Dawn of a New Day

Anna has run into her toddler days with guns ablazing! Besides her new bed I posted about a few days ago, she has a number of new things going on these days.

New style. She still insists on wearing her hat when we go outside, but now she turns it around backwards.


New potty. I have referred to this before, but I would be remiss in my listing if I did not highlight it here. We are still a good long way from her being potty trained, but every day she gives it a go, and often all on her own. If she is successful in her potty attempt, she and Noah both get candy and she has begun making that connection so I expect the rewards and the positive peer pressure to start taking effect. This past week she has produced actual potty results 3 times. Not a bad start for a 22 month old girl who is pretty much taking matters into her own hands. I was, and am, certainly impressed by her initiative. (Must be more of that second-child syndrome that is to blame for my not taking a picture of her first potty pee-pee and poo-poo like I did with Noah's. It was no less precious though. )

New shoes. Her first pair of non-baby brand tennis shoes. She loves them. And she lusts after them when she isn't wearing them.


New brush. Yes, it has taken me this long to get the girl a real brush. But, in my defense, it has taken her this long to grow an amount of hair that needs more than a baby brush can tame. And since I retired her baby brush, I passed it on to her dress-up bin. Now she walks around the house, brush in hand, whether she is using it or not.

New tooth-brushing routine. Once she finished the toddler toothpaste a week or two ago, I stopped brushing her teeth while I change her diaper at night and moved her up to the actual bathroom for that routine. This means that now she uses fluoride toothpaste, actually spits it back out, rinses all by herself, and gets to drink from a bathroom cup afterward. All quite a big deal to her. She adores this new part of the day. She even says "bye-bye" to her Dora toothbrush and the water cup when we leave the bathroom.

New blanket. Somehow we are still putting the girl in a sleep sack when she sleeps - which is only weird when I think of how old she is. She likes it fine and we like knowing she is covered at night. But last week, when I thought it might be awhile before we shopped twin bedding for her, I ordered her toddler bedding to use in her crib so we could phase out the SleepSack while we waited to phase in the bed. As you know, the big-girl bed moved up in the timing queue, so this toddler bedding is a moot point now. But Anna digs it just the same. So maybe we can use it for nap times or something. It came with a decent, toddler-sized, really soft pillow with two covers, though, so I guess it was not a total loss. Plus I got it cheap on eBay.


New nap. Now she reliably naps just once a day - usually around 11:00 for about 2 hours.

New diapers. We are just about done with our stash of size 3 diapers for her. And we have a Sam's-size box of size 4 diapers that we bought awhile back for Brandon, so today I tried one of those bad boys on her and they fit well enough. Size 4 it is. If we are lucky, we'll never have to move up to the next size diapers. She will be potty trained by then!

New accessory. Her sunglasses. She would not tolerate wearing them before. And now, suddenly, she gets them out herself and wears them for periods of time, indoors or out. They must only be cool if they are NOT mommy's idea. Oh, teenage Anna, I see you coming.


New bikes. She can reach the pedals now. And, to my surprise, she picked up the pedaling within minutes. But she isn't so committed to putting the muscle behind it, so she usually needs to be pushed. But still, she grins a heady grin when she does pedal Noah's big wheel and the tricycle that has been waiting on her from Noah's bygone toddler days.

New vocabulary. Oh my word, all the new words. Just some samples of the speech explosion she has undertaken lately (not including all the basic words I have listed before):

Way! Me! (Wait for me!)
Daygo (Diego)
Doe (Dora)
Whoa Uh (Noah)
Mil (milk)
Chee (cheese)
BawBehBee (strawberry)
Ishee (fish)
Caw (card)
Moe (more)
TD (TV)
Doo? (two)
Bad (bread)
Wat (wet)
Ott, Ott (hot)
Tay Oh (tomato)
Wuh (look)
Weddy (ready)
Tay (cake)
Tah (truck)
Doodee (dirty)
Wuh Whoa (pillow)
Boodee (booger)
Wana (running)
Buhsh (brush)
Chesh (trash)
Jean (drink)
Daw (stop)
Balt (ball)
May Mow (Mickey Mouse)
Wooyee (Woody)
Aw (off)
Mote (remote)

Words she has mastered pronunciation of: no, gone, shoes, Daddy, Mama, done, boo-boo, eye, bed, knee, on, down