Stella-Then & Now

Stella has come so far over the past year. She has become a bit more independent (but she does still call us into her room at night when she is cold to cover her up), finally completely potty trained, done with naps (for the most part), and her personality just gets funnier with each new day. 

Here she is at age 3 last year and 4 this year.

How to Potty Train a Grizzly Bear

'No. 1'
Step one: Bribery with chocolate. 

'No. 2'
Step one:  Sense when the bear has to make a stink.
Step two:  Capture bear.
Step three: Escort bear to what the humans call a 'toilet.'
Step four: Distract bear from noticing the human contraption it is sitting on. (This may last anywhere from 10-45 minutes).
Step five (the mistake): Believe the bear does not have any 'movement' and set it free.
Step six:  Notice bear is missing. Go on bear hunt. You will find a big one. A big stinky one.
Step seven:  Reassess bear potty training plan.

Stella

Little Stella Jo is in her fourth month of preschool. There were a few rocky months in which she (and me, too) had trouble separating at drop off time. Tears were shed and she didn't want to go back. I almost pulled her out, but then things started to turn around and now 'school' is the highlight of her week. 

We have said that Stella is going to be our forever co-dependent child, probably calling her dad to help her put gas in her car when she's older. She is very resistant to change of any type. Which is why I was so surprised to see her eager to pick out her clothes for preschool by herself and dress herself with no assistance from me. Here she is in the track suit she picked out for today.