Big girl

After our nice long break, it was back to the grind.  I know it had to end, but we were living in bliss and I was getting everything checked off my list.  I was still taking Natalie to daycare for partial days --we pay whether she goes or not, and it is so much easier to accomplish tasks without a little one under foot--but when she was home she was on her best behavior.  It was great.

Natalie has transformed in the past month from a toddler to a big girl, especially if you ask her.  Most notably is the fact that we are in the throes of potty training.  Or perhaps we're almost done.  Natalie had an interest in using the potty a long time ago and since moving into the 2-year old room at daycare in the beginning of December they have been taking potty breaks and she had been doing well.  Two weekends ago we were at my parents' house (wood floors, no carpet) and we pulled the diaper and just went with "big girl unnies" and she did awesome.  She has had a handful of accidents over the past two weeks, but she's been dry during waking hours for the past week or so.  I am one happy mama, even despite the fact that I just bought a new case of diapers.  She's getting so big!

That's not the only thing that makes her a big girl.  Natalie picks out her clothes and can dress herself with a little help, she plays independently, puts on her own shoes, and has started to recite books that we have read a million times.  She is also fascinated with the alphabet and recognizes people's "letters": she loves watching the morning news because she sees her letter at the beginning of "News".  She picks out letters of family members and daycare friends, but she doesn't really recognize letters if she can't associate people to them.  H for horse is a concept we haven't figured out, but you better believe she points out ever D for Daddy.  She points out a lot of Ws and says that it's Mommy's letter upside down.  I think it's fun and funny.  We're trying to expand her recognition and point out that Ns aren't always at the front of words and lower case ns are still ns.  The world is a complicated place, and we definitely take it for granted until you try and explain why to a questioning toddler.

We are taking swimming lessons which she loves, and girlfriend talks so much.  Our lives are narrated for us.  She also has a crazy memory and can remember who gave her which shirt for Christmas, the actions behind Disney songs when she hasn't seen the movie in months, and if I mentioned something would happen at a certain time, she will hold me to it.  It's getting dangerous.

She is also just bigger.  She is over 3 feet tall(!) and is getting heavy.  We converted the crib to a toddler bed and she fills it out well.  I just keep putting more clothes in the outgrown bin.  Where did our little girl go?