Summer 08

My oh my, I haven't posted in a year??

Nina has come so far since last September. She is fully potty trained and only wears a pull-up at night. It only took about two months for complete potty control and about another two months for bowel control. Finding the right motivation was the hardest part!
She continues to be tiny, weighing in at 27 pounds, but is a bit tall at 38 inches. She can easily wear size 18 month shorts or capris, since that is her true waist size, but her legs are long and lean so she wears 3T *adjustable waist!* jeans and sweats.
Nina adores gardening and is frequently dirty. Truly truly dirty. Mud caked into her fingernails and sandals! We have a little square of flower garden that has never been planted - now it is Nina's Corner. :)
Nina is great at helping and wanting to be a mommy, she tries to pick up AJ (who weighs over 20 pounds), she tucks her doggy into his bed, she is very concerned over all kids smaller than herself!
She has begun to make friends and remember them. Deanna, Marin & Nicole are some current favorites, but that changes every few weeks. The more we see someone, the more she asks for them!
Nina talks a lot. And she is very very clear. She is also enjoying our church's nursery program where she is in the same room as AJ. She and Will both get to sing in the children's choir - he remembers the tunes, she remembers the words. But the combination is pretty funny! Her favorite song is "my cup is running oooooover!" That song gets faster and faster and she's hilarious!
She will start pre-ballet this fall. I am probably more excited than she is right now! She does dance around the house a lot and she is a good sport when we take Will to tae kwon do twice a week, so she needs to have an activity of her own.
We have hosted a monthly tea part for Nina through my local moms group. Each month about 4-6 little girls of similar ages come over to play. They are too young to enjoy actually having a tea party, but they do enjoy each other's company! Nina loves having some girl time! We will try to continue to do this into the fall as much as possible.
Nina does a good job at listening in during Will's schoolwork. Most of the schoolwork in our curriculum is very adaptable for multiple ages so she can draw while Will does handwriting, she reads along with us, she works on the same memory verse.
Our Nina Boo got a bicycle for her birthday this year and is doing a fantatic job! She loves to go get the mail and then ride around with the mail in her basket. Sometimes a puppy & the sippy cup come along too.
Over the last year we've determined she has a wheat & dairy sensitivity. When she has a lot, her stomach will break out in a tiny rash. It's very hard to explain, it is almost like the pores are open and painful. It's not red right away, but if we let it go it does become red and itchy. We have been able to get on top of this with some lotions but also changing her diet. When she has several weeks with almost no wheat, the rash clears up. We are offering lots of rice, corn and potato alternatives. Rice cakes instead of crackers, potato chips instead of crackers, corn-based cereal or oatmeal instead of wheat-based cereal. She loves white rice and sometimes I mix in a non-dairy "cream cheese" to give it more substance. She loves that!