Saturday, January 7, 2012

Potty Training 101

People tell us what a smart little girl you are all the time, Caroline. But over the past 48 hours you have absolutely blown us away. I felt like you were ready to begin potty training, despite the fact that many people told us it would be pointless to start before you turned 2. Maybe you just like proving people wrong. :)

We got you a cute princess potty that plays music and says "yay!" when you go.







And guess what? The very first time I sat you down on the potty you peed! The music started going off and you smiled from ear to ear. You were so proud of yourself! After being rewarded with a Reese's Miniature, you went along with your day like it was no big deal. Since then I've been taking you to the potty every hour or so -- you either pee or hop right up. Today, day 2 of training, you successfully peed in the potty NINE times. You are only 15 months old -- I honestly wasn't expecting you to catch on this quickly! Your daddy and I are so proud of you!

The first time you did it I honestly thought it might've been a fluke. But you've been consistently going for the past 2 days... you rock, Caroline!

We went to Target tonight and got you some big girl underwear and different treats for when you go (tiny granola bars & chewy Chips Ahoy cookies). We also have an "Elmo's Potty Time" DVD heading our way from Amazon. :)

I know this is just the beginning of a very long process but you are off to an amazing start! Buh-bye, diapers!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Caroline, you are 15 months old...

Caroline, how are you 15 months old already? You are getting to be such a big girl! I'm so sorry I didn't update your blog last month. It won't happen again - no excuses! You have changed dramatically over the past couple months & you continue to amaze me every single day.

First of all, you are our little chatterbox! You currently say:

"Mama"
"Dada" "Daddy" "Papa" -- you aren't sure what you want to call your father yet!
"Kitty"
"Baby"
"Uh-huh" -- technically not a word but you say it all the time! And it's almost always at an appropriate time.
"Hi"
"Bye bye"

But in addition to all of these real words, you babble constantly! I know you have tons of thoughts & intelligent things to say - they just aren't coming out right yet! Often you'll say a bunch of nonsense & then give us a hearty laugh. You already have an amazing sense of humor!

You are starting to walk faster and faster -- and you're a lot more confident with your steps. Unfortunately for you though, you inherited the clumsy gene from me & you trip and fall a lot. You are such a resilient little girl though - most of the time you just pop back up and go back to what you were doing! I love it.

You can climb off the couch & bed independently, but you can't pull yourself up them yet. One of your favorite hobbies is taking things from one room & putting them in another. I constantly find shampoo bottles in the kitchen & Wii remotes in the bathroom. :) Caroline, if you're reading this you probably don't even know what a "Wii" is, which is sad. Google it -- unless Google is obsolete, too!

You had such a good time when we went to Sesame Street Live in November! Before the show we got to do a meet & greet with Elmo (and Rosita, but she didn't seem to interest you). As soon as Elmo walked through the doors you starting smiling & pointing at him! Elmo held you for a couple minutes while we took pictures -- you were just mesmerized! And when our turn was over daddy reached for you & you didn't reach back. That never happens - ever! You definitely seemed to want to stay with Elmo and that made us smile. :) You really seemed to enjoy the show, after adjusting to the noise level about 5 minutes in. You rarely took your eyes off the stage and even did some dancing to the music. They put on a great show -- all 3 of us really enjoyed it. You are definitely an Elmo's girl!

And after almost 15 months of perfect health, you also got your first cold in December. You went through a few days of not wanting to eat (you'd still drink juice though). You had an extremely runny nose & deep cough. Besides all of that your demeanor was completely normal. You were running around the waiting room of the doctor's office smiling & laughing. After a week's worth of bubblegum-flavored amoxicillin, you were as good as new! We are extremely thankful.

Some of your current favorite things: Dancing (you have a few songs that really get you going), baby corn, giving amazing hugs and kisses, brushing your hair on your own, scrambled eggs, board books, watching the "Elmo's Song" video on YouTube, flashlights, eating a cookie when we go grocery shopping (the cashier always say it's on the house at checkout, probably because you flash them one of your world-famous smiles) & bubble baths.

Recent pictures: