tales of our (almost) 3 year old

Sorry I'm not sorry for all the kiddo talk this week.  In honor of Munchkin Meals this week, I thought I would not only update you on MacKenna's eating habits, but also how all things toddler have been going.  Let's just say, this child will do everything in her own time...EatingThankfully, this is the thing that is going well.  I don't know if it's a growth spurt or if we're just learning how to feed her better, but MacKenna has been eating great!  Does she (we) always make the best choices?  Um, no.  She's still as picky as ever.  But, she is eating much better than she had been just a few months ago.Breakfasts are usually something that she can eat on the couch while watching Mickey Mouse or Bubble Guppies.  Lately, we've been loving strawberry Nutrigrain bars and Special K strawberry pastries.  She also is just like her mama and loves dry cereal as well.  Many days she will also drink part of a smoothie with either me or Matt (usually Matt, since he's the one who takes her in the morning, at least for the next couple weeks until we move to the new house).The babysitter claims that all Kenna does all day is eat, which I totally believe since she tends to be a snacker.  While at the sitter, she eats anything from hamburger to pizza to salami sandwiches - things we can only beg her to eat for us.  Our weekend lunches tend to be more mix-and-match:  lots of salami, cheese, fruit, avocado, and yogurt.  She will sit there for a good 45 minutes eating too.  I'll take it though!We're getting better at dinner, but they are still a struggle most days.  We try to get her to eat what we are eating (who am I kidding, Matt and I have barely had a meal together in the past 2 weeks), but it's usually slightly different.  We usually end up putting a few different food items on her tray and tell her that she has to eat everything on her tray before she can get down.  It works most days, even if we don't give her more incentive than that, like dessert or a sucker.SleepingThankfully, MacKenna's sleeping has improved, but it's still far from what it used to be before we went on vacation.  For awhile, we could only get her to sleep on the floor, but we were totally OK with that, as long as she was sleeping.  However, after returning to the babysitter, she is back to sleeping in her bed.  Woohoo!  Love our sitter!But, even with that, there is usually at least one night a week where she wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming to let her out of her room because she wants to cuddle.  This is where our sleep training is coming in the most.  We let her cry for 5 minutes (sorry Mom + Dad) and then go back in and put her back in bed.  Usually after that, she falls back asleep, but sometimes it takes another 10 minutes of letting her cry and tucking her back in before she settles down.  When you're only getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep in the first place, middle of the night wakeups are not my favorite.Naps on the weekend have also been a struggle.  I blame it on her missing us during the week and getting to spend her weekends with us.  She'll be fine until we walk out of the room, and then she'll start crying.  Again, we pull out the good ol' sleep training we've been doing, and many times she ends up sleeping on the floor.  I don't mind this as much except that her naps are not nearly the 2 hours we used to get out of her, which, for me, is frustrating, just because I always have work (homework specifically) to do on the weekends.  I'm hoping that she's starting to at least get used to us being away so much and that her weekend naps will get better.PottyingWell, we gave up potty training over the summer, but our babysitter (again, she's awesome) promised she would have her trained by the time Moose arrives, if not by her 3rd birthday next month.  She started training (re-training) her about 2 weeks ago with the other 2 year old there, and Kenna is still holding out.  I think what's frustrating is that I know she knows what to do.  She's peed and pooped on the toilet before, she knows when she's poopy, but she refuses to actually go in the potty.  I don't know if she's just scared to do it or if she's just being the strong-willed child that she is and just trying to make life difficult.The babysitter asked about pullups, but I told her that she just treats them like a diaper.  So, we are going to start sending underwear this week.  It makes me nervous because she would hold everything until we would put a diaper on her this summer.  I'm not about ready to go through another bout of constipation with her, but I also really, really want to have a month or two without a child in diapers.  (Side note:  if anyone is looking to sell some of their gently used cloth diapers, we are looking to purchase some in the next few months.)I know she'll get there and that she won't go to Kindergarten wearing diapers, but I'm just hoping it's sooner rather than later.  I know she will do it in her own time - that's been her life so far, right?  I know all mama's of strong-willed children can relate...