Fake Cheesecake Yummy Yums

In the old days (2 years ago?) I would print out recipes and use cookbooks.  Then, I would make notes on my recipes so I'd know what I wanted to do differently next time.

Now, I do almost all of my cooking from Pinterest.  And, I haven't figured out a way to make notes on pinterest recipes.  So, my solution is to write a blog post and then pin this post.  If anyone has a better technological solution, I'd be happy to hear it!

The recipe below is borrowed almost entirely from here with a few of my modifications.  The original recipe called this a cheesecake, but I think that's a bit of a stretch.  They are good, but not like cheesecake.  

........................................

Vegan (or almost vegan), Gluten Free, No-Bake

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

• Crust:
• 1 cup pitted dates (soaked in warm water for 10 minutes then drained)
• 1 cup raw walnuts, almonds, hemp seeds in some combination
• Filling:
• 1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked in water 4-6 hours then drained
• 1 large lemon, juiced (scant 1/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted.  (I think the combination of the coconut milk and the coconut oil made the flavor too cocunut-like, so I think I would eliminate the coconut oil next time.)
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar (Scott feels like honey is healthier than agave nectar.)
• Optional Flavor Add-Ins:
• 2 Tbsp salted natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup wild blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• Any other berry

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start this recipe the night before you want to eat it.  The cashews need to soak for 4+ hours.  And, once it is all assembled, the yummy yums need to sit in the freezer for 6+ hours.  
2. Put crust ingrediants in a food processor and blend until a dough forms - it should stick together when you squeeze a bit between your fingers. If it's too dry, add a few more dates. If too wet, add more almond or walnut meal. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Scoop the crust into the muffin cups in heaping 1 Tbsp amounts and press in firmly with fingers. Set in freezer.
4. Add all filling ingredients to a blender or food processor and mix until very smooth. I did half a recipe at a time.  In the first half, I did the peanut butter add-in and in the 2nd half, I did frozen blueberries.  
5. Add your add-ins.
6. Divide filling evenly among the muffin tins. Freeze until hard - about 6+ hours.  Do not skimp on time.  After 4 hours, my peanut putter version was not completely set, but my blueberry version was.  The following morning, they were both fabulously set.  
7. Once set, get them out by loosening them with a butter knife. 
8. Transfer the uneaten treats to a pyrex and keep that in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.  

crib / toddler bed, mattress, mattress cover and sheet set

Our daughter has used this for the past 3 years.  She first used it as a crib with the mattress in the high position, then with the mattress in the low position.  And, then we took the front panel off so it was a toddler bed.

She's now moved on to a big girl loft bed, so we're selling her much loved crib/toddler bed.

Included is:

• Ikea Gulliver crib - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80248525/
• An Ikea mattress
• 2 mattress covers
• Custom sheet set from an etsy seller - 2 small pillow cases, 2 fitted sheets and a quilt.  We no longer have the bumper, but you could order one from the same etsy seller.  She's fabulous.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CottageBelles
• 2 small pillows 

The crib is currently disassembled.  It's not in perfect condition.  And, my daughter has added a few stickers which you can probably take off with some effort (Or, you could move the panel that used to be in the front to the back.)

An Email Newsletter from Preschool

This is part of the reason why I love being a Berkeley Mommy.  I love the thoughtfulness and the unapologetic political correctness.
……………

Good Afternoon Cedar Families,

Today's helper was x!
This weeks other helpers have been: x, x and x.

New Sign In and Outs

Many children have been very interested in how to spell their names. We have observed friends writing their names or practicing some of the letters of their names. Many children have also been looking around the room and finding some of the letters from their names in our documentation. 

Since we have seen such interest in names, we asked the children if they would like to write their own names on a colored piece of paper for a new sign in and out. Every child is at a different level of skill at this time but they all felt proud as they wrote. Ask your child to show you their new sign in and out. 

Love Power

What is this? It is a substitute for what was once 'butt power'. Many children were observed saying butt power through out the day and then giggling. When we asked what this meant there didn't seem to be an answer other than, it's funny. Humor is an amazing part of each child's personality but we are working on not using potty humor as much as possible. 

Teacher Sarah suggested to a few friends that we find a substitute for this potty language. "What could we say instead?" Love Power was the decided upon substitute. Love power is when we give each other a hug, high five or other friendly action to show our love for each other. 

