Big Girl Room – Transition

We started a few months ago tossing around ideas for DJ’s big girl room.  We have always agreed that the front (smaller) room was a great nursery, but she would be transitioned to the back bedroom once she got older.  The back bedroom is larger and quieter being down a hallway instead of right off the living room.  The closet is slightly smaller but with more floor space for playing, its a good trade off.

So, we started on the room, just wanting to work on it slowly over time with the thought that we would transition her when she was closer to age 2.  You can see here what we got accomplished and called Phase 1 complete.

What we didn’t expect was that she would be so excited about her “pink” room and her big girl beds that she would want to sleep in there immediately.  It started last week with a Saturday afternoon nap.  We laid down to read books and when I told her it was nap time, she just turned her head to the side and fell asleep!  I laid there for a minute and sure enough she was asleep and I crawled out of bed without her noticing.

What made me so excited about that nap was that she slept in that bed for over 2 hours.  We had been struggling with nap times on the weekends in her cribs, and her naps had only been about 45 minutes, even though she was obviously still tired.  She normally sleeps 2.5-3 hours at daycare, so these 45 minute naps at home weren’t cutting it.  I was amazed that she slept SO well in her big girl bed.

So, the next weekend, we got another great Saturday nap from her, so we figured we should try for overnight that weekend.  Saturday night we did the same thing with a few books and then she feel right asleep.   We made sure to bring the monitor into the new room and turned the volume up really high so we could hear if she got out of bed.  She stirred once around midnight but went right back down and slept until 5:30am (her normal wake up time).  We were very pleased!  Sunday night was the same and its been getting better and better since!

I guess we really need to get on Phase 2 of her room and will update with the finishing touches soon!

Magic Kingdom – Part 3

After lunch we went over to the ride that I remember the most, It’s a Small World.  DJ was really excited about getting on a boat.   The line for this wasn’t too terrible but probably one of the longest we went through that day.

And after this ride, we had just enough time to hit up Dumbo!  DJ has a stuffed animal Dumbo and has watched the movie several times.  I was so excited for her to ride this one because she actually knew the character and got the idea of “flying”.  Again, the line wasn’t long.  It was fun that J and I got to go with her and we all fit to ride together and my mom and sister stayed behind so they could take our picture.

We loved it and she was very sad when the ride was over.  I think this was the first ride that she didn’t want to get off of and wanted to ride again.  Look at that smile!

Next up was a 3:00 Celebrate It parade.

This parade was fantastic and she loved all of the characters that came up to give her high fives.  She sat in the stroller and just watched and waved.  I wish I got better video of how excited she was jumping up and down to see this parade!

As you can see by this point the hot Florida sun was starting to get to us but we had something special planned for 4 o’clock!

Phase 1 of the Big Girl Room

We have finally cleaned out the guest room and started setting it up to be DJ’s “Big Girl Room”. She still isn’t crawling out of her crib but she is tall enough to get her leg up on the side. This room is a lot bigger and quieter. Since her nursery was painted teal, J wanted to give her something more girly this time and so we went for the pink on the walls. Pink does seem to be her favorite color these days so hopefully it works out well.

 

Because my parents come to visit us a lot, this room will still probably be used as a guest room. Plus, I love that she will be able to have sleep overs with friends really easily!

The two bed frames are actually bunk beds so when she gets a little older we will probably bunk them. For now, the rail around the top bed will serve great to help for transitioning!

Here is where we are at for phase 1:
– Paint walls light shade of pink
– Buy white bed frames
– Buy bedding
– Arrange furniture

Still needed for phase 2:

-Curtains

– Paint knobs on both dressers
– Wall art
– clean out closet
– toy and clothes storage

Magic Kingdom – Part 2

Since it was 10 am and we had three major rides done, we wanted to get one more big one out of the way early on.  We stopped in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride.  This one has a neat interactive line.  It was helpful but DJ was already on the point of a meltdown and she couldn’t really enjoy the fun activities they had set up for the kids.  Little games were throughout the line like gophers popping up from the ground and honey streaming down a screen that you could draw “art” in.  Sadly, this was probably our most disappointing ride of the day.  The ride itself moved very quickly and was a big jerky.  There were no songs that you could enjoy through the ride and just a lot of flashy stuff as you went by.  It was a very short ride and we weren’t really disappointed to get off.

Right after riding Little Mermaid

Next, we headed over to use our Fast Pass on Peter Pan.  This ride books up quickly so we were happy to be able to walk right on.  Since GiGi and AL didn’t have a Fast Pass they found some shade and waited.   The ride went pretty fast but was really cute.  Flying on a boat and the entire ride you are looking down at Neverland and the various scenes.  DJ hasn’t seen Peter Pan so she’d didn’t really get it.

After that ride, we decided it was about time for lunch so we made the decision to try to head the “Be our Guest” restaurant at the Beast’s castle.  They said it was going to be a 40 minute on the bridge.  I loaded DJ up in the Ergo carrier and she finally put her head down and fell asleep.  The wait only ended up being about 25 minutes before we were placing our order.

Waiting on the bridge for lunch for Be Our Guest

Magic Kingdom – Part 1

We arrived at the park before it opened. After getting a locker we waiting for the welcome show at the train station. DJ was already a bit tired and cranky (asking for her pacifier) but once the singing and dancing started she got into it. She was jumping up and down when she heard the whistle of the steam train coming and even more excited when she saw all the characters riding and waving from the train. After a countdown from ten Mickey opened the park. As we went to go in DJ didn’t want to go and instead was asking to stay with Micky.

