Visit to Vala's

We spent our first day at Vala's for the fall and boy am I glad that we got a season pass. It was so much fun and we only saw one small part of the farm today.

We arrived about 9:30 and headed straight in to Bunnyville. We petted a few goats on the way past and then enjoyed watching the bunnies hop in and out of their various homes. From there, Kaelyn spotted the ponies and she just HAD to go for a ride. She looks traumatized in the picture because the ride was over and I backed up to take her picture and the lady that operated the ride touched her. :) The horror! Otherwise, she really DID enjoy the pony ride, promise!

From there we crossed over the bridge over to the train area and we took the train for a ride as well. Kaelyn had fun making train noises, though she almost jumped from the train when she saw the pumpkin jumping area. I promised her we would go there next and she was satisfied with that. We rode on and she pointed out every plastic horse along the way.

Once we were done on the train, we headed straight over to the pumpkin jumping area. It's like a big bouncy house with no walls. These big plastic pillow come straight up from the ground. They're surrounded by sand and you take your shoes and socks off, climb on, and start jumping! I didn't think we'd EVER leave that area because Kaelyn was having SO much fun. I made her stop after about 45 minutes to eat a few bites and then back on she went! I finally talked her into leaving to explore a little more, but we were there so long we didn't have much time left! Her favorite thing to do, other than jumping, was sliding down the green side of the jump area and then climbing back up. Of course, she would not do this alone, Mama had to go every time too! Lucky me. I got to have JUST as much fun as she did. We had to wipe our hands and feet with baby wipes when we were done. We were both SO dirty. ACtually, Kaelyn even had dirt on her FOREHEAD, that's how much fun she had!

The same area also has a big vat of corn that kids can crawl around in. This was one of KAelyn's favorite things last year so I wanted to make sure she saw it again this year. She liked it again and jumped right in and ran the corn through her
fingers and dove around for awhile. When she got out I tried to shake some of the corn from her clothes, but we still found about 10 kernels when we got home. :)

After the corn, she was desperate to ride this peddle wheel tractor thing. Well she can't exactly reach the peddles so they gave me a FAMILY sized peddle tractor. So she got to sit pretty up front and I had to do all the peddling alone of this rather large tractor thing. It was REALLY hard to get it started but once we got rolling we did pretty well. We went around the track twice and that was about all I could take. She was worn out from jumping, I was worn out from the peddle tractor! By that time, it was noon and I figured we better head home so she could nap. When we got home, we both completely changed clothes. I washed her face and hands and mine as well. Found lots of corn kernels and even more dust and dirt. That's what the farm is for! We plan to go again next week (or sooner) and I will walk in a different direction so we can explore different things. At least I know one area she LOVES, if nothing else, we can always go back there!

On another note, have you ever heard of planking? Apparently it's some weird phenomenon where people lay flat like a board in strange places and then take pictures. Well, Kaelyn was doing that yesterday. She was going all around the driveway laying down like it was the most
comfortable place in the world. Then she laid down on her picnic table on the porch. I was pretty sure she must have heard about the phenomenon and wanted to participate. :)

As for potty training, Kaelyn's first outing went semi-well. We went to music class and she peed in the car. Once I changed her when we were there and showed her the bathroom, she did okay. Though she went EIGHT times while we were there. And then she peed again in the car on the way home. So apparently she pees a lot in the car, which I didn't know. :) My mom and I took her out the next week to lunch and Target with no diaper and she had no accidents. She also went to the church potluck diaperless and did fine. So she just needs to learn there are bathrooms EVERYWHERE. Sometimes I take her out in a Pull up and at times she will tell me when she needs to go and I can take her. Other times, she probably doesn't and just uses the Pull up. It feels too much like a diaper. She had a pull up on at vala's today and never once told me she had to go. She was having WAY too much fun.

Yesterday during her nap, when she woke up, she was singing away. Jesus Loves Me, her current favorite. When she got done with a couple of renditions of that she said "Mama, where are you?!" How could I resist! :) She's babbling again now. Though none of the words are real at the moment, they're still cute.

