Speaking of That Paradigm Shift

Ohhhh, the potty training!  It appears that my mom's curse wish has come true.  I may, in fact, have a daughter just like me.  She is exceedingly stubborn of the 'I'll do it when I darn well want to' variety.  And, sadly, she has no problem taking care of the necessary business in her aDORAble (haha, sorry, couldn't resist the pun) big girl panties.  The one upside to this is that my new washer and dryer are earning their keep.  In fact, I have been using them so much that I have invented a new game.  It's called washer-dryer one-armed bandit.  It's simple.  Just set the washer with your chosen load of laundry.  Then, set the dryer with its batch of freshly washed clothes.  Push the start buttons at the exact same time and wait expectantly to see if the 'time remaining' led lights flash the same amount of time.  They've only matched up once, but oh the madcap celebration we had!  Too bad I can't figure out where my jackpot comes pouring out.  As of yet, I've only found the lint screen!  Fascinating is the life I lead...

If anyone is still reading after that riveting little glimpse into my world, I will let you know that we had 3 successes yesterday.  We also had some pretty spectacular messes including one in the kitchen that is the reason I will no longer let Penny kiss me on the mouth!  I'll let you use your imagination for that one!  But, since, as I have mentioned before in ye olde blog, I am not above bribery positive reinforcement, I decided to give m & m's for a successful #1, and some sort of toy for a successful #2.  And, because I am growing to accept that Cora is not of the fluffy princess variety, I needed to expand my shopping horizons for the needed trinkets.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I ventured into the boys' toy aisle.  I am now in possession of a 5 pack of Hot Wheels race cars and a bag of small miscellaneous dinosaurs.  Maybe one day, she'll actually get to choose one!! (See previous remarks re: stubborn).

Since I am not above positive reinforcement for myself, I got out the sadly neglected sewing machine this week.  (I deserve some fun after spending this week confined to the house putting a squirmy 2 year old on the potty every 30 minutes!)  I found some plain t shirts at the walmarts about a month ago for a price I could not resist.  My plan was to applique something flowery or prissy on them.  Instead, I ended up with this:

Dinosaurs can be girly, right?  I really liked how they looked when I ironed them on (gotta love steam-a-seam!), but I thought they needed a little something more.  So, I embroidered them. . .by hand.  Yikes!  That was a labor of love.  I think it was worth the effort.  I adore how they turned out.  This is the conversation I had with Cora when I showed her the finished product:

Me:  Look, Cora, I made you a dino shirt.

Cora:  Oh, those are brachiosauruses.

Pardonne moi!

Then, I decided it was unfair to neglect the wee babe's fashion needs.  Since apparently when Cora was born I thought I needed one million and five onesies, I decided I would snazz one or two up a bit.  Wee babe front:

Who's a cutesy-wootsy wittle girl?

Wee babe back:

I ruffled her sweet little booty.  Bwahahahaha!  I still have one little one that I can ruffle and bedazzle to my heart's content - at least for now. . .