Have no fear, 22 months is here.

What happened to our little baby girl? I can’t seem to find her!

That’s what I say to myself when I see our little missy mess do big girl things or talk in big girl sentences.

I wish I would have written everything down she has said or done within this last month, because let me tell you, she’s a funny character.

I can only remember the most recent funnies though.

For instance: We are currently working on potty training, not hard core, but getting Eden used to the idea that your pee pee and poo poo goes in the potty not the diaper. So with that said, the other day Eden wanted to sit on her potty. It really makes Eden happy to sit on her potty, mainly because the potty plays a song when she sits on it. (Hi there big kid welcome back, you’re so smart you’re right on track, take your time and concentrate, going potty’s just so GREAT!) She usually sits on the potty long enough to start the song and then she gets up and dances.
Her new dance move is called the drive. She’ll say “drive mama drive!” (This move is done by your arms swinging out in front of you, up and down.) That’s the best explanation I can give you.
Needless to say she’s not really interested in sitting down on the potty to do her business.

So, after several tries of getting Eden to actually sit on the potty long enough to do something, I told her it was time to turn off the light. Eden then exclaimed, “NO mama potty train! POTTY TRAIN! So I said, “Are you going to sit on the potty and go pee?” “NO!” (This really meant yes.) So, I let her try one more time and guess what, nothing. That’s ok though. We’re not jumping off the potty train just yet. She’ll go when she feels comfortable enough. We will just have to keep doing the potty train dance until she decides to go.

(This picture was not posed, honest. She just happend to grab this book I've been reading and went stirght to the potty.)

Ok, one more potty story.

The other day I had changed her diaper and decided to let her sit on the potty just to see if she would go. Well nothing happened and Eden was apparently done trying. So she decided to run tippy toed into the living room naked squealing at the top of her lungs. She thinks this is the funniest thing to do. Her favorite place to hide is underneath our couch pillows. For an almost two year old, she hides herself pretty well. In the mean time, I was trying to get dinner started, so I just let her play in the living room bare bo-bo (not because I didn’t try putting clothes and a diaper on her, Missy mess would rather sport her birthday suite any day.) telling her that if she needed to pee pee let me know and we would sit on the potty. Well, my cooking was getting pretty intense (I think I was browning some meat, I mean come on) so I didn’t quite have my eye on her (Shame on me). So here little Eden comes trotting into the kitchen and in her little voice says, “mama mess.” Needless to say Eden had an accident on the floor. Poor thing. I felt like a horrible mom for not watching her. I immediately put a diaper and some clothes on her and then cleaned up the small mess. I just hope that little incident didn’t make her feel bad. I worry about those little things.

Now for the no fear part, because believe you me, Eden has no fear… at least not yet.

Andrew and Eden love to play on the floor. It’s so funny to watch them interact.
A few of Eden’s favorite games to play on the floor are:
* Giddy up horse. (You know the classic crawl on daddies back while he’s on all fours.)
* Tumble over daddy, laugh really hard, and then do it again.
* Run in circles until you fall on the ground.
* Hide and seek
* And Stretch. This isn’t really a floor thing and she will only do it with Andrew, maybe because she knows I’m not strong. HA! We have a chin up bar in the doorway and every time she remembers it’s there she wants to stretch. She actually can do a couple of chin ups with little help… pretty impressive if you ask me.

Another thing I’m pretty proud of her for is climbing. We frequent Chik-Fil-A quite a bit, so every chance we get; we let Eden play on the indoor playground. At first, Eden wasn’t so sure about the huge play area and would sit and watch all the kids climbing and sliding. Well now, after all that watching (and stretching) she now has the strength and courage to climb up in the play area, crawl through the tunnels and slide down the slide all by herself. It’s so funny what makes moms happy.

(Eden climbing in the play area at Emma Grace's birthday party)
(I didn't want to mislead people into thinking that Texarkana Chik-Fil-A has a huge play area like the one in the pictures below. HAHA! These pictures were of her climbing at a place called Mintons Sport Plex.)

(Me climbing up to rescue her)

Now for something ugly followed by something sweet, because I have to end on a good note.

Eden has a vibrant, spunky, exuberant personality. She can also be reserved at times but more often then not she’s on the go and doesn’t stop unless it’s for a nack, aka snack without the s, or a dink (drink)
Our little princess likes to be heard. She also gets really excited when she sees other kids running around acting silly and feels like she can jump in with the same enthusiasm or maybe even more.

A couple of Wednesday nights ago I dropped Eden off at her bible class. It was singing night, which tends to go a little long some nights. Unfortunately, that is what happened. Eden had not had her nap that day, which was red flag number one. (Red flag number two was singing night going a little long.) Once the last prayer was led, I bolted out the door to get Eden from class. I actually had a funny feeling in my belly which was weird. I rounded the corner where her classroom was and I saw her sneaky self bolt out the door through a crowd of parents headed in the other direction. All the while she was screaming at the top of her lungs. After finally catching her, we walked back to her classroom to grab her things. At that point her teacher informs me that she had to be put in time out. Was I shocked? I’m sure my face looked like it did, actually more embarrassed then shocked. The teacher proceeded to tell me that Eden pushed someone in class and so she had to sit in time out. Oh no, I exclaimed. I’m so sorry she did that. I thanked her for putting her in time out and said sorry another several times and then left feeling like a horrible mom because my kid pushed another child. Eden I had a little talk on the way to the car. I explained that pushing, hitting, and screaming are all ugly and it hurts people’s feelings when you do them. She seemed to understand but was very cranky due to the fact that she had had no nap that day.
That wasn’t the first time she pushed and I know it won’t be the last. It’s so hard though as a mom to hear about those things or to actually witness your child doing them. I really don’t know where she learned the pushing from, but it’s my job as a mom to help her unlearn it.
You know as a mom I have learned a lot of things and one thing I have learned that I try to stick to is consistency. Being consistent in everyday activities, prayer life, discipline, loving gestures, as well as many other things; will help Eden have a greater appreciation for the love we have for her. Parenthood has definitely been rewarding, but at times exhausting due to all the no no’s, time-outs, and occasional spanking (which we have learned does not faze her and probably hurts me more then it does her), I mean, my goodness, the journey started only a year ago. We’ve got a long trek ahead of us. I know though with God’s help, a husband and wife support system, and friends and families encouraging words we can get through any situation.

Now for something sweet:

The other night I was getting Eden ready for bed. She was being so sweet giving me lots of hugs and kisses. She even wanted me to rock her for a little bit which she usually just wants to be put down. Well, after rocking her for a little bit I put her in bed tucked her in and said, “I love you sweetheart.” She answered back quickly, “I wuv ooh too mama.”
Those words just melted my heart. You know what, maybe we are doing something right.