Bottoms up "Tooty Ta" Song 

You may have heard your child saying bottoms up at home. In one of our favorite sings "Tooty Ta", we move out bodies in funny ways. At one part in the song we put our "bottoms up" in the air and dance. 

Food Drive:

Hearts Leap is hosting a food drive "Share Thanksgiving".  Today we talked with our class about how there are families who don't have a lot of food. We have been decorating a large box with different pictures of food to place out non perishable food items in. This morning we spoke to the children about what kinds of food are non perishable and would be great to donate. The children are very excited to add to the food box and share the things that they have brought with their friends. 

Role Play  and Modeling: 

As many of you have noticed, the cedar room has been very interested in airplanes and going on plane rides. This interest started from a conversation that we had during meeting about friends being helpers to their parents while traveling with younger sibling. The teachers acted out some behaviors and asked the children which behaviors were appropriate for the plane and which would be better for outside time.  

The children really enjoy when us teachers put on plays about different  scenarios. This is one way that we can help parents assist children modify behavior. We have put on plays about brushing teeth, helping with young siblings, riding on an airplane and sleep issues. Please email or speak to a teacher if their is a behavior that your child is displaying that we may be able to help with. 

Lunch Time Dog Stories:During lunch time, many of the children have been enjoying one of the teachers telling stories about their dogs. We have told stories of runaway dogs, dogs getting into grocery bags and other funny stories. 

Share Calendar:
This week we have had a lot of children bringing in share items. We are very happy that many children would like to show something that is special to them. Unfortunately we have not been able to share all of the shares that have been brought in. We will be using a share calendar starting next week. Each child will have a special day that is their day to share. If a child forgets or is absent on their share day, they will have another day the following month. We will not be having make up days because it takes away from the child who's share day it is. Shares include books, music, something the child has made, photos, etc. We discourage toys, and commercialized products such as Disney items. 

Thank you:

Thank you to all the chaperones and drivers who helped make our field on our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch a success.  

Reminders:

- Please check your child's extra clothes bag and replenish as needed

- Please have your child bring a jacket a coat or something warm to wear when we go outside. 

- Halloween costumes can be worn to school next Thursday.  Costumes will be taken off before we go outside.  Please bring a change of clothes or have your child wear his or her costume over their clothes.  

Money

I'm a few days in to Camp Mommy.  I am taking unpaid time off from work to focus more on me and being a mom.

Hopefully, I'll write a post up soon about our Camp Mommy adventures, but this post is about MONEY.

(1) I decided that my 7 year old MacBook was about to die and take with it all the photos that are in iPhoto.  Backup solutions weren't working because my computer seemed too old to get its data somewhere else.

So I bought a 1 year old refurbished MacBook Pro.  It came yesterday.  I set up the Migration Assistant so my old computer could tell my new computer all its secrets, and 15 hours later, I love my new laptop!  It seems so smart and efficient.

$1,100

(2) I took my car to the shop.  The bumper was hanging off and I suspected it needed some sort of service.  They agreed to bang in the bumpers so that nothing would be hanging off.  I don't need it to be pretty, but functional.  And, my car was due for a major service.  We bought it 3 years ago and it was time for all its parts to be checked out.

$500

(3) While the car was at the shop, they discovered that the tread on all 4 tires was dangerously low.  One of the tires had 0 tread on it.  The others had 1, 2 and 3 units (?) of tread.  They said that I had to replace all the tires and it was dangerous to drive on them this way.

$600

The car is running great now.  Scott and I went hiking this morning, and the acceleration up the hills was way better than it used to be.  I think it was money well spent.  But, $2,200 out the door during my unpaid time!  Ugh.

Pneumonia

It's been a rough few weeks.  After the horrible part wheat detox was nearly over and I was no longer acting like an addict searching for my next hit, I started coughing.  I did some googling and came to the conclusion that coughing could be a detox response, so I thought this was normal.  Then, my breathing started to get really labored and shallow.  On Saturday, I couldn't get enough oxygen in, so I went to urgent care.

End result, I had pneumonia and was having an asthma attack (which I had never had before.)

Now I'm on antibiotics, and therefore probiotics so I get back some of the good bacteria in my system; an inhaler; sudafed and mucinex.

