Goodbye, two

I had a panic attack. Here it is the last day my baby is two and I forgot to take a picture (pictures) on her last day of being two! I feel like a horrible mom! How could I have forgotten? I was so focused on her birthday TOMORROW that I forgot to dwell on TODAY. Normally I get all nostalgic about one year passing into another that I snap a bunch of pictures to forever remind myself what "two" was like. This time I was so excited for Khloe to turn three that I forgot to be sad about leaving the "two's" behind. I guess that's okay! It was hard to dwell on Khloe being two anyways because she already thinks she's five going on six. So three seems like a breeze!

So I ran into her room to snap a picture at 11:30 p.m. just moments before two turned to three. Here is the last picture of our peaceful sleeping two year old (with her EOS chapstick that she loves to have in her pocket, or carry around with her, or sleep with or all of the above).

Tomorrow you'll be three baby girl!

To sum up your last week of being two, you did have a big week.
You continue to love and do well at gymnastics.

Your Little Pikes gymnastics class with Coach Mel

You're one of the few in your class that can do a bridge all by yourself! So proud of you!

 It's amazing to watch you accomplish these obstacles courses Coach Mel sets out for the class. The courses are usually as series of 10 activities that must be followed in order that she explains once and then let's the class go at it. You are so confident and independent out there!

 Chin-ups - five of them! Perfect activity for a little monkey!

And finally, drum roll please, a momentous occasion to wrap up the two's and move into the three's - WE ARE DONE WITH DIAPERS! You can hear a huge sigh of relief over here to be done with that expense and having to lug diaper bags around.

We PUSHED you, and instead of you calling the shots this time, we called the shots although it hasn't been pretty. Your success comes by way of not making a big deal about it; in fact we kind of just treat it nonchalantly like, You have to go potty? Oh okay. Go ahead. Let me know if you need anything. You like going potty by yourself so we give you space, only coming in to check on you - or sending Kayla in - when needed.

Privacy, a foot stool, books, and a book holder

This WHOLE potty training process (aka battle of wills) started out four months ago, and initially there was success. You knew exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but after awhile you just weren't into it anymore (aka stubborn) and threw a fit if you had to wear underwear, so we momentarily conceded. Two months later, round two began with more treats, prizes and bribery. I mean, C'mon! A Cherry Jam doll! But you stuck your stubborn ground. You've been asked by us at least one billion times "Don't you want Cherry Jam?" and you always answered, "No." No sense in pushing you, you'll learn when your ready.

The thing is, you would change in and out of underwear and diapers all day long. In fact, you would change your OWN diaper! I never knew if you had a diaper on or underwear on. Sometimes we'd put you into bed at night and you'd laugh and say "But I have underwear on!" or we'd be out shopping and you'd announce "I have underwear on!" And every day you'd make a point to 'ask permission' to go in your diaper. You had a good strategy while it lasted.

This time, the victory would be ours. It began weeks ago by telling you that on your 3rd birthday we were going to throw away all the diapers in the house. You were on board. During your birthday week we made a special trip to the store so you could pick out new underwear again, packed up your diapers and wipes to give to Alexis, and we're not looking back. You even got to open Cherry Jam FINALLY and you were so excited about it! You waived her around in the air, running around yelling "I got Cherry Jam! I got Cherry Jam!" Is this the same girl?

We're proud of you Khloe! You're a big three year old now!

(I just have to mention, because she's my last one, how incredibly cute a little toddler's buns are in little tiny underwear! Seriously!!! Parents, you'll understand. For 36 months that cute little booty-butt has been covered in a large crinkly, fluffy, padded diaper. Now there's just a cute ruffle-ly flower-y layer of cotton covering up those squishy, yummy little buns. Yes, I'm obsessed! And I just don't want to forget how adorable it is! I'll spare you the photo, just take my word for it.)