Exotropia

Mommy: What did you do at the eye doctor's today?

Michaela: I wook at the fuzzy ball. Annnnddd...I see other toys and I pway [play] and watch Wall-E there. I'm happy about I get the ice cream and drink wemonade. I'm happy about that Daddy's here. I get a sticker, like a badge.

Mommy: Tell me about when they put the patch over your eye.

Michaela: Umm...I see...I show ya. The hand, da bird, cake, that's it. And a hand and a shooirt [shirt]. [Instead of the typical letter eye chart, she had to identify objects like cakes, ponies, etc.]

Mommy editorial note: I've noticed for about a year that Michaela's left eye seemed to move more to the left than her right eye when she would look straight at something. Especially when she would look at me at the dinner table or when she was watching TV. Mike never saw it and so I thought maybe I was just being an overly worried mother. But I decided what's the problem in getting it checked out? Today we found out it is a condition known as "exotropia." Her eyes are misaligned. There is a chance she may need surgery to correct it. But for now, the doctor wants us to come back every three months to monitor the condition. If it doesn't correct itself on its own and/or it shows signs of worsening, she will need the surgery. Here's a picture I pulled off the Internet from this website so you can see what her eye does:
It took about 45 minutes for the eye dilating drops to work so I took her to get an ice cream and pink lemonade during our wait. (By-the-way I learned it's never a good idea to let a child eat a soft-serve ice cream cone in the car--very messy, very sticky, particularly when you don't have any baby wipes on hand.) Right now her eyesight is good in both eyes so she doesn't need glasses or to patch one eye. She got to pick out some happenin' sunglasses to wear home (see picture above) and a Tinkerbell sticker. In September we will know more, I guess, as to whether she will need surgery or not.

Baby Emily

Mommy: What do you think of Baby Emily?

Michaela: She’s nice.

Mommy: What else do you think about her?

Michaela: Um…play with me.

Mommy: What do you like most?

Michaela: When baby Emily grabs my hair in her mouth.

I like to play computer games.

Water games.

Mommy: Do you help with mommy with baby Emily?

Michaela: Hold her.

I play Christmas with her.

I like to play with Caleb’s computer.

Thank you I doing I doing my Christmas Jammies

Thank you my baby stuff.

Michaela-isms

Mommy!!! Come here, I have pohblem.

No..no...stop...I need to kiss you. Hold your hand.

Wora [my friend Laura] is like Sweeping Beauty.

Potty Training Update

Everyone tells you that parenting is always an adventure. And today Michaela showed me once again (and she seems to do this more than any of our other children) that this is so. She likes to sneak out the front screen door when I have opened the regular door to let a breeze come in. I know I need to find some way of childproofing this said screen door, but hey, why not keep myself even busier by running after her all the time and getting her back inside, right? When I went to corral her back inside this evening, I found her bottom half naked, legs spread wide and a nice cute pile of Michaela poop sitting prettily on the grass between her legs.

Let's back up a bit here to give you some background knowledge about our potty training adventure. She has stopped and started potty training for about a year now. I have actually tried to keep her out of underwear because I wanted to give her some time to mature a little more when she could understand the whole reward system thing. You know, let her language and reasoning abilities develop, etc.

After our first unsuccessful attempt at potty training, which she had initiated, I had to hide her underwear because she kept putting them on. I also tried duck taping her diaper on because when she was wet, or felt the urge to pee, she would take the diaper off and pee on the floor or sometimes poop! So back and forth this has gone for the last 12 months. Finally, I decided to take the plunge and try to do it hard core when Caleb went to school. About September 1st we plunged.

But now, four weeks later, my diligence is waning because she seems to just want to use the potty at her convenience--STILL. Her biggest struggle, though, seems to be going poop in the toilet. For a while she seemed to get a kick out of my sad face and voice I would make when I would say, "Oh, no, how sad! You pooped in your underwear! Let's go clean it up." Then she would say something like, "Oh, you sad?" But, it was said with this huge grin!!!! She was getting a kick out of my reaction. A good friend, who has seven kids, pointed out she was enjoying my reaction and I decided to tone that down. Now I just say, "Oops, let's go clean up." Perhaps it is working because she acted on her pooping urge and at least didn't go in her underwear, but decided it would be better on the grass.

I had to work really hard at not laughing out loud when I found her. I just couldn't believe it. Well, no, scratch that. I could believe, because she, Michaela Ann Kessel, would be the one child of mine to do this. She has always had her own mind and schedule. That is why she decided to come into our lives 13 months after Jacob's arrival. Nothing with her is according to the book. I'm plum full out of tricks. She keeps me guessing, she keeps me laughing and she keeps me frustrated all the time. And we love her to pieces.

I had her help me in a sanitary way, pick up the poop and put it in the outside trash. I just had to take a picture for evidence--hopefully, that is not rewarding her too much for her unconventional ways.

New Moves

Hi, there, I'm learning all sorts of moves. My mommy doesn't know where I get them 'cause I haven't watched "Dirty Dancing" or "Fame" 'cause she probably won't me watch those until I'm adult and I choose to watch them. But I can really move! I can swing my hips, and shimmy, twirl around and shake my head. Sometimes I will run and leap and then stand with one leg on my little riding horse.

Here's a little video of my mommy trying to get my action caught on tape. It was a little hard 'cause my brothers kept trying to get in on the action, even though they can't really move like me. Plus, every time I realized she was recording me, I would stop and say, "Let me see!" I know, I'm a little vain, but it's sure fun to watch myself on that little gray thing she carries around in her hand. (By-the-way, just ignore my oldest brother's hair, we had just finished breakfast. ) Enjoy!

Potty Training

Today we started potty training! I picked out Lady and the Tramp big girl underwear because I love puppies and I can say "Pup-py" really well. I like to try on all my different pairs and scatter them around my room. I have a hard time each leg in its own slot of the underwear so I end up having both legs in one whole.

I love sitting on the toilet! I love sitting on it so much that my mom has to coax me to get off. But I am doing awesome telling my Mommy that I have to go potty. I say "Pee Pee" really well. I pooped in my underwear but I ran to my mom and told her. It was fun watching the poopies swish down the toilet. I LOVE flushing the toilet. My mom has to ask me to stop flushing the toilet because I could flush it all day. I love suckers, that's how my mommy can get me to go potty. But mostly I just love how excited my mommy gets when I tell her I have to go and we run, (I LOVE TO RUN). My mommy says I am going to be a track star some day.

You are probably wondering why my mommy decided to potty train me before my 2 year birthday. I really like to take my diaper off. So my mommy always tries to keep me from doing this by putting pants on me. But then I figured out how to take them off and then pull my diaper off. I especially don't like it when I am poopy. So when my mom is in the other room, I like to take my poopy diaper off and make pictures on the wall with its contents. My mommy spent an hour trying to sanitize the room the last time I did this. My mommy kept muttering, "That's it. I get it. She needs to start potty training." I also just take off my wet diaper and run around the house naked. I feel freer this way. My mom usually spends a lot of time in her day running after me trying to convince me to get a diaper on, because like I said I love to run. Sometimes I will pee pee on the floor, then I run and tell my mommy I went pee pee and show her where it is.

My mommy has actually noticed I was ready to go pee pee in the toilet a few months ago, but she couldn't believe I was ready before my older brother. But she finally convinced him it was a good idea to go pee pee in the toilet. Now he is doing awesome. He hasn't had an accident in the last few days. I tried to go pee pee standing up at the toilet when I saw that's how my older brother did it. I didn't understand why it didn't work. But now I understand.

Well, that's about it about my day.