La la toot

Reading her baby doll a book

I've already written about Evie's latest word explosion.  But, it continues.  And continues to amaze me.  Tonight, she told me "la la toot".  What's that?  Oh, well, as anyone who spends day in and day out with her would know, it means laundry chute.  La la is of course the easiest almost-homonym for laundry due to her continued love of  the book "moo baa la la la" and toot, well, that is unfortunately now one of her favorite words.  She likes to run around saying "mama - toot!"; "dadu - toot!" "me - TOOT!"  For a while there, she was saying "poo poo" every time she had to use the potty.  Fortunately that has at least changed to "pee pee", which is somehow not so embarrassing when you're sitting at a restaurant and at the top of her lungs she used to say "mama POO POO!".  "Mama pee pee" is considerably more acceptable.  "mama toot!", well, yah, also embarrassing.  But comical.  Ahh, bathroom humor.  Does it ever really get old?

Anyway, onto this week.  Will was out of town from Thurs to Sun and therefore I took Evie to her swim lessons. 

I. will. never. do. that. again. 

We got the lessons on the cheap.  Chicago park district, $38 for a 12 week session.  What a bargain!  Yah, well, you get what you pay for.  Thank you Will for giving me warning (not).  We showed up in full clothes because it was negative 25 outside.  We got in to the locker rooms to realize they were gender neutral and had no doors on the stalls.  Fine for an almost two year old.  Not so ideal for 32 year old 'mama toot'.  We made due, slinging towels in various directions, and eventually went down to the pool.  It was freezing.  Evie lasted all of 5 minutes before she said "ladder.  All done."  I tried to encourage her to stay, and she scaled the wall (no, I'm not exaggerating) until she got to the ladder, climbed out, and said "all done! Mama, all done.  ALL DONE!"  There was no pulling her back in.  Thank goodness.  We shivered our way out back into the subzero temps outside and I vowed never to take her there again.  It's up to Will if he'll be going this coming weekend.

Yesterday was the second week of gymnastics.  Now this is a sport I'm happy to participate in.  I can wear full comfy attire, she gets to run around, do somersaults, burn countless amounts of energy, and end with a smile.  We will absolutely sign up for this class again!  She loved every single minute of the class and has been practicing for the last 24 hours.  We were doing hand stands and somersaults at music class today, much to the teachers dismay.

Deciding she needed a "robe", using one of my
belts as a makeshift tie...

Meanwhile, our newest parenting debate is about when to move Evie into a real bed.  She seems ready.  She wants to read to herself, put on her own clothes, and even put on her nighttime diaper.  I've been told that sleep regresses when children move to a real bed.  But, I almost feel like she's doing so well with potty training that we're doing a disservice to her by keeping her in a crib where she has to wait to be "set free" before she can use the potty in the morning.  I've heard <fairy?>tales of parents who tell their two year olds "ok, it's bedtime.  You don't have to go to sleep, but you do need to go to your room, close the door, and fall asleep whenever you're done <reading/playing/singing/etc)>.  I feel like she just might be able to handle that.  And frankly, it's to our benefit that she's so short.  She can't quite reach the door handle to let herself out!  Maybe we'd better switch her to a bed before she can in fact let herself out. Then maybe she'll get used to just playing a bit on her own before she falls asleep on her own.  And, yes, I know that one day I'll look back and miss the times she wanted me to read her or sing her to sleep.  But I have to say that right now, it'd be so nice to help her put on pjs and then walk out of the room and relinquish control.  And maybe have a glass of wine...