Weather was glorious in St. Louis, right in the middle of January, and, to celebrate, we decided to go eagle watching. Now, the bald eagles descend on the St. Louis area because of the river confluence, the easy access to tree shelter and fish, and because it's warmer than Minnesota. In 60 degree temps, it was unlikely we'd see any eagles, but it was worth a try. We went to Chain of Rocks bridge, which is a mile-long walking / biking bridge across the Mississippi river. The scenery was gorgeous and we all were pleasantly comfortable at either end of the bridge. As soon as we hit the middle, though, it was COLD and WINDY and it was so loud that you couldn't hear the person next to you. Raina really enjoyed claiming the bridge as her own ("this is my bridge!" "we're walking on my bridge!") and liked looking at all the birds and water, but did not appreciate the wind. We didn't see any eagles, but we did see lots of other water birds!
Besides demanding possession of cultural landmarks, Raina's other major action of the last few weeks has been potty training related. Krystal finally sat down and read a potty training book, which offered no new suggestions except to read potty-based children's books with our daughter. So we checked out three from the library and they soon became her "favorite" books. (Raina has recently learned the word "favorite" and she uses it liberally in casual conversation.) We read about the Princess and the Potty, the Prince and the Potty, and how Ducky didn't want diapers anymore. Pretty soon, it became apparent that the potty books were registering with Raina. We checked out a few more from the library, which occupied the next week of our lives. Then we brought out the big guns: multiple pairs of real underwear for Raina. She oohed and aahed over them -- so soft! And we preached the mantra "we want to keep the underwear clean and dry!" She hasn't had an accident yet, and we're on day 14 of underwear. Suddenly, overnight, Raina decided to poop in the potty because she wanted to keep her underwear clean. Excellent! The entire family is overjoyed and couldn't be prouder of her. Now she only wears diapers at night, or on her head when she's feeling adventurous :)
Weather was glorious in St. Louis, right in the middle of January, and, to celebrate, we decided to go eagle watching. Now, the bald eagles descend on the St. Louis area because of the river confluence, the easy access to tree shelter and fish, and because it's warmer than Minnesota. In 60 degree temps, it was unlikely we'd see any eagles, but it was worth a try. We went to Chain of Rocks bridge, which is a mile-long walking / biking bridge across the Mississippi river. The scenery was gorgeous and we all were pleasantly comfortable at either end of the bridge. As soon as we hit the middle, though, it was COLD and WINDY and it was so loud that you couldn't hear the person next to you. Raina really enjoyed claiming the bridge as her own ("this is my bridge!" "we're walking on my bridge!") and liked looking at all the birds and water, but did not appreciate the wind. We didn't see any eagles, but we did see lots of other water birds!
Besides demanding possession of cultural landmarks, Raina's other major action of the last few weeks has been potty training related. Krystal finally sat down and read a potty training book, which offered no new suggestions except to read potty-based children's books with our daughter. So we checked out three from the library and they soon became her "favorite" books. (Raina has recently learned the word "favorite" and she uses it liberally in casual conversation.) We read about the Princess and the Potty, the Prince and the Potty, and how Ducky didn't want diapers anymore. Pretty soon, it became apparent that the potty books were registering with Raina. We checked out a few more from the library, which occupied the next week of our lives. Then we brought out the big guns: multiple pairs of real underwear for Raina. She oohed and aahed over them -- so soft! And we preached the mantra "we want to keep the underwear clean and dry!" She hasn't had an accident yet, and we're on day 14 of underwear. Suddenly, overnight, Raina decided to poop in the potty because she wanted to keep her underwear clean. Excellent! The entire family is overjoyed and couldn't be prouder of her. Now she only wears diapers at night, or on her head when she's feeling adventurous :)
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