Potty Testing and pre-Thanksgiving

Kaelyn is doing really well on the potty! I'm thrilled. Potty training wasn't nearly as hard as I was making it out to be. At least with Kaelyn. She just seemed to decide that that's what she wanted to do and one day, she did it! After I forced her to try it a few times, at least. Now it's a fun thing that she really seems to enjoy. She even cheers for me when I go, aren't I lucky?! :)

My biggest concern was, how do I get her to go in public? I had not yet taken her out in public without a diaper. Partly because I didn't trust her, partly because it was inconvenient, and partly because she had never gone potty on a BIG potty. She only uses her little potty chair. I figured my nest step had to be getting her to go on the BIG potty at home, then I could test things outside the house. So, a couple of nights ago, when she said she had to go (by patting her potty area) I said, okay, let's go on the BIG potty. Before when I've suggested it, she has shaken her head in vehement dismissal of the idea. That day, she said okay! Then trotted in to the BIG potty and went, with help of course. Ever since that night, she only goes on the big potty.

So now, I think I should test her outside the house. Before, I've always taken her diaper off first thing in the morning. We play for an hour or so, take a bath, and get ready. At that point, I put a diaper on her and we go off for the day on our errands, to the zoo, park, wherever. Then, after her nap in the afternoon, I take it off again for the rest of the day. She rarely has an accident.

My plan is to try it out tomorrow. We have music class in the morning and will be somewhere familiar and I know RIGHT where the potty is and it's nearby. Wish us luck!! She still won't poop on the potty, though, big or small. I'm not sure why, but we'll figure it out!

We decided it might be fun to have a Thanksgiving gathering at our house this year on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It will be the big NE/IA game day as well. Anyways, since extending that invitation to BOTH of our families, Sean decided that he should finish the basement! That's great news, though it has taken a lot of his time. He's done a lot of the framing and it has kept him busy. He was working on that this weekend so Kaelyn and I went to Nebraska City with some friends from church for the annual Apple Festival. It rained ALL day, but we had a great time.

We first went to the pumpkin farm where we had lunch and visited the petting zoo. Then Kaelyn was desperate to ride a pony! You know, those little pony rides with a couple of horses that walk in a circle at a VERY slow pace. When I tried to put her on the horse, she clung to me. I had to kind of force her on, but once she was on and realized I wasn't leaving her, she liked it. I walked next to her the whole time and held on to her. She neighed at the horse and seemed to like the ride. Enough that she wanted to go again! But we just watched after that. :)

Then we went to the apple orchard, which was VERY busy. Yes, it was still raining and we were all wet. But it was a fun day. It was also another test because I didn't make Kaelyn nap. We headed out to the festival after church (during which she sat in the sanctuary with me for the WHOLE service, which was surprising enough!) so there was no time for a nap. I kind of hoped she'd fall asleep on the way there, but she didn't. She was too excited. We got tired of the rain by about 3 and headed on home. Kaelyn, of COURSE, fell asleep ONE mile from home, can you believe it? So I drove a little farther so she could sleep for 20 minutes or so. She had QUITE a fit when we arrived home, but after we ate supper, she perked back up again. She slept well overnight so the no napping didn't seem TOO bad. I still don't want to do it on a regular basis. More for me than her. But I've also heard kids that don't nap for several DAYS in a row are worse than one that doesn't nap just one day. Now I know it CAN be done when we REALLY want to, but I will make those times far and few between, trust me!

Her talking is still moving right along. She has started counting a lot of things. She sleeps with two rubber ducks and just before her nap today, she said "One ducky, two ducky" pointing to one then the other. In the basement, she likes to go around counting the framed boards on the wall. She'll get all the way up to 12 before she has to stop and say "Yeah!" and celebrate. She still LOVES the work okay and says "here you go" quite a bit. She also recently started saying "Mama, where are you?" when we plan games inside and I'm on one side of the room and she's on the other. Makes your heart melt, I tell you! She's even more precious when she talks!

More later when I have an update about our diaperless outing! :)