Cough cough.  Wheeze wheeze.

I'm a Berkeley Mommy Because:

• When the straps of my Lululemon bag rip after shopping at Whole Foods, I re-sew the straps back on.
• We planned a homebirth.
• I take casual carpool into work and I don't think it's creepy.
• I've been TV-free for over 20 years - long before you could access any TV show online.
• My daughter goes to a Berkeley preschool where the kids are called "friends."
• At this preschool, one day, the kids got naked (but kept their underwear on, my daughter assures me), so that they could feel clay on their bodies.
• We are members of a babysitting Co-op.  
• The prized possessions in our house are the ones that are handmade.  
• We belong to a car sharing service.  I sometimes feel bad that we own a car at all, but I am able to rationalize it because our daughter needs a car seat which would be too difficult to always get in and out of the car share car; and because the car that we own is a hybrid.  
• The stated dress code at our wedding was "Berkeley Formal."
• We named our daughter Star.  Her Hebrew name means Queen of the Stars.
• When my daughter said that her vagina looked weird, I took off my pants and underwear and showed her what mine looked like so she could see that ours looked similar.

Gearing Up For Camp Mommy

My husband and I both work full time.  Our daughter is a 3 year old in preschool.  Preschools take more days off than either of us do. 

This regularly impacts our lives.  Parent/teacher conference day is a day off for the kids from school, so that the teachers can meet with the parents.  (And by the way, I think it's totally adorable to have parent teacher conferences for our 3 year old girl.  I am somewhat obsessed with hearing other people talk about my daughter.)  On that particular day, the school that I work at was having our graduation ceremony, so I was busy in the morning while my husband was with our daughter.  Then, we hired a nanny for the afternoon so my husband could have a bit of a break, and then he and I met at the conference.

Friday before Memorial Day?  Preschool day off.  I'm not sure why.  Star spent the day with my parents.

We're approaching the biggest working parenting challenge of the year - summer break.  Star's preschool goes through the end of July.  In August, they have four weeks of optional camp each with a different theme.  But, I've decided to try out different things for August to get some variety.

So, I basically have 5 weeks to fill starting in the end of July through Labor Day.  I'll be taking a few weeks off from my job (unpaid) so I can run my version of Camp Mommy, be a chauffeur to various camps, and get a break for myself.

Here's how we put things together.

Week 1 - Jewish camp in the morning.  Camp Mommy in the afternoon.  And, a friend from my childhood will hopefully be visiting with her son.

Week 2 - Camp Mommy with hopefully a trip to Los Angeles for all 3 of us starting on Wednesday-ish.

Week 3 - Monkey Business Camp in Tilden Park.  This sounds super fun.  I'm envious.

Week 4 - I go back to work.  Star will do the water themed week at her preschool.

Week 5 - Star will spend the first few days with my parents, and then all three of us will go to Camp Tawonga Family Camp.  We went last year and enjoyed it!   

It seems like things will only get more complicated once she enters kindergarten and has 2 or 3 months off during the summer in addition to the random days throughout the year.  I'll cross that bridge when the time comes, but for now, I'm learning about the camp options and keeping track of them on a Pinterest board!

What I Want for Mother's Day

I'd like to have an errand free Mother's day.  Not the kind of errand free day when I choose to not do errands, but I know that I will get to them the next day; I'd like the kind of errand free day when the errands that I would have done somehow get done by someone else.  My husband?  A task rabbit?  Someone hired from Craigslist?  This would be a good way for me to feel like all the work I do to keep our house and our family running are valued.

I'd love Scott to tell me that I'm a good mom.  Words are generally my #1 gift of choice.

Ditto for Star.  I can already imagine her throwing her little arms around me and hearing her tell me that she loves me.  Whenever she hugs me, I try to breathe in her scent and feel her warmth.  Sometimes I do that and she says, "don't smell me, mommy."  But, I love smelling my little girl.  I just try to hide it from her so I don't get reprimanded.  I know that affection is precious. 

And, I'd like Star to make me some art on a canvas in a frame - ready to be hung.  Here's some recent art from Star which I love, but now I have to frame it or decide that it shouldn't be framed and store it away somewhere.  I've had it in my office for a few days on my filing cabinet; art waiting for a frame to be hung feels like another errand waiting to get done by mommy. 

