Poopy in the Potty

Today was a big milestone. I went poop in the potty! Now let me put it in some perspective. For the past couple weeks, I have been following mommy and sometimes daddy into the bathroom when they use it and have shown a lot of interest in what they are doing. I know the order of events, including when to use toilet paper and when to wash hands, etc. I sometimes even let mom and dad know when I need my diaper changed by grabbing the front of my pants (wet diaper) or going to the gate to go upstairs. I don't always let them know, but I have done it once or twice a day for the last several days. So today I let mom know I wet my diaper (about 10 minutes after she had changed it) but since it was just changed and I wasn't stinky, she didn't change me right away. So a few minutes later, I went into the bathroom on my own and when she followed me in, I pointed to the toilet. She took my pants and diaper off and held me onto the toilet seat and I let a little poop drop into the toilet. However, at the point I got a little freaked out by the experience and possibly by the size of the toilet seat (my own toilet seat was just ordered earlier in the week and hasn't arrived yet) so I didn't finish the job. But mommy and daddy were proud of me nonetheless since I let them know my needs and I even gave it a try. I know they won't pressure me to keep using the toilet, but will let me use it when I request it. Maybe once I have my own seat, I might be less scared of the whole process, but it was a pretty cool moment for all of us. Probably more information than you ever wanted to know, but that's probably true for a lot of my milestone moments!

On a less personal note, a few other highlights of this week. I am now sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor of my room. So no more crib or crib mattress in my room - they are now in the baby's room. Mommy also got out the baby swing yesterday so I could get used to having some of baby's stuff in my play area. I put my dolly in the swing and give her pushes since I'm too big to sit in the swing myself.

I also went mall walking for the first time this week. Mommy and I went to the mall before the stores opened and got to walk (or in my case, run) around the wide open space. There were other people there, but not too many so I had a lot of freedom to go my own pace which was a lot of fun. Then Friday mommy took me to a playgroup at the library. There were so many toys for me to play with, I loved it. Plus there were several other kids around my age so it was fun watching them play and once in a while, I even tried to play with them (aka steal their toy). I made friends with Lilliana's daddy (he was the only daddy there this week but hopefully next time my friends Ben, Abby & Lorelei will be there with their daddy since he is off every other Friday and maybe my daddy can come in March when he is off of work for a week) and a few of the mommies. I still gravitate and socialize more with adults and older kids, but I was really good about being social with the kids my age this week which made mommy proud.

So those were the highlights of my week. Given the nature of today's primary topic, no pictures to post, but at least you are now up-to-date!

18 Months Already

Yes, hard to believe that I am already 18 months old. To celebrate this milestone, I have had quite a few adventures this week. First, I got a new plush rocking chair in just my size. I enjoy reading in it but I also figured out that if I push it towards the sofa, I can climb onto my chair and then climb onto the sofa. But I only do this if mom
and dad aren't watching because they do not let me do it. Unfortunately one of the times I tried it while mom was in the kitchen, I didn't have the chair quite close enough to the sofa and I tipped it over and fell into the sofa and bit my lip and bumped my head. I am ok, but maybe I won't try that again anytime soon.

Because I'm so curious, active, and don't always pay attention to where I'm going, I've been more prone to bumps and bruises lately. In fact Sunday night I gave mom and dad quite the scare. I was running through the kitchen (yes, I know I shouldn't run in the house but I had an after dinner second wind despite not napping that day) and fell into the corner of the refrigerator. There was an indentation in my forehead where I hit the fridge and it instantly turned black and blue. I think the indentation scared mommy and daddy more than the bruising. After a few minutes it was no longer indented and just swollen but they called the doctor anyway to make sure they didn't need to take me to the ER. Fortunately the doctor wasn't overly concerned as I didn't have any signs of a head trauma and I settled down fairly quickly after the initial shock and pain of the accident. Though I was not a fan of the ice applied to my forehead. Within 20 minutes I was running through the kitchen again much to mom and dad's chagrin. But it's hard to slow me down as I'm pretty strong willed. Unfortunately for everyone, mom and dad had to wake me up a couple hours after I went to bed (doctor's orders). I was not pleased so to express my displeasure, I woke them up every couple hours the rest of the night to see how they liked it. Needless to say, they did not like it. I'm better now, except for a slight indentation and some bruising.

On a cheerier note, I also moved out of my crib almost two weeks ago and am sleeping on my crib mattress on the floor. The first nap I was out of the crib, I climbed off the mattress and started playing with my toys so mom put me back into bed and I have stayed put at naps and at night. Until Sunday that is. Although I was in my bed when mom came in to my room, I had a trail of evidence that I was out of bed, including a bunch of different toys that I brought into my bed while I was playing instead of napping. Oops - busted! But at least I played quietly enough that there were fooled for a while.

Some other milestones in the last month include my return to swim lessons. I'm pretty good about going underwater without getting too upset. Though this week I wasn't as cooperative in class as usual since my mouth was bugging me. Yep, I'm cutting molars. My gums were black and blue last week and mom saw one molar peeking through the other day, but they haven't actually come through yet though my gums are swollen and mom says you can see the teeth through the side of the gums. Most likely because of the molars, I have not been very good about sleeping through the entire night. For the last several weeks, I have woken up about once a night and then request (ok, demand) my music get turned on before I go back to sleep.

I am fascinated with toe lint and love taking my socks off at night to pick the lint out of my toes. I also enjoy drawing on my Magnadoodle though I am still not too big on crayons and paper. And another favorite activity is weighing myself on the scale. I don't care how much I weigh (for the record it's 20lbs 2 oz and I'm still only about 30 1/2-31 inches long so still a peanut); it's just fun watching the numbers appear. But my favorite activity these days is watching mom and dad cook. Sometimes they even let me help. I got to help daddy chop onions (using an onion chopper, not a knife) and mommy let me stir the pancake batter one morning and the crisp mix for rhubarb crisp another day. The best part is when the food is done and I get to eat it. Though I'm still picky and prefer to eat fruit, cheese, bread, pasta, or peanut butter over anything else.

So those are my favorites. One of my least favorite things is running bath water or showers. In fact, I scream when we go into the locker room after swimming because I know the shower is in there. I also will sometimes refuse to take a bath if I see the bathtub water running. Mom tried to help me conquer this fear by giving Jesse a bath and letting me watch. I didn't come near the bathroom when she had the bath running, but when she turned on the hand held shower head, I showed cautious curiosity and would come in to the bathroom for a little bit and watch before running back to the safety of my room. Maybe someday I will get over this fear, but for now this is probably my biggest fear.

And finally, I have now officially earned the title of "ringer" for mom and dad's trivia team. Tonight was the third time I've gone to trivia with them and their team won all 3 times. Guess that means I will have to keep going! It's the one night a month that I get to stay out late (until 8pm) and it is usually pretty fun. Tonight I got to run around the hallways of the hotel it is at so mom and dad had to take turns chasing after me in between rounds.

Well that's me at 18 months in a nutshell. Active, super smiley, social, dog-loving, food monger, peanut, strong-willed, attached to my blankie, and overall a pretty easy going guy. Much to mom's delight, I'm also starting to show a greater interest in other kids, including babies. I play at day care now instead of cuddling with the adults. I also ask mommy to read me her Parenting magazine so I can look at all the pictures of the babies and say hi to them. Mom and dad are hoping I stay this interested and engaged with babies once my baby sibling is here. We'll see. Depends on how cute and interesting the little critter is.

Love,
Cameron