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Kyle David Miller Foundation Blog

Potty Training

So, as with most things, I'm taking a very laid back approach to potty training. For the most part it seems to be working though. Since that first day she peed on the potty, she has gone at least once a day since. If we're just hanging around at home, then Miranda is most likely naked. Why? Because when she's naked she has a 100% success rate of making it to a potty, without any prompting. She just stops whatever she's doing, runs to the potty, goes and then comes and gets an adult to give her the praise and admiration (not to mention rewards) that she deserves. Awesome. A few times, she's told us she has to go when she already has a diaper on. Most of the time though, if she has a diaper on we either need to keep reminding her about the potty or take her ourselves. Which is fine. Either way, I'm not doing pull-ups and hopefully by the end of the summer we'll be able to be in underwear during the day. Naps and nighttime are still diapered for now. I told her that when her potty chart is full, we'll get her a present. So far there are 5 stickers on the downstairs chart and 3 stickers on the upstairs one. She even used her first public toilet today too while we were at Coco Key. (Ew, but yay!)

What's that? What's Coco Key you ask? Coco Key is an awesome indoor water park that Adam and I received a gift certificate to during Christmas! Since I finally own a bathing suit I thought it was about time we took advantage of that place. Miranda was iffy at first. She took a while to warm up to the place. She loved their lazy river and we probably did that around 100 times. lol Finally though, towards the end of our trip she became really comfortable in the water and became good friends with an older girl who I suspect had some special needs. I thought it was neat and interesting though because there were a TON of kids there. Miranda never EVER noticed any of them until that girl. She was sitting in the water, alone with her fingers in her ears. She had only bikini bottoms on and no top. We were sitting with her for a good hour and half. No adult ever checked on her, she never talked and in fact barely moved. She was smiling like crazy at Miranda though and I had seen her a few times before Miranda became infatuated and she was NOT smiling before, so I think that Miranda made her day. I truly feel that Miranda knew there was something about this girl. Seriously, she went from not caring about any other kids to not wanting to leave this girl's side. I felt bad about leaving her but we had been at Coco Key for 5 hours already and we were all exhausted. Believe me when I say that I had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming.

Other than that, we had a pretty good weekend. I am LOVING my vacation so far. I can't wait to be DONE cleaning other people's houses though for good and switch to being a baby sign language teacher! :D

HALLELUJAH!

Miranda peed on the potty!

While cutting coupons, I decided I'd take the time to make her a simple potty chart. Just some big squares gridded out on a piece of paper. I showed her the Dora stickers and the chart and told her that if she peed on the potty she could put a sticker on her chart. So, she started to get excited. She asked to have underwear put on, so I did. We sat for a little while on the potty, nothing happening. I poured warm water on her area, as a suggestion I once got (plus she likes it) and got nothing. Still, I saw her pushing and told her it was a very good try. After lunch, we tried again. Suddenly, she stands up from her little potty and demands "Big potty!" Since it was nap time anyway we said that's fine. We went upstairs, I modeled how to pee while she got her face wiped and then we sat her on the big potty. I was drying my hands when I looked at her and she was PEEING!!!! I got so excited and shouted Yay!! I think I scared her because she stopped a second and then kept peeing. I was shouting and dancing! I was so proud of her! She knew the whole routine too! Wipe, flush, wash & dry! We went downstairs and put a Dora sticker on her chart, gave her some M&M's & some loving and then put her down for nap.

A very exciting, satisfying morning!

Okay, well...I'm not as depressed anymore. Adam's unemployment is coming in again so at least there is a money flow. Work is ...well, work. Everyday I hope that I'll be fired to be honest, but meh... I can not WAIT to switch to being a My Smart Hands instructor! I'm ALMOST there! Keep the prayers coming that things start to look up for us soon.

Miranda is growing up a little more everyday. She loves the water a little more everyday. She gets more comfortable in it every time she goes in. This weekend she spent so much time outside she got almost 20 bug bites! Poor thing! We've been putting Neosporin with pain relief on them to keep them from getting worse.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. My camera is currently broken so there won't be any new pictures for a little while.

Crappy times...

Well, since the last time I blogged, Adam was laid off. I went back to getting as many hours as I can and we have absolutely NO money to pay bills or even buy food at the moment. Our account is somewhere below 0 and Adam's old work isn't handing out paychecks and it's like winning the lottery to get a hold of unemployment. I really just want a break from this crap!!!

I know what I want to happen but it isn't up to me. We'll just have to wait and see how things go...

Travels, food and swimming.

