May 24th

I can't sleep so I figure I might update some. Katie is almost 22 months which is crazy and I know I updated like a week ago. She seems to be growing & learning so much lately. In the last week it seems she does so many new things. I'm sure I repeat the things she's doing in blogs because honestly I forget when she started some things.

Her newest thing is saying I Love You and it actually sounds like I love you. It's I Wub U but I'll take it, I love it. If I whisper it to her she'll whisper it back. I was trying to get to her to say it on the phone so I was whispering & she kept whispering it back instead of at normal volume. Silly girl. Now she'll say "I wub u, bye" when talking on the phone. I guess she's listened to a few phone calls & knows that's how they end but she tries to end them in the middle.

She has started pointing out body parts on me now which is new. She use to do only herself but now she'll point to my stuff as well if I ask. We're working on shoulders & neck now on her.

She has become obsessed with putting on clothes. She can put on her own shoes (mary janes with velcro) & she's quite proud of herself. She can now put my socks on herself, even though she refuses to keep her own socks on. Good thing it's spring/summer weather here. She likes to try & put pants & shorts on herself. Half the time both legs are in one hole but she's trying. Shirts go on like a skirt & sometimes end up looking like a skirt. So I'm trying to teach her how to put a shirt on the right way, from the top down, not bottom up. :)

Potty training did not go well & I gave up. Mike isn't on board & just kept saying he didn't want her to pee on the floor. So, for now I'll just keep asking her if she needs to potty when she follows me to the bathroom. We'll talk about it for a few more weeks before trying again. Apparently most people don't potty train til 3 which seems crazy to me. At least all the pinterest pins talk about their kids being 3-3.5 when training. I'd like Katie trained by 2 but that's probably not happening. We still have 2 months, you never know I guess.

Katie seems to understand so much. She picks up her toys or items when asked or told. She'll throw trash away & put her clothes in her hamper or washing machine(washer & dryer are in the kitchen/a closet next to the fridge). She can put her clothes back in her dresser(when she's decided to bring some out in to the living room for her to put on herself) when told too.

She loves putting on lotion or rubbing anything in to her hair or on her body. She always wants some soap or lotion on her hands when I'm washing or lathering her up. She wants to help or really do it herself.

She LOVES music & dancing. It is so funny to watch her dance, she's such a happy girl. So fun of joy & life.

She's getting back into loving books. We've been reading a lot, mostly because I'm trying to teach her ABC's. She tries to sing along to the ABC song & I ask her to point out things in the book. She won't repeat letters yet really but she knows "B" because that's what we call her pacifier. It's a binky which got shortened to b. I have no idea why we called it a binky. Anyways, reading. We also work on colors but she can't pick them out usually. She can repeat blue, pink, & purple if she wants too. Sometimes it seems she can pick out things really easily but I wonder if it's just luck. I downloaded an app which asks the child to pick out an item from the 4 choices(which one is ball, cat, train, etc) & sometimes she'd get 3 or 4 out of 4 (game was only 4 questions long) but sometimes she'd only get 1. Sometimes she'd be right on things I didn't know she knew but then would get easier things wrong a game or two later. So, maybe she's just playing. We've only used the app once & played maybe 10 games of the pick this. I don't usually let Katie play on the tablet or my phone but I have apps on my phone for when she's getting restless at restaurants or on the road, occasionally at home. I'm on the fence about electronic learning because I don't want my child always wanting & needing a phone or tablet to keep her quiet or interested but I also know it excites her and it could be used in a learning manner. It drives me crazy seeing babies in front of tablets, months old in front of tablets. Seeing 5 year olds with their head buried in a tablet. I've witnessed a kid, 6-7, literally play on a tablet for HOURS straight, not even with a learning thing, it was a damn game. I would say Katie gets to play on my phone for maybe 30 mins a week, if that. It's a treat, not a privilege. Anyways, coming off my high horse/rant. I try to work on colors, numbers, & letters a lot. Hoping her brain is sucking it all in.