Once we distracted her enough to get into the park we booked it over to fantasyland. We saw that Peter Pan and Its a Small World was having a delayed opening for the day so we grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan. Then we continued on to our first attraction, Enchanted Stories with Belle.

The line was already 20 minutes but we jumped in and stood our place outside Maurice’s house. DJ didn’t really like the idea of standing in the line which was outside the house in the heat and sun. As we wrangled her we finally made our way into the house. In the first room we saw belongings of Belle and Maurice. Then we were welcomed through a magical mirror into the other house. Each kid played a part in a play for Belle and DJ was reluctant but joined in holding her dancing spoon and fork sign.

After a great experience at Belle we met up with Gigi and AL. We all jumped on and rode the horses on the carousel.
After that we headed over to the little mermaid ride. It was a other basically nonexistent line and the ride was wonderful. I was amazed that it was barely 10 am and we had three rides done.

Part two later!

Spring

We are all itching for spring around here.  It has been a late winter but now its March and still cold.  I was cleaning out a spaghetti squash the other week and thought hmm, I wonder if I could plant these things.  Not even sure how to go about it, a quick google search told me to wash the seeds and put them in a baggie to see if they would germinate (sprout).  Sure enough, almost all of my little seeds had a few sprouts in just a couple of days.

Last weekend I dragged DJ out front and told her we were going to dig in the dirt and plant seeds.  She wasn’t too sure what it was all about.  She tried to help dig a hole but got frustrated with the dirt on her hands.  But, once I had a good trench dug, she was more than happy to help drop the seeds in one by one.  She had even more fun with the next step which was watering the seeds.  Every day since, we come home and she shouts “Seeds Seeds” and wants to water them!

And look at what popped up this week, our little seeds!

She loves to stand on the patio and pour the water onto the little sprouts.  At some point we will have to go through a biology lesson teaching her that now they are technically plants and no longer “Seeds Seeds”.

We are finally enjoying some warmer weather and hope that we have had our last cold snap!  Bring on the Spring!

Nursery

I just realized we never did a real nursery reveal. These are some bad quality pictures (cell phone at night). But I thought I would post for now. I hope I can get my good camera on her room soon and do a better job documenting.

Proud

I thought I understood the feeling of being proud.  I thought I was a proud momma when she rolled over.  I thought I was a proud mom when people told me how cute she was.  I thought I was proud when she learned new words.

Yesterday I learned a whole new level of being a proud mom.

I walked into DJ’s class to pick her up like any normal afternoon.  The class was sitting at the table waiting for snack.  Her teacher came over and said “DJ can’t leave yet, I was just about to give her a sticker because she was the only friend who helped clean up toys before snack time”.

I cannot tell you how proud I am that she is learning and CHOOSING to listen and to help.  I told her over and over on the car ride home how proud I was of her. We told J when he got home about how she helped and she got to show him her sticker.  I know its hard for her to understand at 18 months but I hope she can see and feel how proud I am of her!

Valentines Day preschool party

This year for valentines day, I got to go to DJs school for her valentine’s day party.   That morning, I told her she was having a party, and she started singing “Happy Birthday”.  It was a bit hard to try to explain that it wasn’t going to be a birthday party but I tried my best!    She was so excited when I walked into her classroom and couldn’t wait for me to sit next to her with all of her classmates.

She showed me the little heart drawn on the table and immediately went for the frosting on the cupcake!

Oops, we got a bit of frosting on our neck!

Here are all her friends in her class.  Some got quite dressed up for this party.  Notice the girl in the tutu next to her?  And the girl in the formal dress standing at the end of the table?!?  DJ was pretty comfortable in her t-shirt and yoga pants!

18 month shots

Last week, DJ had to go to the doctor for her 18 month check up! I grabbed her at 11:30 which was right after lunch and before nap so she wasn’t too excited at the doctors office. She is growing like crazy and back up in the 90th percentile. She weighs about 29lbs and is about 33 inches tall. He said she looked very health!

The odd mismatched clothes are from daycare because it was spaghetti day when I picked her up she she had to wear a back up outfit!

She did great for her three shots and she fell right asleep on her cot when I took her back to daycare. That night however, she was very stiff and sore in the legs where she got the shots. The nurse said the tetnus part of the shot would cause this but it should go away. She was so sad and pitaful just sitting on her couch and wouldn’t walk or play. She constantly wanted one of us sitting right there with her.

I remembered a Christmas gift we had bought but not given to her (she was too young for it at the time and didn’t need it), but I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. It was a Fisher Price doctor’s kit, very similar to the one I grew up with! The last thing she needs is more toys but since we just had a doctor’s visit I thought she would understand and be able to play pretend.

She loved opening the wrapped present even though she wouldn’t get up off her couch.

Her favorite part of the kit is the cardboard eye chart!

She checked her ears just like the doctor did.

And then we did a full check up on the baby doll.

She is starting to talk to her baby dolls and let them sit next to her.

Here she is rocking her baby doll and rubbing her belly like we do when we put her to sleep.

After a playing with our new toy and eating dinner, her legs were still very stiff and sore, so we decided a nice hot bath might help. She stayed in for almost thirty minutes and actually leaned up against the side of the tub to relax and play with her toys and sponges. Luckily these are the last shots she will need until she starts kindergarten.