Things seem to be going better *fingers crossed*

Since my last post, I've made some modifications to my and Bella's day. When I have more planned for her, she's in a better mood which tends to mean fewer behavior problems. We've been to the park a lot, played in the little pool a lot, went out for ice cream, did some art projects, play dough, etc. Usually I don't have to try so hard to entertain her, but it seems to be helping with our issues so I'll keep it up.

I've also eliminated her afternoon nap. We've been in a transitional time with that and it seems that on the days she'd nap, we'd have some bedtime battles. I'd much rather battle during the day when I have energy than at night when I'm tired. So far, the no-nap has been working out well. She goes to bed (and stays in bed) at 8pm and wakes up around 8am. I'll take it! In place of naptime, we're doing quiet time. I tried to have her do quiet time in her room, but she seems to think she's being punished. Soooooo, I've made the whole house have quiet time for at least an hour every afternoon. I'm still working on getting that time to be what I want it to be, but it's coming along.

Today, I got lots of random hugs and kisses from Bella. That did wonders for me. She does love me. It was hard to believe when, just a few days earlier, she threw her Care Bear at me for no apparent reason. She did an unprompted, "thank you, mommy" after I put her shorts on. That was nice.

While I'm sure we're not at the end of this issue, I appreciate these little pieces of encouragement along the way.

Here is Bella playing in her little pool. These are from last week, but had I taken pictures this week, they would have looked exactly the same. It's not the biggest pool, but that didn't stop Daddy from taking a dip as well.
We bought Bella a tube for when she goes swimming in the big pool. She loves her fish and wanted to wear it that whole evening.