Need Versus Want

Does anyone have a good way to explain the difference between the words "want" and "need" to a toddler (and a baby too... but I'm willing to give her the benefit of her age and not scream because she doesn't understand). Today seemed to be an all day battle over listening and responding to what I was asking. For example, I want to sleep later than 6:30 a.m., but it's not a need. And today it didn't happen since Abby decided to crawl into my bed, kick for about 30 minutes, and then loudly announce that she needed breakfast (which she consequently did not eat, so it must have been a want, not a need). I, personally, needed coffee. Not wanted... needed.

Then there is my favorite recurring dialogue:

Me: "Abby, do you need to go potty?"
Abby: "No, I don't want to."

Two minutes later she pees her pants (or worse...). We did this at least 3 times today. Apparently when I ask if she needs to go potty what she is hearing is more like "Abby if you want to use the potty that would make mommy happy, but you can also pee all over yourself and the floor since you are insisting on wearing big girl panties... your choice." Ugh!

Apparently "you need to take a nap" is also not translating well. Fortunately "stay in your bed or I will give you a spanking" was heard loud and clear, so eventually Abby did take her nap. Olivia... not so much. She is going to be one crabby baby later this evening.

Interrupted

So I got interrupted when I was posting earlier by a little person who needed a new diaper. She normally doesn't want a new one but this diaper "spilled" - or in big people terms it leaked all over the floor and her pajamas. Yuck!

We went to the park for Abby's playgroup and made it about 45 minutes before we were frozen out. It was 55 degrees out according to the car thermometer, but the wind was about 2o to 30 miles per hour, so it felt more like 40. Olivia was nice and warm in her car seat with the shade pulled up, but Abby and I were just a bit chilled.

Birth Date and Party Time

Today, April 14th, was Olivia's due date. She turned 5 weeks old today. And she was wide awake the whole time Abby napped. That whole "sleep while your baby sleeps" stuff does not work when you also have a toddler.

And that toddler is turning two tomorrow. That doesn't seem possible. For real... I can't be old enough to have a two year old. We had a birthday cake to celebrate with her friends at our Bible study tonight. She was pretty impressed with her Snow White cake, I was not as impressed with my frosting job. Especially since I couldn't find my decorator tips, so I had to just squeeze the pink frosting from the tube onto the cake. But it tasted good and Abby liked her doll, so that is all that matters.

Other than cleaning to host the Bible study and making the Snow White cake, we had a very uneventful day. The car guy came by and gave us the estimate for getting it fixed, which he also sent to the insurance company. Now we just have to wait to see if the other driver's policy will pay the 1/2 of our deductible that our insurance company is asking them to since he was at fault. Then "Big Black" can get her new bumper and hopefully that will make Abby feel better, since she was pretty sad that her car got "hurted." She is pretty attached to some very random things around this house.

Last night she earned the right to go to bed extra early because she was flipping out whenever Maize sat down anywhere. Apparently Abby was sitting everywhere because everywhere Maize sat was "Abby's spot." I wasn't about to put up with that nonsense, so Abby got a very early bedtime and ended up sleeping 13 hours. She must have been pretty tired.

Catch-Up

Okay... so I'm behind. Quite a bit. We've had a busy few days. Abby and Olivia had a great time with Great Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Steve and Great Aunt Ruth. Abby even let Aunt Ruth stay in her room without putting up a fuss, so we were pretty proud of our little lady.

Olivia had her first trip to church Sunday morning. She did great. Abby did not do so great in the nursery. She had a little bit of a breakdown over being left, but she did make it the whole service without us being called back to collect her, so that's not bad after 5 weeks of missing church. I'm sure after a few weeks she'll be back into the routine and not freaking out when I leave her. Or then again...

Olivia also had her first stay with our babysitter Kitty. She and Abby did great - Kitty still had all her hair and was smiling when I got back. It's nice to have a baby sitter who can handle Abby and still think having Olivia around is a bonus (she called the night before to make sure I knew she was totally okay with having both girls since I had been considering taking Olivia with me to the service for Uncle Jeff's dad Bud Mansfield). Since both girls did so well I guess Steve and I will be taking a date night soon.

So all of that gets you through Sunday and Monday. Then we got to today... play group day. Abby and I were excited to get back to playgroup and to get outside at the park to play. We packed Olivia up for her first trip to playgroup and the park. We got into the car, which Abby has lovingly dubbed "Big Black" and took off. Then we got rear ended by a college kid who was running late for class. He got to be a lot later by the time I called the police out to make a report since my bumper now has two big cracks in it. Luckily no one was hurt and since he was going less than 5 miles per hour and I was parked the damage was pretty minimal and the air bags didn't deploy. Olivia slept through the whole incident and Abby didn't really care although she kept saying "that kid knocked down Big Black." She has a funny way of expressing herself sometimes. So we finally made it to the park after all that excitement. Abby had a great time and played all over the playground without being clingy. She was really excited to see all her friends and I enjoyed visiting with the other moms. I'm hoping our next trip out is much less eventful.