Back to "normal"?

Greetings from St. Louis! We arrived home safe and sound Sunday afternoon, just in time to watch the Chiefs lose AGAIN! It was not a happy sports weekend in our family. Regardless, it was wonderful to be back home as a family once again. Allison and I spent Monday just hanging out at home. I spent the day doing laundry and all that other fun stuff that comes with being out of town for two weeks. We were both still in our jammies way past noon, and that was fine with both of us! You can see our living room in its normal state- books strewn about, a child in the middle of the room adding stickers to every appendage, scissors and workbooks being used- just an average day for this stay at home mom.

We did have to venture out to Walmart because we had NO food or drink in the house- I have no idea how Scott survived! I think he ate, drank and slept W O R K for 2 weeks. :( Allison had no desire to leave the house because she was enjoying getting re-aquainted with her toys, stuffed animals, etc., so I had to bribe her by telling her she could ride the Snoopy ride at Walmart if she'd come with me. :)

Little Miss Independent is really throwing me for a loop these days. All of a sudden she wants to do it ALL by herself, not just some things. Thanks to her little friend Olivia's example, she is now practically dressing herself, pulling on her pants, getting her own shirt off if it kills her in the process, telling me to leave her alone in the bathroom- that she can do it HERSELF, etc. Every time I try to lend a helping hand I am met with a very stubborn little girl with her hand up to me like, GET AWAY! Tell me this is typical??? It's so hard for me not to help and to watch her struggle with things, but I know that's how she's learning, and I'm trying SO hard to keep my distance.

The best news about this independence is that she is pretty much potty trained. It's been almost a month without any accidents and just wearing a diaper at night. On the way home from KC we had just passed a rest stop when she says, "I have to potty". The tough part is that with this age you have no idea if they have to go RIGHT THEN or 10 minutes down the road. Well, you can't take a risk, so we pulled off at the very next available stop. She's so funny- we get into the bathroom and she grabs at her pants and says, "I've been holding it!" :) Tonight she went into the bathroom to take care of business and we hear her yell out to us, "Please clap and say good job!" We were rolling! This kid has a very healthy self esteem!

Okay- I'm off to do another post or two about fall weather and the fun that goes with it.