Today was SO busy! Miranda spent the night at the mother in laws but we had to go get her early this morning. (8:30am) We were going down to New Haven to visit some family that flew in from Arizona. It was nice to see them again and they got to meet Miranda for the first time. They loved her, of course. We didn't stay there long because we had to head back to the mother in laws for a BBQ. There was so much food there!! We had a blast though. We all went swimming too, including Miranda. The water was SO cold but she loved it anyway and we couldn't get her OUT of the pool. Her poor little lips were blue and chattering a mile a minute. It was nice to have her enjoy herself so much. She was SO tired when we put her to bed tonight.

We spent the rest of the night outside, sitting around a fire pit making AMAZING s'mores. (Graham crackers, Strawberry marshmallows and a Reese's chocolate cup *drool*) We had the normal ingredients too. More fireworks and good company. :) Lots of fun.

Happy Independance Day!

Well, today is the 4th of July! Another birthday for the USA. 233 years young. :)

We didn't do too much to celebrate. We did some cleaning around the house. Then after Miranda's nap we went to my cousin, Todd's, house for a BBQ. That was a lot of fun. Miranda looked so cute in her little outfit. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera. :/

On our way home we stopped at a fireworks stand and bought some. CT has absolute crap for fireworks though, so they weren't impressive. This time of year makes me REALLY miss South Carolina. You could buy some amazing fireworks down there. Fourth of July was always the best holiday to celebrate with all our Marine buddies.

We ended the night with some geek time and lighting stuff on fire! Happy Birthday America and a HUGE thank you to all the men and women who do so much to keep us free.

New background!

I know it's late, but better late than never. I have a new Independence Day background up. All patriotic and what not.

Today was a pretty normal day. I had the day off so I didn't set my alarm, knowing Miranda would wake me up when she was ready. I woke up to her gently knocking on her bedroom door. As I was getting dressed and brushing my teeth I heard her start to cry. When I opened the door, half her diaper was still attached the other half had come off. Miranda's standing there holding that half up, crying and saying "Diaper fell off! Diaper change please!" Aw! It was funny and sad at the same time. She was so distressed about it.

Our day started off as normal. Coffee & wake up time. We had a bagel with strawberry cream cheese for breakfast. Yum! I vacuumed and did some tidying. We played and watched the news. My mother stopped by to say hello. She also had the day off. We had coffee and then I went over to her house to see her big puzzle project and help clean her bathroom. She fed Miranda a banana and showed her my photo bucket pictures in a slideshow. lol I helped her download Firefox and showed her how much better it is than Internet Exploder.

Then it was time to go home and figure out lunch. Miranda licked off the inside of a PB&J. lol She went down for nap at 12 and slept until 3. Nicole came over right before she woke up and went upstairs to get her for me. Then we decided it was time for some shopping. I'm going to my mother-in-laws on Sunday for a BBQ and hopefully some swimming so I went to Kohl's to buy a swim suit. I found one but also came home with beach towels for everyone in the family and some new clothes for Miranda and Arali. :) Nicole bought a ton for both little girls as well, including matching dresses so be on the lookout for pictures of that.

We ordered Chinese food for dinner and Nicole watched Arali for Mike and Nicky while they unpacked/did some shopping. Miranda went to bed wearing her ADORABLE new PJs that I bought today. They came with a TUTU which looked WAY to cute on her. She loved dancing in it, shaking her little booty all around the house. VERY cute. :)

Tomorrow I plan on getting up before everyone else to get a head start on laundry and cleaning. Wish me luck on that. ;)

I had an easy day at work. One smaller condo only. Stopped and got Miranda and I McDonald's for lunch. I wanted to try their new Angus burger. It was pretty good. I have Friday off due to the daycare being closed. Yay for a long weekend!

I had to drive out to Wolcott to pick up a bouncer for Arali. It was well worth it though especially since Nicki watched Miranda for me while I went. I've noticed Bean is happiest when bouncing. :)

Miranda and I colored for a while. That was a lot of fun. I always feel like a kid again when I'm on the floor coloring with my daughter.

For dinner we had hamburger helper and asparagus. We cleaned afterwords. We have a busy weekend planned so far. :)

All is well here.

An almost normal day here. I decided to take the day off and spent most of it with Nicole babysitting my precious niece Arali. Miranda LOVES being with the "Bean" (as she is affectionately nicknamed). Always willing to help by holding the bottle, fetching just about anything you need and trying to entertain her. It's very cute and breaks my heart at the same time. I want Miranda to do that with a sibling! This baby fever will never go away I think. Oh well, someday....

Adam got home around 4pm. We had philly steak and cheese for dinner with scalloped potatoes and sugar snap peas. Yummy. Adam did agitate me a little bit by deciding to edit his resume while I repeatedly told him that it was Miranda's bed time. But, like always, I quickly got over it. When we "fight" it's never for long. He's too cute to stay mad at. ;)

Well, I think that's about it...other than that, nothing too exciting.