Bye Bye Bottle, Hello Climbing Toy!

I think I can say finally Iyla is off the bottle! I am super excited about it too. It has been a hard struggle but we are FINALLY done with it. I know everyone always says each kid is different and will do things in their own time but this bottle thing has been driving me nuts!! Isabella was off the bottle at 10 months and Iyla is 16 months. It seemed every time we were close to getting rid of it something would come up! But I think now it's gone! Iyla has not had a bottle since Thursday, nor has she asked for one. The pacifier however... that is another story!

Iyla's other habit is climbing. I know all toddlers do it. Some more then others. Our girl Iyla LOVES to climb. It's getting to the point where I am very worried she just might break a bone!!

Now for those of you who have not visited my home lately, our answering machine sits next to the printer on our computer table upper shelf. The computer table is close to the entry way to our home. The entry way floor is VERY hard tile. Now with that in mind I'll tell you a little story. I was helping Isabella with something a few days ago and heard the anwsering machine making beeping noises. I looked over at the computer table and there, standing on the glass computer table top on the tile side was Iyla and she was leaning over to push the buttons on the answering machine. I totally freaked out and ran over an grabbed her. After telling her no in the stearnest voice I could muster I set her down and put the chair in my bedroom and had a little cry out. I haven't been that scared for her since she was burned. Well, the next evening I finished checking my e-mail and went to lay down in my room. Jacob had both girls in their bedroom and was reading them a story. All of a sudden I heard a loud thump and Iyla was screaming. All mom's can tell by their children's cry if it's just a skinned knee, a hurt ego, or a "oh my goodness that hurt" cry. Well Iyla let out her best version of the latter and I knew this was bad. I ran out of my room as Jacob was running out of the girls room. Jacob had let Iyla get down from story time and I had forgot to put the chair back in my room. I found her lying on the tile by the computer, with a mouth full of blood! I grabbed her and rushed to the bathroom and washed her mouth out. I had flashed of ER's and burn units racing through my mind. Iyla was screaming, I was crying and Jacob was standing there holding a towel not quite knowing what to do. I got the blood cleaned up and looked her over. The bleeding stopped rather quickly to discover she just had a small cut on her upper lip. Thank goodness! After looking her over several times we only noticed a small briuse on her knee. We think she must have slipped trying to get up.

After we got everyone calmed down and dryed off, we let her play for a while. She acted just fine and was laughing and playing. I kept her up until 11:30 that night just to make sure she was ok. The next day we had a playdate at a friends house. When we came home, I saw a huge "Little Tikes" box. I told Jacob "oh no... how much did you spend!" "I was pricing things at work and found this marked down to 90% off so I got it for $6.99 instread of $69.99" That is a price I can love! We quickly set up our new "Climb & Slide Castle" and let Iyla go for it.

She loves tht  thing and plays on it all the time. I love it because she can get all the climbing out of her system without giving me heart attacks! Jacob was so thoughtful to get the climbing toy of Iyla. I just pray the newness of it won't wear off for a long time to come!!