Hope!

Lena has been ridiculous in the whining department for some time now and although today she wasn't perfect I think I have found a couple things that might help us both keep our sanity.
She has been taking only one nap for about six months and its an early one, so around 2:30 she is starting to melt down but isn't feeling a second nap. The last few weeks we have been watching a lot of tv to try to unwind and calm down but it just wasn't quite cutting it.
Today I decided to lock her up in her room and let her do her own thing for an hour. I almost felt like a bad mom because of this, but she ended up finishing her rest time extremely happy. Maybe she is an intravert or maybe she is just tired of.being with me all the time, but for what ever reason it worked!
Also, she has been randomly peeing in the potty, three times in as many weeks. Today i decided to try her in pull ups and see if she could let me know when she needed to go. This effort was kind of unsuccessful but it sure did make her feel special! So now when we have home days we are going to work on potty training. I'm not pushing it but we might as well give it a shot, especially if it makes her feel important and helps her be a bit more independent and a bit less whiney.
Yesterday there were a couple times I had to remind myself that it was okay to walk away but today I feel hope!