the nurse. We do need to continue visiting her ENT as her ear tubes are still needed and currently in place and her Cardiologist needs to be visited again soon as well to check on her holey-heart, but overall she is silly and healthy and just like a three year old should be!
Isabelle has obviously been influenced by both of her jogging parents and all of her running extended family. After participating both on the side-lines as well as in the jogging stroller for several races she honestly believes that the day starts only after your morning exercise! My mom and I laughed when we were shopping a few weeks ago and Belle shrieked with excitement as she found my very own running shorts! Of course Grammie had to buy them for her and she is so proud to wear them outside while she "exercises." I mostly love her skinny little 3 year old legs that hang out of them! What a fun age to be!!!
