I’m pretty excited at how easy this turned out to be.  It’s really true what they say, that it’s really a matter of just waiting for it to “click”.  Once it does, they just do it.  I am so glad I didn’t push it the few times I tried since she turned 2 and obviously wasn’t ready, because it just would have stressed us both out.

Anyway, hooray for potty training success!  Although now I’ll be on alert all the time thinking that she’s going to wet her panties until I trust her 100%, even though so far she hasn’t.

PS:  We are only daytime trained.  I am not attempting nap or night training yet.  Once she starts getting used to subconsciously holding it, I imagine she’ll start waking with dry Pull Ups, probably from naptime first.  She’s not trustworthy enough to leave a potty in her room at night, and I know she can’t hold it for 13 hours (the current length of her nighttime) without an accident.  But I’m not fussed — 2 pull ups a day is heaps better than diapers all day long.

Potty training day 1 - not glamorous!	Heading out for church, diaper-free!
Pretty exciting stuff

In other news, we’re weaning pacifier use down a little bit.  I’m loathe to completely get rid of it until after our cross-planet plane trip to and from New Zealand later this year.  I just think it will come in handy to keep her calm and QUIET.  So we’ll probably wean it completely right after we get home.  Until then, I did some research and bought one designed for older kids’ mouths (By Dentists!) that supposedly won’t interfere with teeth and jaw growth.  She only really uses it for nap and nighttime, so I’m not too worried about her teeth yet.  And after she turns 3 and we come back from New Zealand, all pacifiers will be officially gone.  Shockingly, when I gave her the new “byer” tonight, she made peace with it pretty quick.  Good thing, since I threw the old one away already.

Random pictures of my pretty girl:

Yesterday we got our first winter storm of the season.  When all was said and done, maybe there’s about 5-6 inches of snow out there.  And now it’s cold.  Severely and bitterly cold.

In the beginning part of the storm, when temperatures hovered just around freezing and snow was flying about, we bundled Kira up in her new snow duds and sent her out on the deck to build a snowman with daddy.  She loved scuffing around in the snow and immediately started copying everything Joseph did.  She tried to roll snowballs, but that takes a bit more coordination than a 2 year old can handle.  She did master, and thoroughly enjoy, the art of packing snow on the snowman, which really just looks like a snowpile.  She would scoop up bits of snow, pack it on, and then say “there!”  So adorable.

Daddy & Me

I got Kira some Crayola finger paints.  She hates having stuff on her fingers, so I set her up with paintbrushes, a big sheet of paper, and a paint shirt.  She happily painted away for an hour before I finally decided it was time to move on to other activities.  I couldn’t believe she’d painted only on the paper (and not on the table or the floor or any other nearby objects).  I’m hoping the next time will be just as successful.  If so, “finger” painting is going to be a God-send for keeping her busy.

Sometimes you just need a cookie…

Just to show that she’s pretty sometimes…

Yesterday, out of desperation, I dragged out the pots and pans and spoons for the first time since Kira’s been born.  She has a great time banging away.  Today, I unrolled a long sheet of Christmas wrapping paper (upside down) and plopped her on top of it with a big box of crayons.

How long will this last?  Hopefully longer than it takes to write this short blog post!

In other cuteness, here’s Kira in her new dress and tights on Sunday.  She also had a coordinating denim jacket with purple trim, but the battery in my camera died right as I tried to snap the photo.  Sigh.

Latest words:

• Eye
• Baby
• Daddy
• Where’s Daddy?
• Where the ball?
• Please
• Football (grin!)
• There he/it is
• Thank you
• Ball
• Shoe
• Sock
• Animal sounds: Meow, Moo, Tweet Tweet, Baaa

Talking on the phone

Watching daddy mow the lawn	I think I'm pointing at daddy
Back from a walk, getting ready for supper	See my elephant?
Pretty sure I can get into this cabinet	Or maybe not
Mommy put all my toys away, but I found this box

Here’s a video clip of her trying to get into the cabinet.
http://s514.photobucket.com/albums/t348/mpurkis/?action=view&current=18months-Climbingincabinet.mp4

It was a really good time.  We found that kid-friendly family places are actually fun when you’re a family yourself and not just a childless couple wondering why these kids are so noisy!  LOL  The room was really nice.  Kira had a little wolf cave in the corner where we put her port-a-crib so it would be secluded and dark.  She wasn’t so sure at first that she was going to sleep in it; she just kept running from end to end.  Finally, since Joseph was tired too from working the night before, I left the room so all the lights could be out and she took the hint and went to sleep.  I went down to the bar & grille and had a hot fudge sundae and hung out for an hour or so.

In the morning we had breakfast at the kid-friendly family buffet.  Kira didn’t eat very well; she tends to eat horribly when there’s too many distractions.  But at least she was good and got a little bit into her.  After breakfast we changed into our swimming duds and checked out of the room.  The waterpark in the hotel is really nice.  I can definitely see kids about 3 and up just wearing themselves out over an entire day playing in there.  Kira seemed to like it, but it was a tad overwhelming.  She “swam” and played in the water for a little over an hour before she was finally wiped out.  We had a bit of lunch at the snack shop while we dried off and then loaded up to go home.  Kira was so tired.  I tucked her into her carseat with her pacifier, blankies, and new stuffed baby wolf and she was asleep within 10 minutes.

All in all, it was a fun trip.  It was our first family adventure just the three of us to a family place and we decided that it’s going to be fun repeating the experience as she gets older.

Here are the pictures:

Checking out the hotel room	Daddy's in my bed
Look at me!	Who says I'm too little for this bed?
Having a bedtime snack	All pretty and ready for breakfast
I'm heading to the waterpark...anyone else coming?	Wow - look at that!
	Waiting for elevator
Gonna steal this from the gift shop if no one catches me	This lifejacket is too big
This is more like it
Floating on daddy
Vacation makes a baby so tired, but I love my new stuffed baby wolf. (Was asleep within 10 minutes)

And now my little baby is 18 months old!