Have we housebroken the baby?

Let me explain...

Monday, Kate woke up a half hour into her nap in order to poop. No more nap after that.

Tuesday, before nap I put Kate on the group and told her to go pick out a book. She did, and stood over her books pooping while she did it. I said, "You're pooping! Gonna need a new diaper (insert diaper sign here)."

Wednesday, before nap I put her down, told her again to pick out a book and go poop. She did! I labeled and signed what she was doing again.

Thursday, same story!

Friday, she pooped earlier in the morning, so I just skipped the whole "go to your corner and poop." Well, she started fussing when I picked her up after reading books to put her down for nap. Then she started signing "diaper." Stupid mom, was like, "I already changed your diaper silly." Put her down and she SCREAMED. I came back in the room after five minutes and decided to give the whole thing another go (I was figuring this was because I was gone this morning and had just gotten home and she was having a tough time with the transition... er, wrong.) So I put her down, she walks over to the corner where her bookshelf is and poops.

Duh.

She's housebroken! I'm seriously tempted to buy a baby toilet and put it by her books!

Brrr and loving it

We've been having very cold weather for our area. So cold, in fact, it flurried! So Kate has been using clothing that I am blessed to have inherited! Who knew we'd need it locally! Here she is decked out in her boots and warm coat to go out in the 28 degree weather!

New word to rival "Elly Dog"

Kate's new word is "this" and actually sounds like "this"... it comes from our pattern of her pointing at something and us saying "You want this? Or this? Or this?" So now she just points and says "this" when she wants something. It really is much simpler than learning the individual word for all the items in the house.

A Shopping Lesson

Kate's great aunt is visiting and teaching her to shop. It's going well, from a spending perspective. And a walking perspective: Kate walked most of the mall by herself. This resulted less from our intent to tire her out, and more from our frustrated attempts to open the new stroller in 27 degree weather and an unwillingness to rent a mall stroller for $5.

14 months old!

At 14 months, Miss Kate is quite the go getter. Her recent tricks are woofing at pictures of dogs and making a car sound as you push her on her push-car. She's pretty particular. We're noticing all our not-so-fun qualities shining through: Daddy P's fussiness about fabrics and clothing (Kate now tantrums for fleece pants or scratchy sweaters) and my short fuse (the other day she threw a lid across the room when she couldn't figure out how to put it on correctly). We will be working on perfecting our job of modeling coping with these weaknesses to help her deal with them better than we did.

She's some unknown weight and height, but her pants finally don't drag on the ground when she walks. She is obsessed with all things electronic (just like her grandfathers), and when she can't touch the laptop or hold the phone she, you guessed it, tantrums.

For all the tantruming, this kid has so much joy. She is the biggest cuddler and is happy to climb into your lap and read a book she's picked out. She will walk over to me cooking in the kitchen and with a sweet little sigh hug my leg before moving on to her next activity. Her cries of delight are just the most heartwarming sounds to hear. You can't top them.

Independence is all the rage. She is getting really good at feeding herself with a spoon, and wants to eat apples and bananas whole. She really wants to use a cup, although inevitably when we let her try, pouring quickly follows.