So, my kid doesn't get to play on phones or tablets but she does watch a lot of tv. Yeah, yeah, bad mom. I always said I wouldn't be that mom but I am. Oh well. Her favorite shows are Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood & The Chica Show, she LOVES (love love loves) the chica show. If she hears that music she gasps & will instantly comes to the tv (if she's not there already). Usually she'll sit through a whole episode too instead of running around & playing while sporadically watching. We only get to see it/record it once a week since we got rid of Sprout(channel). She seems to like, or maybe it's just I like, Sesame Street. Can't go wrong with Sesame Street! :)

Toddler bed still going great. No issues at all. Hooray!

Welp, I think that's about it. I don't know what else to write about, even though I'm probably forgetting a lot of things.

21 Months, Visitors, & Mother's Day!

I swore no more months after 18 but here I am, with a 21 month old. Haha. I swear I'll stop at 2. Because 25 months sounds stupid. I shall go with 2 years 1 month instead. :) Anyways, our darling daughter is 3 months (or now 2.5 months) from being 2. WHAT!!! What the heck, time is going so fast! I blame it all on the people who told me it would. You all made it go faster, you jinx us. :) Just kidding but it does go so fast! I probably should've done a photo session to celebrate 21 months, it sounds so important, but I didn't. I have been taking pictures though. My parents showed up on Apr 30th & it was so nice seeing them. My brother showed up that Saturday (May 3rd). I definitely miss being so close to family. Not that Az was super close, being 16 hours from family, but it was still closer than a 3-4 day drive. Won't get into that now though, other than it makes me sad Katie won't grow up around our families. Maybe we'll get stationed closer to home sometime, we still have at least 7 years left in the army. :)

Well, I don't know how tall or how heavy little miss is, though my mom claims 20 lbs. She did the weigh herself, then weigh with Katie. The other day it showed 18.4 lbs with Katie standing on it in a diaper & shirt. I do think she's grown in length, she seems quite a bit taller. I should measure her. She's in size 3 diapers & 18m clothes. She's talking a lot & it took my mom being here to realize she'll ask you "what you doing?". I ask her that all the time so it figures she'd pick that up. :) She can pick out a monkey(& make their sound), a giraffee, & an elephant(tries to make their sound). She's correctly picked out fish, lion, tiger, & a few others but I'm not sure if she's really certain on those yet.

Big girl.... Yesterday I finally made Katie's crib a toddler bed. She never tried to crawl out of it, she had no problem just sitting in there waiting to be picked up/let out. I didn't have to switch her but I felt it was time. I did panic that I made a mistake. She at first stayed in there & didn't know how to get down. Or maybe thought she'd get in trouble. Then she thought it was a game getting in & out. I am happy to say we've now had a successful night & currently having a successful nap in there. I may've gotten lucky but I know if she has a bad night her being able to get out of the bed will be bad. I still put her to sleep on me/next me. Now she'll usually lay down next to me to fall asleep. I need to start a bedtime schedule, I really do.
Next Big Thing: Potty training. Ok.... My parents brought the potty my 2nd cousin Izzy used. It's a princess one & it plays music. Katie thought it was so cool & kept sitting on it so I started sitting her diaperless on it. When she pees it plays music & celebration & while my parents were here she peed 4 times in the potty. The music/celebration scares the crap out of her. Ugh! I made a potty sticker board for her & today we started potty training. I wonder if she's too young or not ready. The fact she peed with my parents here & thought the seat was so cool made me think it was a good time. But her being freaked out by the music is frustrating. Yes I can turn it off but I want to wait til she starts peeing consistently. Or maybe it should be the the other way. Who knows. So, today, day 1 of officially trying, the naked bottom method, and....ugh. 1 success & 5 mini accidents. They were mini for a reason, she immediately alerts by "uh oh" & she'll stop while we run to the potty. Only once she actually peed in her potty though. I did put a diaper on for nap time but I plan to take it off when she gets up. I hope I'm not screwing myself but having 2 big changes at once. I guess if it doesn't work this time we'll just try again in a week or two but she deserves a fair shot at it so we'll see how today goes. :) My big big girl! :(

Mother's Day. It's still weird to celebrate MOTHER'S day! To have a reason to celebrate. I celebrated being a dog mom but it's different having a human baby. It is nice being able to actually be hugged & kissed. :) Daddy didn't have her do any crafts for me so I did my own. Her handprint in salt dough & I need to write on it. :) I am a mommy & I will always be! :) Well, nap should be over soon so I shall go. Have a great day.