A Weekend Day

A comic is making the rounds on the web.  The woman pictured in the comic says: "Hooray, it's Friday!  Oh wait, I'm a mom."

Yes, I'm sure all working moms can all relate to that.  After leaving the office, my other, more important job, starts back up again.  And, honestly, even when I'm at the office, I'm doing my unpaid mommy job also.  I'm arranging babysitters, figuring out date nights (I've definitely been lagging here), and planning our daughter's birthday party. 

On the weekends, I get a break from the job that pays me money.  I will occassionally answer an email or take a call from a student, but I try to keep my weekends somewhat protected from my law librarian / adjunct professor job.

For me, there is no "typical" weekend day.  But, for posterity, I thought it would be fun to record one of my days.  Here's how Saturday looked for me. 

7:15am - we all woke up.  The good part about daylight savings time is that it lets us sleep in a bit.
I decided I didn't have time to exercise since we had a person scheduled to come at 8am to interview for the "finish getting her ready and walk Star to school" job.

8am - Interview #1 was scheduled.  At 8:15am, she still hadn't shown up, so I texted her.  She apologized but said that the power was out in her building so she slept in.  She rescheduled for 10:45am.  I was a bit angry that I missed my workout for this person who didn't show up.  I folded laundry.

9am - Interview #2 was OK.  On one hand, I was grateful that she showed up, but we didn't love her.

10am - Interview #3 went great.  She was on time and was wonderfully well spoken and great with Star.

10:45am - Interview person #1 showed up.  She was nice, but we all agreed that we liked #3 best.

11:30am - Star and I drive down to Sunnyvale for one of my College friend's twin daughter's first birthday party.  Star said that she wasn't going to fall asleep in the car, but she fell asleep in the car.

12:45pm - We got to the park in Sunnyvale where the party was.  I woke her up from her nap and we quickly made our way to the potty where we both went pee pee.  The party was fun.  There was a yummy catered Indian buffet lunch and lots of people to catch up with.  There was also a playground which Star loved.  She said that she wanted to come back to play more at this playground.

2:45pm - Got back in the car for an hour ride home.  Star did not nap this time.  We got home at about 3:45pm.

4pm - A girlfriend of mine who moved to Boston came over for a visit.

6:00pm - My friend left to go to dinner with other people, and I finally got an exercise in.  Scott and Star stayed home.

6:30pm - I left messages for Person #3's references.

6:45pm - We had dinner.

7:15pm - Star and I took a bath.  She had her nighttime soy milk and was asleep by 8pm.
Scott went out for a night with friends.  I watched some reality TV and was asleep by 9:30pm.

What I Should Have Said

Star was born almost 3 years ago.  I still regretfully replay a specific moment in my mind.

To get you up to speed, here's Star's birth story.

I spent from 1am until 10am in the triage cubicle before having an emergency c-section.  The private labor rooms were all filled up, and I guess they decided that since I wasn't going to labor, I didn't need my own room.  I just needed to wait out some time until the c-section would happen.

For me, hospitals are overwhelming places.  Triage is even more so.  Doctors and nurses kept coming in and out to see me or to see other women.  Other women would come in to be admitted.  They would eventually get transferred to actual rooms.  Random machines and phones kept beeping.  Visitors streamed in and out.

I remember passing the time by talking to my husband and my doula and my parents when they got there at about 6am.  I remember feeling mad. 

At one point, one of the doctors came in to my partitioned area.  I can't remember if he was an anesthesiologist or an obgyn who was going to perform the c-section.  He, quickly, got frustrated with me because I didn't focus on what he was saying.

Very crossly, he said, "I am the most important person in this room.  You need to listen to me."

Unfortunately, I did what he said and listened.  I've replayed this scene in my head countless time since that night.  I'm a strong woman who usually has some snappy comeback for insensitive remarks like these.  But, that night, I had none.

I wish I had said.  "You are not the most important person in the room.  My baby is the most important. I'm the next most important, and you are somewhere far down the list.  Now, please leave my cubicle and I will deal with a different anesthesiologist/obgyn.  Thank you."

By the time my c-section came around, that doctor was no longer on duty, so I never saw him again.   

