Queen of the Bowl

Pearly girl is moving toward independence by leaps and bounds. By independence I don't mean driving motorized vehicles, paying her own rent, and generally assuming the responsibilities of adults--though I suppose her progress is a start. 

I We officially began the great procession known as the weaning of diapers on Saturday, January 4. With the boys, our system--if you can even call it that--was less official and more gradual (diapers to pull-ups or the much-preferable training pants, with rubber pants, then without, and finally moving into actual dandified underwear as the ultimate prize. Or exhausted finish. Whatever.). People had always told me that girls were easier to potty-train than boys. I thought Little Professor and Superman were pretty easy, if messy. Superman moved into underwear on his second birthday, so I figured an older brother role-model really helped him.

Well. Pearly Girl has put them both to shame. Granted, she's one and a half months past her second birthday, but I can't remember the last time I put a diaper on her. Last week? Anyway, after one day of full court press of the training pants, she was telling us when she had to go. A few accidents later, she's into the girlie underwear I figured was at least a month away. I am relieved the way runners are when they get to the last lap. And we got here much faster than I anticipated.

I know more accidents will happen, because they just do. But in the meantime, I am crowning Pearly Girl Queen of the Bowl and loving washing the prettiest little undergarments that mark her transition to Big(ger) Kid. 

So much cuter than cars and Ninja Turtles pants! Say it with me: ooooh!

So Nice It Happened Twice!

I just had to blog about this. Well, I also wanted to blog about something since I've started to fall way behind on here, and this just happened to fit the bill perfectly.

S is now sixteen and a half months old. In the last few weeks, he has:

• Astronomically expanded his vocabulary.

• First it was "Pah-pah" for please with no reminders or encouragement, after about two days of practicing. 
• Then it was saying "Pone!" when the phone rang. I'd never heard him say it or remembered identifying the ring with the phone before, but he obviously picked that up (the word, not the phone).
• He now loves to say "yeah" for "yes." Except it always comes out as "yeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" with a BIG smile. Like "You finally understand what I'm trying to tell you!"
• Lately--in the last five days or so--he's started saying "Tanks" for "thanks." Without being told.
• Yesterday, he heard the first line of "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," and after a brief pause, he bounced and sang "roun-an-roun." Like he knows the song. I'd never heard him say this, let alone kind of SING it, and he did this--again--with no prompting.
• On top of all this, he'll say "pay" for "pray" or "play"; "Da-sus" for "Jesus"; "AH-mun" for "Amen." Plus about thirty other words.

•  Gotten thisclose to doing a somersault by himself. Maybe that's normal, but P didn't do one by himself until about two months ago. 

And the really exciting news...

•  Started signaling when he wants/needs/feels like he has to go potty. Yesterday we sat on it about ten times, all with him coming to us first. And today he went in the potty TWICE! I feel justified in getting excited about this because at least I'm not an ignorant first-timer at potty-training. I know it takes a long, long time and I will hate the messes and all the jumping up and helping (usually right after I sit down to eat). BUT S is about five months ahead of where P was, and I thought P did really well (totally out of diapers by 27 months). 

And I'll freely admit it: the thought of having only one kid in diapers at a time is absolutely thrilling. Even if that means another one is in training pants.

Next up: learning to drink neatly out of a regular cup. Yikes.

You'd be pooped too if you did what I do!

Potty Dance Party. Non-check.

See? Potty training CAN be aestheticized!

I got a Huggies Pull-Ups Potty Dance flier in the mail yesterday. "Grab your pants and do the dance!" I know; hard to resist. Too bad our two-and-a-half-year-old started formal training about a year ago. I'm really bummed that we'll miss out on this major marketing event known as "Do the Dance Day" (March 5, for those of you who want to join in) AND that we've missed out on shelling out hundreds of extra dollars on diapers and pull-ups. Oops, gotta go--P has to go potty in the big potty. I won't tell him how much fun he's missing.