22 Months!

So much has happened with us this past month!!!

First, Aryn is now in her big kid bed. The first night (which I didn't update on! Whoops!) was ok... I woke up at about 4am, went to check on her, and she was on top of all of her blankets on the floor. But that has been the ONLY night!! Every night she's slept awesome; in fact, she's almost sleeping better than before! Her room is empty of toys and attention-grabbers. It's literally her bed, her dresser, and the rocking chair. The drawers in the change table are empty, and I've concocted a "lock" for the closet. Even if she got up in the middle of the night, there'd be nothing for her to do but go back to sleep!

It's been about a billion degrees in Southern Alberta this past week. So, Aryn has had to get used to sleeping with a fan going in her bedroom and the window opened a crack - with the curtains moving and noises from outside.

I have to admit: I am now OBSESSED with her sleeping with a fan on! I hope I can keep this going, even after it's cooled off!! We can talk at a normal volume, put dishes away, Bauer has barked, we've talked outside... and she's slept through it all!! I LOVE the fan!!

We went to a birthday party last weekend for Aryn's friend Keegan, and I learned two things: 1) This kid loves to PLAY with other kids! 2) This kid LOVES sand and getting dirty!

The latter is not exciting for daddy, who loves this house being spick and span!

What else has happened in our lives...

- Bauer's been super sick lately. We are not sure what's wrong. He ended up going to the vet on Tuesday afternoon, and he stayed until Wednesday at 5pm. He was on an IV, and they did some blood work and testing and all they got was that he was severely dehydrated. Perhaps it's the heat, perhaps something else caused it. Either way, he's not our same puppy! Last night he slept on the floor (which he's never done - ever!), and today he barked at some strangers walking by, looked like he was in pain, then started coughing and hacking. And every time he eats, he throws up what was in his mouth because it's like he can't swallow it! I feel so bad for my little boy and wish I knew what was wrong. :(

- Aryn is an avid colourer. We've had to hide her crayons. Because no matter how much paper is taped to the table, she wants to colour on the wall, the windowsill, the chairs, my leg, the fridge, the dog, the chairs....... she's a great little artist, but come on kid!! Throw me a bone!!

- Aryn has been babbling in her random little language for almost a year now. She's been "talking" so much and it's been so cute and funny that we never really thought anything about it. I always know what she wants, and people are constantly telling me how cute her little language is. Until recently, when I started comparing (I know, I know - never compare!) her to other kids her age and realized that... my kid does NOT talk!! Arynese is cute, but we need to add some English to it. So, I took her to a speech pathologist here in Strathmore. The woman is amazed at how smart Aryn is - she appears to know colours (she picked out the yellow and blue crayons when asked to!), all animals, the sounds every animal makes ('roar' for lion, 'woof woof woof' for dog, 'eow' for cat, and she trumpets for an elephant!), she knows characters on Sesame Street, she knows how to draw a circle, etc. She is just apparently too smart for us and I'm the one that needs to be trained! So, we're going to continue seeing this speech lady and hopefully she teaches ME how to teach Aryn how to start speaking in English. I'm hoping it happens soon!!

- Aryn has been loving the "Little People" toys lately. She has a doll house and a barn now that I got from those garage sale sites and she LOVES them. She's constantly playing and putting them to bed and putting them on the toilet and it's so adorable and so much fun to play with her!! I love it!

- Potty time is going to start going in full force soon. I'm sick and tired of diapers!! I am a huge cloth diapering fan. I loooove my clothies. But every time she pees, she cries and her bum gets all red. So she's now in disposables, and I HATE DISPOSABLES!!! They're expensive, I am constantly thinking about how I'm ruining the environment, and .... I just hate disposables. Sooooo I'm now bribing Aryn to happily sit on the potty (with Smarties!) and I'm going to start making sit on the potty every half hour. I want her to "get" it and start using it. I'm not so worried about night time - we'll keep diapers on for then - but for the day time, I'm ready for her to be potty trained. So..... fingers crossed!!

No photos - sorry!!! I'll try to get you all some soon!!