First, potty training. Apparently the key to success is buying what you've threatened to be the last big, bulk-sized box of diapers from Costco then letting it sit for weeks. Finally, when you've used the last diaper in the house because your two-year-old refuses to use the potty, you open the monster box of diapers and wallah! Suddenly panties are the greatest thing since sliced bread - as is evident from the picture below! I found her in this box one morning, Eggo in hand watching cartoons in just her panties.
Her teachers had been telling us for a month that she was ready but when she'd come home and refuse to even try, I had my doubts. I'm not kidding though, as soon as I opened that box of diapers Pearl decided it was time. And for the most part it's been smooth sailing ever since. She's never once had an accident at school and only a few at home. We still aren't sure what to do about making it through the night dry though. We tried tricking Pearl into thinking diapers were "night-time panties" but she didn't buy that ridiculous idea. So we've resorted to sneaking a diaper on her after she's sound asleep then trying to explain how it got there in the morning when she looks down surprised to not see her Princess or Tinkerbell panties on. The one night we didn't do this, she peed everywhere and was so upset about it. Any advice? I really don't want to resort to Pull-ups (especially considering that we have about 300 diapers just sitting around now) or washing bedding every single day.Moving Pearl into her new room is slowing coming along. Jeff had a friend post on Facebook that her goal was to get rid of 1,000 things this year and I can honestly say that I think we've hit that mark. I've de-junked just about everything I can think of in this house trying to make room for Pearl in the backroom and Ricco in his room. Pearl has enjoyed the process much more than I have... every time I clean something out she finds a new toy or book that she just has to have. She's claimed my old jewelry box, a Sleeping Beauty figurine, and three Breyer horses. I don't always mind, that way I don't have to get rid of everything I'm torn on keeping. We bought her a new bed, which she loves (and we have several sets of sheets now too) and was so excited to help Daddy build it. We had to threaten her with timeout to just keep her off the boxes when it came. Pearl was a good little helper, dragging all the spare boxes, plastic bags, and Styrofoam into the kitchen while Jeff put it together. The excitement just about killed her!
Jeff also built a bookcase with my Grandpa and Dad to match her bed and it is so dang cute! My sister asked us where we had bought it because it matched Pearl's bed so well - these pictures are all I'm going to reveal until the room is completely done. So we've got a bed and bookcase but that's it. 
Pearl tells us she doesn't want to go in Ricco's room now and throws a fit when we have to go in there to get her clothes in the morning. Surprisingly though, she doesn't mind having two rooms to strew toys all over! I'm hoping my Dad can get down here to help build a new closet then we can officially move rooms, well once that happens and we find a new dresser for Pearl. But I'm feeling better about our progress, mostly because we sold the spare bunk beds sitting in our sunroom and we've probably got our bookcase sold too. Now I just have to decide if I should sell my cedar chest my Grandma gave me or try and find somewhere to store it. What would you do? Seriously, this is an agonizing decision for me! We just have absolutely no where to put the thing! Will I regret selling it? Will my Grandma forgive me or haunt me forever? Part of me thinks, it's just "stuff" and Grandma got rid of furniture all the time when she was ready for a change but then again, it was a gift from my grandparents and something I probably won't ever replace. Uhhh.... help please!Finally, on the last progress front Pearl and I celebrated President's Day with a batch of appropriately decorated sugar cookies. Rather than go into a lengthy explanation as to why we celebrate President's Day and NOT Valentine's Day, I'll leave you with a link to a previous year's entry (don't worry, it's just a paragraph). I did get my traditional bunch of flowers from Jeff and he got a batch of cookies complete with flour, sprinkles, and frosting all over the house!
I think they turned out pretty cute, considering the help Pearl provided in mashing the dough cut-outs then getting sprinkles all over the place when we frosted them. Even Ricco got in on the action. At first I thought Jeff was taking a picture of my cleave but then when I downloaded the pictures saw that he was simply getting a shot of how messy Ricco had been rolling out the dough with me. Now if I could only find enough people to help us eat them! 
So there you go... we're slowing getting ready for this kid. Still no names picked out yet but at least I'm not completely freaking out anymore.. at least not today.
