Not really. This picture illustrates what we are feeling every morning at drop-off. I know many parents with kids this age can relate, especially if they started into the daycare system later than the early months. Gripping her lions, tears, scrunched up crying face…

In the morning, Jia is changed, dressed and teeth-brushed with daddy before he leaves, then she eats breakfast. Shortly after, she’s happily and eagerly asking “outside?” as we put on her shoes and gather our bags. I tell her that yes, we’re going outside to walk to the car, and that she’ll go play outside with her friends. It doesn’t quite register that that means daycare. We haven’t been the absolute best with consistency in this routine, since last week I took her out of daycare twice (Thursday and Friday) since my brother and his new wife were in town for their honeymoon and we had lunch plans, then Friday Jia and I went to Knott’s Berry Farm, and then this Tuesday we had lunch plans with my nursing school friends. So, out of 7 week days, she’s only been in daycare 4 of those days. As we enter the Church driveway, she starts crying “outside?” because she knows we are there. I get her out of her car seat, and she starts crying for the pacifier that’s still in her mouth, because she knows she has to take it out and she won’t have it again until I pick her up. Same sad events, different day. 

From what I can gather from her teachers, she does actually have fun and is starting to smile and laugh at daycare, it’s just drop-off that makes her upset (along with nap time). I’m working on a quicker exit strategy, but after dropping off her lunch and her cloth diapering stuff, signing her in for the day and such, it usually takes me about 5-10 minutes for my departure, from start to finish. Today I tried to make it quicker, and after I kissed her goodbye, Miss Crystal was able to distract/show her the Fall Leaf Collage her classmates created while she was away Tuesday. I snuck out of the classroom and by the time I got into my car, Miss Crystal and Jia made their way to the window that faces the parking lot. I waved goodbye from my car, hoping that maybe today she wasn’t as upset. Though, I’m sure that if she was crying, it quickly ended after she had a quick minute to become interested in some sort of activity with her friends. 

Other things in the past week:

