Who loves you?

It's fun to ask a 2 1/2 year old questions to see what type of answer you get.  Last night I asked her who loved her.  After the standard response of Mommy and Daddy she remembered that Jesus loves her and followed that with Mary!  We don't know a Mary, at least I don't think we do, so I like to think she's talking about The Mary.

Avery is doing well feeding herself things like yogurt without making a tremendous mess.  She's gotten so much better at pushing the pedals on her bike on her own.  She's having some good days and some less than great days with using the potty.  All in all, she may not be learning all of the things she'd learn at school, but she is picking up other things here at home.  I do need to keep pressing on getting her to spell and write her name, but we have time - lots and lots of time from the sound of it.

Two full time jobs and potty training

So far we're ok.  Things will get harder as the hours I am with her solo get amplified.  I am grateful her Dad had some vacation days that were use or lose.  Sure he'll have more and I have time too, but I don't want to burn through any of it too quickly, because I think things are going to go on like this for an extended period of time.

We've decided to work harder on potty training and today Avery told me she had to go before it happened twice - once for each 'activity'!  I'm quite proud and she enjoyed her M&Ms.

Nap time however is not going as well.  She's been wailing since 1 and it's almost 3.  I've been trying to wear her out by running around and going outside when the weather has been allowing, but this is hard.

Quarantine

As of Wednesday, Avery will be home with me... the whole COVID-19 thing has closed us down.  I know posting this comes as no surprise to anyone, but I'm recording it for my own notes, because hopefully one day we'll look back and it will have been a blip.

Most places seemed to have locked the doors over the weekend, so we're lucky to get two "extra" days at daycare before the closure goes into effect.  It is going to be a challenge, but I'm hoping that I can work when she sleeps and supplement with my saved up vacation time to get through.  Of course, none of us really know how long it is that we'll need to "get through", just a minimum of two weeks.

So far I've been able to get the things I think we'll need.  I'm hopeful that our supply chain will remain stable, so we can continue to get replenishment of milk and fresh fruits.  But if we can't I have enough here to last us for a while, I just can't imagine how displeased Avery would be with some of the foods that would remain.

Rebel rebel

We're starting to get tastes of surly behavior.  It's age appropriate and normal, but super frustrating.  Avery has begun saying no in response to requests for her to do things.  I'm told she stuck her tongue out at school (which has to be where she learned that too).  The hitting and swatting amped up a little again when she's displeased with what you're telling her.

The latest is not wanting to wear what I'm trying to put on her.  It's pretty hard to get a shirt on a kid that doesn't want it on.  The past two days all she wants is the owl shirt, one she wore (and dirtied) on Sunday.

She's getting big and independent, but at the same time she still says she's a baby.  I know the time will come when she says "I'm not a baby!" so I'm embracing this all and telling her she will always be my baby but that she's my big girl too.

I'm hoping nicer weather and more activities will help us get past some of this phase.  We've been trying to take advantage of a small dose of warmer weather.  Sunday we were outside coloring with chalk and Monday we went for a short walk and rode on her tricycle after she left school.  It was nice enough that they even had the kids in the playground at the end of the day.

That's new!

I bought a new dishwasher.  Its arrival today while Avery was at school did not go unnoticed.  We weren't home for 5 minutes when she started to put the carpet back in front of the sink for me, which is laughable in and of itself.  But then she said "hey look at that's new!" as she pointed to the dishwasher.  This kid doesn't miss anything.