Withdrawals

It is well known my daughter still used a binky to fall asleep at night. She would sleep all night without it, but we would find it back in her mouth in the morning; who knows when she woke up and grabbed it. All I know is, we have been sleeping really well for four years...UNTIL NOW! Woowza! Talk about binky withdrawals for all of us.

We had been preparing her for months, "when you turn four, the binky fairy comes to take it and she will leave you a present in its place", so she knew it was coming.  She was weepy the first night, but not throwing a fit. I encouraged her, telling her how smart, strong, & determined she is and how proud of her we were.  This seemed to work, but it took a week of whining, about not being able to sleep without it (which she did just fine each time) and four...yes four nights, of little presents from the binky fairy. This girl is smart. She didn't need that binky, she just wanted a gift. She sucked me into her fake whining for four nights, but when the huge fit came for not getting what SHE wanted from the fairy, we pulled the plug on the fairy (don't ever underestimate your toddler's brain power to sucker you in).

She has done fabulous sleeping without it, minus one problem, she now wakes up an hour and a half earlier than she used to (can you hear my sleepiness! I feel like I'm back in that baby stage). People! We have been sleeping in until 8/8:30 for four years! The 6:30am crap doesn't work for me. 6:30am is my calmly waking up time...stretch, glass of water, bathroom to clean up, work out, eat a bowl of cereal, facebook, email, news, start laundry; well, you get the picture, I do things for myself without interruption.  This past week, my 6:30 started out with a bang from her door opening, a grumpy face, pathetic eyes pleading for a binky, a whine about the binky not being there to help her go back to sleep, a smack in the face from a stuffed toy when I tried to roll over to go back to sleep, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want to go downstairs, GET UP MOM...more pushing on the face, is the binky fairy coming again tonight, because I want (insert some crazy request). Now comes my grumpiness, and don't mess with me if you start me off in a bad mood. Her and I had to stay in separate rooms each morning until we both cooled off. She watched TV, I read the news on my IPad, 1/2 hour later we came together; hugged, kissed, and moved on to the rest of the day...until the bewitching hour of 4:00pm...you get the picture here; sassiness oozing from my toddler having withdrawals from that binky and lack of sleep. It was like her happy drug and the happy drug was gone. She was suddenly an angry, aggressive, whining toddler (NOT Ava at all).

WE HAVE ALL BEEN MISSING THAT BINKY...

Until this morning...she was all smiles and back to herself at a late 7:08am.  :-)  Just like that. Another trying week passes and we all survived unscathed and almost used to the early morning call for motherhood.

AAAAHHHH memories...I thought this one was quit appropriate for this post.  :-)

Turning Four...

What a grand party this little girl had again! 

up at 6am and ready to party

one of few pictures of the three of us

the singing we did for her made her pout

(we are all pretty sure we disappointed her when we sang loud and off key

 instead of something more like in a princess movie complete with pixie dust)

a party wouldn't be complete without Nick climbing up something, and a pink bike to make her day

You can tell by the crazy smile on her face that having her cousins here made her "super cited", and

I really could have made a blog just on the pictures with the three of them and that gigantic spider...
the funniest part, Sam.  He had the same pose in every one and was ready to take that spider out if need be.

Finally, what four year old wouldn't LOVE to have a Francesco car...Ava that is. 

 It was her least favorite gift.  :-(  Guess who got it for her?  US!  (insert double sad face)

Happy 4th Birthday sweet girl!

Leader

Being leader at school is always a big deal, & the last time being leader for the school year is no exception. Dress, belt, earrings, CARS for show & tell, & her BUZZ backpack all capture my daughter to a tee. Sparkly, sweet, quiet, smart, happy, courageous, loving, sassy, giving, & super tall. That's my sweet girl & I've got a tear in my eye thinking she is turning four in two days. She has changed so much & I can't wait to post about her final day of school & what a wonderful experience we have all had.

Fly to your heart...

This makes my heart sing...I only wish the blog world would have let me upload the whole video.

I love these girls and how cousins can be such great friends. 

Being 37

This is where my life choices have lead me...

I love being able to have the time to help at Ava' s school and

see her, first hand, being a school kid

A few class trips have kept the kids busy this week. 

This one was to the Canteen for milk shakes. 



This one was to the Eye Dr.'s and those kids LOVED those sunglasses.

We also started swim lessons this week.  Now that she knows what goes on, we will see if the next class is as successful.  She did have tears, but said she had fun...who wouldn't when you get an ice cream sandwich after.  :-)



 The anticipation was killing her.

She was eager to go with the swim instructor.

there is a funny story to go with that...my sister (jenn) and i cried bloody murder as kids during swim lessons with an older lady.  my mom pointed the famous finger and said, "class is paid for, you are finishing!"  we cried the ENTIRE time.  needless to say, by the fourth class we had a new instructor, a cute young man with a mustache, and guess what?  we jumped right in and put on a real show...without tears.  the apple clearly doesn't fall far from the tree, i've never seen ava so willingly go with anyone before.  he was even able to get her to stop crying EXTREMELY FAST after dunking her under water.  how the hell did he do that?!?!?

waskily wabbit

These two actually think they are going to catch a baby rabbit with MY garden lettuce in THAT contraption....stay tuned. 

 (don't worry, no killing will go on in my yard- i once made my husband catch a mole, contain him in a bucket with dirt, and later, i actually drove that mole out into the country to give him back his freedom)

Dad's are so fun to have around.