Panties and Preschool

As many of you know, we started preschool this week! As many of you also know, we've also been working on POTTY TRAINING! It's been a rough road, we've had some setbacks, however, we were not able to start preschool without being potty trained.   Fortunately for us, the start of school was pushed back a month due to the fact that the construction  of the school was not complete. So we got an extra month of practice! And I'm happy to say, there was only one accident. We talk a lot about being sure to go in the potty so the teacher doesn't ask her to go home. She does NOT want that to happen!
Some of the things that Lola has been on include colors, shapes, painting, puppets, and her favorite "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes". We get to practice that at home and Lola likes to "Go FAST".

One of the things they also did this week was draw a self portrait. I think it's a pretty good likeness!
This summer, we started a dance class. Lola loves it! She is so excited to go every week. We had a bit of a rough patch with dance class too. Daddy came to visit and watch her second class. Lola did not have on her "Listening ears" that class and was asked to go sit in the lobby with us. She didn't like that very much and started to throw a fit. When that happened, we, of course, removed her immediately! She cried for probably an hour. Worst. Fit. Ever. But let me tell you, we've had our ears turned on EVER SINCE.  We see improvement every week. She gets better and better!

We've gotten a lot better since this was taken!
We are so excited that Lola is growing up and doing well.  She is such a blessing and so much fun! She is GROWING UP SO FAST!

New Words and Phrases

We have started speech with Lola. It's been almost a month since that started. We are making some fairly good strides with that, but will be sad to lose some of the phrases that she says that we've come to love. Here are a list of some of my favorites and their translations:

pokin -- pumpkin
hongee -- hungry
hold you -- pick me up (hold me)
canee -- candy
save you -- help! daddy is trying to put me to bed!
milamade -- lemonade
I likee more -- I don't like that (complete with a hand wave)
I love more -- I love you  more (awwww!)

These are some of our favorites. She also has some phrases that she says just fine, but we are told she says them, not because she knows the individual words, but they are sayings she's picked up:

whatcha doin in there?
what's that noise?
bye boges.
blanket's in the car. (or chuchu, or sippy, etc. etc. etc)

Our speech therapist, Shannon, is coming every Monday morning to work with Lola. She has some toys that she brings out to get Lola to do what she wants her to do. She has a potato head family that is Lola's favorite. In order to get a part of the potato head, she has to say "I want . . ." and say it correctly, in order to get the piece.  Lola talks about the potato heads all week long. Shannon also has her blow whistles and various objects that she blows in. She likes those too. They are trying to strengthen her mouth muscles.

We're pretty sure pokin and hongee are going to stay around a while, even when Lola can say them right!

Maryland and Family

What a wonderful trip we had to Maryland! It was such a treat to be able to visit with family and let Lola get to know her extended family. We went to the zoo in Salisbury, and Lola loved the playground.  It was still a little cold to really enjoy the beach, but after Lola's last experience with the ocean, I don't think she would have been quick to indulge in beach activities anyway. We did go to Ocean City and did the board walk. We went on the huge ferris wheel, and thankfully, Lola had a healthy fear and wasn't too squirmy.  She LOVED the carmel corn and french fries. We took a trip to the "Homestead" to see what was happening there. Hallwood hasn't changed much, it seems. There was a little thrift shop that we stopped at and I found these two great hats! Both hats for $6! Now to find a great outfit to wear (Probably at Halloween) with them. While in Hallwood, June remembered the cream puff place--best cream puffs in the world, by the way, in Onancock. So we headed that way. I told Rodney he was in for a real treat. Lola was asleep when we got there, so we couldn't all go in. Mom and Aunt Betty argued about who would buy the dozen...so we got two. Rodney agreed, they were pretty tasty!  Before we got back to Salisbury, I think we were a dozen down! Lola was able to get some play time with her cousins. Sarah, Kaylee and Shelby came over for a big seafood feast! When she and Sarah saw each other for the first time, they ran and hugged each other. It was so sweet! I so wish that we lived closer to all these cousins so that Lola could grow up around her cousins. She so seemed to enjoy it. And she did pretty much enjoy the clams! Since she was under two, we flew with her as a lap child. Gamma and Honey wanted some coffee and didn't wait till we got through security to get it. As a result, we were the last people on the plane. Fortunately, some nice person changed seats so at least Rodney and I could sit together in the very last row.  We made it, and on our way home, we made sure that we checked in early!