A Babysitting Co-Op

I've lived in the Bay Area for so long now, that I'm not even sure if babysitting co-ops are a normal thing or if I need to explain what they are.  I'll assume the later.

A babysitting co-op functions where sometimes someone else watches your kid and sometimes you watch someone else's kids.  There are a variety of different models of this; 2 of which I know first hand about.

When Star was born in 2010, I decided it was a priority that we join some sort of co-op.  The co-op that we were initially invited to join worked as an even exchange.  If I needed a "sitter", I would email the group, or some subset of the group requesting a sitter.  Assuming I found someone available, once they watched my kid for 3 hours, I would "pay" them 3 tickets.  This co-op also had a monthly gathering where we were all supposed to get to know each other so that when we were watching other people's kids or having them watch ours, we were all more comfortable with the people involved.

We were in this group long enough for (1) one family to watch our daughter for a few hours; (2) reciprocating for that family; and (3) feeling guilty for a number of months about not attending the suggested monthly social gathering.  This group didn't work for us for a variety of reasons.  First, the geography was really spread out.   Also, the monthly suggested meeting did not work for our family.  (Honestly, I don't have enough time to spend with my actual friends let alone with people who I'm trying to make be my friends.)  We quit this group.

Around that same time, I somehow found out about a babysitting co-op based in our neighborhood.  This co-op operates differently.  My husband, Scott, explains it best.  Every Friday and Saturday night, there is a party for kids that our daughter can go to.  Each family hosts a "party" about 3 times per year.  Then, you get to send your kids to a party as often as you have cards.  We calculated that for every time we host a party, Star can go to a party about 5 times.  

Back in 2010 when i found the group, I spoke with the current President, and they didn't have an opening for us, but they said that they would put us on the waiting list.

Fast forward to now.  About a month ago, the new President of the group contacted us.  A family had recently left the group and they wanted to invite us to join.  We were stoked.

The following weekend, we signed Star up for her first "party".  It was at a house about a block away.  The hosting family was super great, and Star had a fabulous time.  When we dropped her off, they plopped her in front of the TV so she could "settle in".  When I picked her up, she had eaten box macaroni and cheese for dinner, she was still in front of the TV and she was now eating ice cream.

Let me explain.  We don't have a TV, and we don't eat sweets.  We steer clear of processed carbohydrates and other fake foods.  My theory has been that she'll get sweets, TV and processed foods in enough areas of her life; she doesn't also need to get it at home.  Star sees television when she's with her grandparents, and eats sweets and processed foods at birthday parties, but that's pretty much it. 

Is joining this co-op putting her on the path to childhood obesity and compulsive shopping?  That's my fear, but maybe I'm being too paranoid?  It's such an odd thing to live our lives with certain values and then have those values thrown out the window monthly so Scott and I can get a free night off. 

We have reservations, but we're going to try it a few more times.  We are set to host our first party in a few weeks, so that will bring up an entirely new set of challenges and frustrations.  In the end, this babysitting coop may, ironically, not be Berkeley enough for us.  We need to find some media-free whole food eating households to swap childcare responsibilities with.

2013 New Year's Resolutions

Ah, New Year's Resolutions.  I like the opportunity to look at my life - figure out what is working and what isn't and try to make some changes.  Instead of a list, this year I created a visual showing 3 areas of my life, each with 4 goals.   Expect some follow up posts on this.

Hold Them Close; Give them Wings

Along with most parents, I'm thinking about the shootings that happened yesterday at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

As an American, I'm horrified about our gun control laws, and lack thereof.

As a compassionate person, I feel helpless.  What can I do to comfort the families who have lost a child, a sibling or a friend?  What can I do to repair a community?  What can I do to make these children feel safe at school again?

As a parent, I'm scared beyond belief.

When my daughter turned 1, I got my first tattoo.  It's of a star with butterfly wings.  My theory was that I gave birth to Star, and now I need to learn to give her wings.

But, yesterday, I wanted to do the opposite of give her wings.  I wanted to pick her up from school and snuggle safely at home until our world felt safe.

How do we keep our kids safe while at the same time not being overprotective?  How do we let then try things on their own so they can become independent and smart people?

Today, I feel like I only have questions, no answers.

Potty Party Weekend

The earliest pictures I have of Star on a potty are from around July of 2011 when she was a bit over a year old. 

