Big Balls at the Soccerplex

We have an indoor soccer field here and on certain days they close it off for kids.  A friend told me about it so Lillian and I went with her to go check it out.  I think Lillian was so overwhelmed by the amount of things to do that she ended up not doing much at all but running around the entire field. 

Lillian the Book Junkie

Lillian is a total book junkie.  With my reading specialist background I knew she'd be into books but I never imagined this quick!  Usually every waking moment she will run toward you with a book saying "gook, gook".  She knows many animals and knows ones we have given sounds or signs to the most.  When teaching English to second language learners we use a total body approach method where they see the picture, hear the sound, and have a motion attached to it.  It is no surprise she is catching on quickly that way.  We are continually helping her make connections between illustrations, pictures and real life animals.  I am surprised how quickly she has been able to recognize the same animal in all contexts.  The following video is her reading one of her books at a restaurant.  The background noise is a little loud but if you listen carefully she does "read" the book.  I'll take another video soon of some other books she reads.

Going for a walk

Being a big girl

Lillian has always enjoyed doing things the way mommy and daddy or any big person does it.  Recently she has taken going up stairs like a big girl.  She does it when there is a bar low enough for her to grab onto to help support her.

Feeding ourselves

Lillian can feed herself with a spoon now but it is messy!  She has been doing this for a while and we have found if she isn't in the mood to eat much we can get a little more in her by letting her use some utensils. 

Park fun!

 

Lillian  can go up the stairs and go down the slide by herself.  She had a daddy day last weekend and he let her do this on her own.  We have gone to a big park, the one I had her birthday at and big kids were really surprised she could do it on her own; some would follow her around wanting to show her how to do it.  She is such a loving affectionate baby that she loves kids and chased a little girl maybe about 7 years old, she even gave her a hug. 

Potty Training

I know what you are thinking, she is too young to start potty training; however, there are many countries that have babies potty trained by their first birthday!  I started a little over a month ago but it was much more casual, hit and miss and only seemed to be her first poop of the day.  She knows the sign for "potty" and when she has pooped I can ask if she did and she will give me the sign.  When I first started we went poop in the potty for an entire week.  We have a seat that goes on the toilet upstairs and a potty chair downstairs.  I originally got both (well I already had the potty chair and was using it as a booster seat for quite a while)  because I didn't want to have her go on the chair and then us be out and not go because she had to sit on a big toilet.  So, we have 1 travel one that folds up but fits on the toilet and fits into my diaper bag in it's own bag, 1 that goes on the toilet, and 1 potty chair.  We successfully went upstairs but not down and she'd eventually run from me if I asked her if she had to go potty and she'd sign it meaning "yes".  I think it was because she likes sitting on the big potty better.  Anyway, since she started running and the holidays and traveling were coming up I decided to not push her.

Now that we are back at home and not going any where for a while I decided to try it again.  I have already bought her underwear but we are going to wait to use them.   She has been wearing disposable diapers since we moved since I didn't feel settled enough to deal with the cloth but it is making the transition to potty training easier.  During the day she is wearing a cloth diaper cover, with no pad in it.  Sure we have to change them more often but the lining prevents it from leaking through her pants if caught early enough.  I have snapped them closed but loose so we can slip them on just like underwear.  Once she has shown she is having less accidents we will move on to underwear.

She is clearly capable of going and now we are just going to start conditioning her or "training" her where to go.... yes it may take longer than a week but it is no different than teaching her to walk, eat with a spoon or the other skills she has developed so far.