I hope I don’t jinx myself by this post, but Veronika is officially potty trained!

We started training (initially) about two months ago. She was making great progress, but eventually regressed, was crying, and wanted nothing to do with it. To me these were signs that she wasn’t ready.

I decided to give it a 2nd try on Monday. This time she did fabulous! She had several accidents on Monday, only two accidents on Tuesday, and NO accidents on Wednesday! By Thursday afternoon she was using the potty all on her own, and by Friday (today), she completely mastered the whole thing. She was SO proud of herself! She also stayed dry on our two trips to the playground and during naps the past couple of days.

So hopefully she won’t regress again and maybe in the near future we can stop buying her pull-ups. As per rewards, she was getting one Smartie for every time she used the potty, but she is now losing interest in Smarties, just like Natasha eventually stopped asking for stickers as rewards. I guess those wear off!

My baby girl is getting big.

My darling almost-four-year-old makes it a point to remind me each day that she only likes 2 fruit and 2 veggies. That’s right. Then she goes on to list them – apples (sliced & peeled ONLY), bananas (without any brown spots), corn (canned or whole on the cob), and carrots (baby carrots, boiled until soft). That’s it. Other veggies & fruit are not part of her diet. Unless, they are floating in soup which she will usually eat.

I try to sneak fruit into her in different ways – she loves Mott’s flavoured applesauce whose ingredients are only fruit & water, so they are pretty healthy. She loves those in peach and strawberry and some other flavors. Then we make homemade smoothies which she also loves, and this way she takes in many kinds of berries. So there are ways to trick her, but she has become VERY picky in the fruit and veggie department. On a good day she will eat canned mandarin oranges, but forget fresh oranges…

… but aside from these, she is actually a very good eater! And my husband pointed out she loves potatoes, so I guess that’s another veggie she forgot she likes!

We finally took Natasha for her first dental appointment. She was very prepared! We read her Dora's Big Book of Stories book since it includes the “Show Me Your Smile” story where Dora the Explorer goes to the dentist. And therefore, Natasha knew exactly what to expect.

Her office is a pediatric dentistry office, so specifically for children, and all the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable as to how to speak and deal with children. She did not cry even once and was very brave! She had x-rays done (new digital technology which uses only a 1/3 of the exposure that normal x-rays use). Tasha loved looking at “pictures” of all her top & bottom teeth and received great news – no cavities!

She got to press a button and move her chair up & down, she got to examine all of the dentist’s tools, and she got to wear funky heart-shaped sunglasses which she loved. She also got several “prizes” and both girls got stickers and a nickel to get a toy from a toy-machine. Veronika watched (with some fear in her eyes!) Tasha’s entire appointment but she felt happy to be included in the prize-giving!

Natasha goes again soon for thorough teeth cleaning and afterwards only every 6 months for checkups. She was such a good girl!

So the summer has really arrived. The past week or two have been absolutely unbearable, with temperatures in the high 30’s, but feeling more like mid 40’s. Ew. The AC and our fan have been on pretty much non-stop. I am hoping it will cool off soon because both girls now have heat-rashes and we have resorted to putting them to bed in only thin tank tops. They are dealing well, but we haven’t been outside much because of it. They do love messing around with their water table on those types of days.

We have a local splash pad that is free and super fun… or maybe not! Last year Veronika was terrified and Natasha had a lot of fun… this year, essentially the same result. Although Natasha was not impressed with the larger “palm-trees” that sprayed water, she did enjoy the smaller sprinklers.

But it’s the perfect place to go on a super hot day!

It’s hard to believe that my little baby will be starting school in the fall and travelling on a school bus. Where did the time go? On the weekend, I saw these cute mini-backpacks and decided to buy her one (especially since it’s sort of purple – her favourite color). She loves it! She and Veronika have been playing “school” all afternoon today which was super cute since Natasha has never been to school, yet she pretended to do all the things I explained she will do in school… they went to the library, and had a sandwich from their toy kitchen, and sat at a desk. Veronika thinks she is going to school too and demands to wear a backpack as well; poor baby needs to be included in everything!!