Diapering longer than necessary didn't make any sense to me.  Why would we teach our kids to go pee and poo in their diapers for a few years and then suddenly expect them to change their behavior for the rest of their lives?  It made sense for me to do potty training early, if possible.

When I say "potty", I mean a regular toilet with a little seat on top of it.  We used a stand alone potty seat briefly, but, we quickly transitioned to the regular toilet.  Less cleaning for the parents and other caregivers!

During these early stages of potty training, I was a stay at home mom.  Star and I were together most of the time, so I could focus on her potty training and she began to quite consistently use the potty!  We brought her potty seat along to friends' houses and to airports.  We had an awkward moment on an airplane when Scott was walking down the aisle with the potty strapped to the outside of his backpack.  He turned a bit, causing his backpack to also turn, and the potty seat brushed against a man's face that he was passing. 

When Star was 15 months old, I went back to work and she started school.  This totally stalled her progress - in fact, it regressed.  Her school didn't believe that children her age could be potty trained.  I thought their view was nonsense (I still do!), but there was nothing I could do about it.  We had a meeting with her teachers and the principal which didn't help.

During this time, Star used diapers and the potty.  Sometimes, she was better at using the potty than other times, but it seemed like there was no real incentive to go to the potty if your diaper was always there.

A few months after she turned 2, she moved into the next classroom at her school.  This classroom was supportive of potty training.  So, we waited until the Jewish High Holidays had passed, and got a weekend on the calender to do a Potty Party Weekend (let's call it a PPW for short.)

Here are the details of the plan we followed.  You start with a PPW over a long weekend.  The kid wears no diaper and no underwear and is with one or both parents all weekend.   After the PPW, the kid continues to wear no diaper and no underwear for about 3 months.   

The theory behind not wearing underwear is that underwear feels too much like a diaper. If the kid wears no diaper and no underwear for 3 months, then they get used to it. You introduce underwear at the end of this 3 month period after the kid already knows how to consistently use the potty.

On the Friday of the potty party weekend, I stayed home with Star.  If I make this story sound like the whole process was easy, I'd be lying, so let me tell you that day #1 of the potty party weekend was awful.  I was following Star around cleaning up after her the whole day.  She wasn't used to interrupting her play to go potty.  It was a horrible and messy day.  By the time Scott got home from work, I was so exhausted that I retreated and for the rest of the night I was noticeably absent.

Scott and I were with her on Saturday and Sunday and each day got better.  Monday, Scott stayed home with Star and they went on an adventure to San Francisco and rode the cable cars with our trusty potty seat in tow!

Since then, she's been diaper free and underwear free during the daytime.  (At some point, we have to figure out nighttime potty training, but we're not there yet.)  She wears "soft pants" like leggings or loose soft pants, but no jeans or anything with buttons or zippers. We want to make it as easy for her as possible to get to a potty and then pull down her own pants.  (Sometimes, she pulls down her pants and then walks to the potty which is super cute, but not always socially acceptable.) 

During the 3 months, there have been "accidents".  Honestly, I don't like that term for a variety of reasons, but that's a whole other blog post.  Accidents aren't a huge deal; when they happen, we put her on a potty so she'll start to connect going pee pee or poo with sitting on the potty, then we clean her up and get her dressed in clean and dry clothes.  Looking back over texts between Scott and I over this time, there are a lot of updates about potty time.  "Poo Poo disaster."  "No accidents!!"  "Pee pee accident right before we got to the potty."
 
The  3 months have now passed.  Star did wonderfully.  She goes poo poo and pee pee on the potty nearly all the time.  Last weekend was my family's annual trip to Morro Bay.  During this weekend, we presented Star with underwear.  She is so proud of herself.  She was jumping up and down and proudly wore her underwear around the house.  After seeing her cousin's underwear, she said, "Ellen has kitties on her underwear.  I have stripes."  

When we got home from the Morro Bay weekend, she took off her pants so that she could show off her underwear.  Bathtime has now become a bit of a struggle because she doesn't want to take off her underwear at the end of the day.  In the past few days, she's decided that she's now big enough and can sit on the regular toilet without the aid of a potty seat - this is a totally fine move except for when she fell in the potty.  I wish I had caught a picture of that.