• I realized she’s outgrowing her sandals. Her little big toe is nearing the front of the sandal, so I ordered her the Stride Rite Summer Sandal (5M) from Amazon. I know. Sandals? In October? Well, I mean it’s still in the 80s here in the day time, and lately she hasn’t been wanting to wear socks. Also, she no longer wants to wear her pink Gabrielle Mary Jane Stride Rites (they were starting to get snug, at a 4.5M and now wants her (bigger) silver Stride Rite sneakers (5.5M).  Her old white sandals and her pink Stride Rites lasted a good 4.5 months, which to me, is a long time in the toddler-shoe-timeline, right? I’d purchased some SR sandals on clearance back when we lived in Maryland, in a size 7, figuring she would fit them by the winter time, but now I don’t think she’ll fit them til next summer! Oh well, these Summer Sandals that are on their way were $10 cheaper at the ‘Zon than at the SR store. I love Stride Rites. Such a well-made little shoe. 
• She is a fan of amusement park rides. At least, the ones she’s allowed to go on. She was only scared of the rides that had an abrupt drop, like the Camp Bus at Camp Snoopy. Other than that, she really enjoyed her time at the park, on the other kids rides. I really want to take her to Disneyland, since she can ride a ton of rides there, but tickets are outrageous. At $99 per person, even with her free, it’s crazy expensive. Maybe we’ll take her right before she turns 3, so she’s still free but she’ll be able to really understand what’s going on. Just as long as she’s still an only child, ha. 
• She’s saying “No.” Not all the time, but appropriately. We’ll ask her things like, “Can we put on your pajamas?” and we’re met with a cute and very polite “No,” or “Can we go change your diaper?” “No.” She hasn’t hit the defiant “no” phase yet. 
• “I Pooped.” Yup, she’s inching closer and closer to potty training age! She says “I pee peed” and “I pooped” and sure enough, she’s right. She really likes to sit down on the potty chair, but after the fact. Last week, I took off her diaper to clean it off of poo, so she was in her room naked (after I washed her off) and she was looking at her books. Within a couple minutes, I hear “UH OH” from her room, and she runs over to me and said “I pee peed” and sure enough – pee on her book and pee on the rug. I put her on her potty and told her that’s where she should go pee pee and poop, and she seems to be pressing what I’m saying. I mean, as much as she can. Really wishing we brought the handy pet wet vac when we moved. Still not taking off her pants or waking up consistently dry, but I feel that by Christmas we’ll have a potty trained kid (too wishful thinking?)
• Bye Bye Bye Bye…! When I pick her up from daycare, she excitedly and happily says “bye bye” to all of her friends and teachers. Like, she’s so proud that her mommy came to pick her up. She also knows that her daycare lions go back in her cubby box, and that they’ll be there when she comes back. 
• WASH! WASH! Adamant about washing her hands after meals. She’s in the routine of doing this at daycare, so at home after meals – even if I already wiped her down – she’ll run over to the kitchen stool, place it at the base of the kitchen sink and yell “Wash! Wash!” and she gets upset if I don’t get her up to wash fast enough. 
• Dizzy Game. We started this game at the playground, where she climbs up the few steps up to the playground equipment, walks over to the edge where I’m standing and waiting for her, and reaches out for my hands. When I take her hands, she jumps/falls off and I spin her around and around as she giggles and when I put her down, she’s wobbly and dizzy. She loves this game so much, she even asked to do the Dizzy Game when we met up with my friends in Santa Monica yesterday, and there was a circular platform (the best kind, right?) for her to jump from, at the mall. 
• I bought tickets for the 3 of us to go to Disney’s Frozen on Ice at the Honda Center in Anaheim this December! I’m probably way way more excited than Jia, but I wanted to do this so badly, because it was one of my favorite memories that my mom and I shared when I was little. (well that, and our regular morning Dunkin Donuts breakfast before kindergarten drop-off) I know I was older than Jia, but I remember one day my mom picked me up from school early, and we went to see Aladdin on Ice and it was the greatest thing ever! We went to a few “On Ice” shows when I was a kid, so I really wanted to share this with Jia. This mom on Facebook introduced me to Goldstar.com where you can get really great prices for events in your local area, so that’s how I found these great seats for regular admission prices! So hopefully we end up with good seats, since they’re in the 200 level. They don’t give me a ticket until closer to the event, so I hope they’re decent!
• We switched out our Fisher Price Booster Seat that Jia had been using since she was 5.5 months old for meals (at home and in restaurants), for the Inglesina Fast Table Chair, so that we could use our bar stools to eat as a family. Back in Maryland, we had a kitchen table with chairs all around, and we had family mealtimes. The Fisher Price attachable seat worked out great, since we could attach it to any chair at a restaurant. But, after downsizing to an apartment, we no longer had the available space for a kitchen table. So, we are using our two beautiful bar stools that my mom reupholstered for us a couple years ago, at the breakfast bar in place of a table. So, with the Fisher Price using one of our bar chairs, one of us was left to stand during mealtime (or Jeff comfortably went to the couch to eat a meal while watching TV). No more family meals. This wasn’t ideal, and I was considering adding a third bar stool to the breakfast bar. But they’re pricey. Like, $80-150 for a nice bar stool that was high enough to reach. So, I got the Inglesina Fast Table Chair ($59.00 + Free Prime Shipping) that hooks onto the breakfast bar or table, wherever. Jia is so happy and smiley in this new comfy chair and it solves our mealtime seating problem! The Inglesina folds flat and can be transported with a stored and attached drawstring bag, genius. Wish we’d gotten this one from the start, but now we’ll keep the Fisher Price to take to restaurants. I’ll probably do a product review on this one in the future. It’s been ages since I did a product spotlight… 

Pictures:

The Dizzy Game

At Tongva Park in Santa Monica, in those sandals she’s outgrowing

Really neat park with a climbing hill to get back up to the slides. The slide on the left is made up of these individual little rollers that massage your butt as you roll down!

Climbing attempt. Didn’t quite understand the concept here.

Ignore the mess of papers, the beautiful lime green Inglesina Fast Table Chair goes nicely with our chairs! Now Jia can eat between the two of us!

Drop off today. I know. I felt bad that I was photographing her in this moment, but I was trying to get a post photo… mean, mean mommy.