Pooh Pooh De Potty

Aeowyn -- it's been almost two months since we wrote another blog post -- it's been so crazy busy this fall.  We have so much to blog about.  So let's jump in.  First, I have to talk about pooh pooh de potty.  You're really doing quite well in toilet training now and pretty much are done with #1 accidents but for some reason, #2 is a different story.  So you always love to talk about going "pooh pooh de potty", which quite honestly makes you sound Italian.  Daddy gets a big kick out of this.  Of course, when you #2 in your pants, daddy says it's "pooh pooh de pantalones".  The funniest part is that you like to argue about this and like to say how you didn't do it in your pants.  Anyhow -- it makes for really funny discussions.  we're very proud though how you're doing on potty training honey.  You even make it through the night without an accident many nights, which is pretty amazing.

In other news, school is tough, tough, tough.  You apparently have a great time in school and do a great job according to your teachers, but the ramp up to getting you to school is pretty awful.  You cry so much in the morning -- it's like torture.  You gear yourself up in the morning and say "no teachers" and even sometimes throw a fit by not getting changed without a gigantic fight.  Very strange situation -- we're working through this with you, which pretty much involves not talking about school in order to reduce the anxiety - but apparently when you are there -- you love it!  Quick update -- right before Thanksgiving this seemed to be resolved and no you have no problem going to school -- yeaaa!

So onto the trips.  Since we last wrote, we have been on two majors trips.  One was an impromptu trip up to Cape May New Jersey in the middle of September and the other was a trip down to Orlando, over to Palm Beach for a small boat cruise to the Grand Bahamas and back.  I'll start with the Cape May trip.  So we had rented out a top condo unit in a place called the Merry Widow in Cape May -- it was an old victorian. You three munchkins loved to run up the five levels to the very top.  It was very cute with two bedrooms, a little kitchen, living area and balcony.  On the first day, we went to the beach and you and your brothers had so much fun.   You would do modified hand stands with you head in the sand and all of you loved the sand and played in the tire tracks before we could even make our way to the ocean.  As we walked down the ocean, it was just magical watching you all play.  You went down Aeowyn and were a little concerned with the ocean and would run away when the water would surge forward.  Talin and Rohin were a little more interested in the water -- but you and mommy played up on the beach running around and making sand castles.  After dinner that night, everyone crashed and we spent the whole day on the beach.  You played sand castles and had mommy run out and fill up your water containers and used the sand buckets.  Talin too played with you.  Rohin was down with daddy for quite some time in the surf jumping waves and then they too joined you up a the beach blanket.  In the afternoon, we went to a really neat place that was setup like an old ice cream store and sat down and had HUGE ice cream sundaes.  We did some shopping too, except we had a pooh pooh du pantalones situation which caused some chaos. The next day we came on home -- so it was a short trip but so amazing.

Next up, a couple of weeks later, we took our Orlando trip.  So Ammuma, Thatha, Savitha Chechi, Sadhana Chechi, Mommy, Daddy, Rohin, Talin and you all took an airplane from Ronald Reagan airport to Orlando.  On the plane ride, you rode next to mommy and were a very good girl.  You watched TV and played with the ipad for most of the time while daddy and the boys sat together further back in the airplane.  We got our car rental (a van) and then got checked into an apartment with a small kitchenette, pull out sofa bed and one queen sized bed.  The first night, we pretty much all fell asleep quickly while daddy went our and got some groceries.  The next day, we all packed up and drove over to Disney World.  we pulled into the parking lot and then waited in line to get on the train to take us to the magic kingdom.  We then got to the entrance of the park and put everybody in strollers and headed on inside.  It was about 87 that day, so it was pretty hot and you and the boys weren't big fans of the heat.  However, that faded away on main street when we saw a big parade with all of the Disney characters.  We followed the parade up to the magic kingdom and then headed over to the fantasy section of the park where we rode the Peter Pan ride.  The lines were pretty long unfortunately -- but once we got in -- you, Rohin and Talin loved the ride as we soared through the Peter Pan story.  Afterwards, we went and ate lunch and then headed over to the racetrack over in the future world.  Unfortunately, you weren't quite tall enough for that ride and so you stayed with Ammuma and watched.  Finally, we went over to adventureland and climbed through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.  Unfortunately, after that -- you were getting tired as was Rohin and Talin so mommy and daddy took you all back to the apartment for naps while everyone else stayed at the park.  You, Rohin and Talin all took naps and then we went out to dinner at a Joe's Crabhouse -- which was awesome.  They actually had a playground attached to the restaurants, which you loved to play with the stones. We then picked up everyone back at Disney world and all slept soundly that night.

The next day, we all just relaxed and swam, swam and swam in the pool that was in our apartment complex. You loved swimming and play with Rohin and Talin in the pool and running to the kiddie pool to play some variant of the fireman Sam show.  After relaxing this day, we headed over to Islands of Adventure and had a wonderful time.  we started off in Dr. Seuss land, where you and the boys ran through the maze area to explore and rode a couple of rides, including the Cat and the Hat.  We then headed through the Harry Potter land, but couldn't ride anything because you all were too little.  we then walked through Jurrasic park and played in the rope playground for a while before heading over to toon town and Super Hero town.  We all had our picture taken with Popeye and Olive.  It was such a fun day -- we even got to see Spiderman and other superheros in Superhero land.  With that part of trip done, we spent one more night and then headed over to Palm Beach where we took a boat over to Grand Bahamas for two nights.  In essence, the boat was nice, but the room was small -- we had all four of us in a 25 X 15 room -- with two bunks and then three of us in a queen bed.  You slept in one of the bunks on the way over and had a great time.  We ate pizza at their little on board restaurant and arrived to the island the next morning.  After a quick taxi cab ride (without any car seats!), we arrived at the Grand Lucaya, which was a very pretty resort.  We spent the next two days playing on the beach building sand castles (which you loved) and also swimming in the pool before coming home and catching our flight home.  It was such a memorable trip.

After coming back home, we settled in for a few weeks and daddy had a conference in Reston.  One night, mommy brought you over to the conference and all of you ran through the halls when you saw Daddy. We went up to the room that night and watched TV and played in the room.

One more big event was Thanksgiving, which we just celebrated.  We had our family and friends come over to the house for two days and had 10 more people living with us for a couple days.  You got to sleep in your bed while the boys slept in the tent in our bedroom.  You had so much fun playing with Avaya and Layla outside in the cars -- with 5 of you at one point in one of the little gators.  that night, we cooked up a turkey and ammumama cooked up the sides and we had a great feast!  You played upstairs with everyone and it was such a memorable evening.  The next day, we went to ticonderoga farms and then finished off our left overs.

Aeowyn -- now that we are reaching the end of 2012, I'm going to consolidate the blogs so I don't have to write the same events 3X as we go forward and to focus more on writing things directly about your development, thoughts and advice as you get older.  These two years have passed so fast and you're such a wonderful little girl.  Just this past week we had a parent teacher conference and they talked about how you put 110% of yourself into what you do.  That's so true and we're so very proud of you. Happy Thanksgiving honey.