CootieGirl’s vocabulary continues to improve and she’s so much fun to play with. Last night after I got home from work I asked her a series of questions and she usually repeated me.

“CootieGirl, did you have fun today?”
Yes!
“Did you play with Daniel?”
Daniel!”
“Did you dance today?”
Dance!
“Did you sing today?”
Sing!
“Did you run today?”
Run!
“Were you a busy bee?”
Busy!

Just for kicks I’m trying to teach her to say “beverage” instead of “drink”. I’m also teaching her to say “awesome” which she’s pretty good at. Last night she also called out for Marmie a couple times, wondering where she was.

She has habits now. When I get home from work she immediately grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen, pointing to the cabinet where her cereal, cookies, jellybeans and various candy are. “That!” she’ll say, waiting for me to open the cabinet which has a child-proof lock on it.

“What do you say?” I ask.

“Peas!”

At which point I’ll open the cabinet and give her one jellybean or one cookie. Her new obsession is Elmo gummies. “Elmo! Elmo! Elmo!” she’ll cry, pointing to the upper part of the cabinet where she knows they are stored.

The girl knows what she likes and she’ll stop at nothing to get it. Temper tantrums included.

CootieGirl is sick today. Actually, it started last night – lots of coughing and phlegm. Gross. Especially when she coughed in my face all night long.

CootieDad stayed home with her today and said she took a 4 hour nap – which is surprising since we were all up the entire night listening to her cough and having her kick us in the head periodically as she tried to get comfortable in the bed with us.

Well, potty training has been lackluster in recent weeks. I know that part of it is because we’re only with her in the mornings and weekends and so we aren’t in constant control of when she needs to go to the bathroom. And there’s no telling if the folks at daycare have enough time to really help in the training.

So yesterday while at Target I picked up some stickers and a large posterboard, and made a “Potty Stickers for CootieGirl” board which is now hanging in the bathroom. Last night I showed her the board as well as some stickers and told her that if she uses the potty she gets stickers – one sticker for peeing, two stickers if she poops (hello all you BlogExplosion visitors that hate Mommy blogs!)

Before her bedtime I sat her on the potty and just waited. We played, cried (she did, I didn’t), read a book, and suddenly the potty vicinity took on a distinct odor. Helping her stand up, I saw that she was due two stickers! After a quick cleanup, a new diaper and putting on her pjs, I let her pick out two stickers and we put them on the board. She wanted to put about 12 on the board but through her tears I told her she was allowed two at that time. I’ll be going online to see how other moms do this so that I know I’m encouraging her the right way. Hopefully this will encourage her to use the potty correctly instead of as a place to read.

You know what I love about CootieGirl? She’s so considerate and expects others to be the same.

Yesterday afternoon while CootieBoy was napping and CootieGirl was contentedly playing in her playroom, I attempted to watch “The Alien Saga”. Periodically when CootieGirl would come into the room holding her Dolly in a blanket, she’d turn to me, her finger poised over her mouth in the universal symbol for “be quiet”.

“Shhhh!” she’d whisper, pointedly looking at the tv. I’d pause the dvd so the room would fill with silence, and she’d place Dolly on the sofa, cover her with a blanket and then smile at me, repeating her request for silence. After a few moments, she’d grab Dolly and the blanket and run from the room with a giggle. And so I’d turn the DVD back on. After a few moments she’d return.

“Shhhhh!” she’d whisper again. This went on – no kidding – for three hours. That’s how long it took to watch that DVD while she played with Dolly. At some point when I had the tv muted, she came over to me where I sat on the sofa, pursing her lips and smacking them together for a kiss.

Upon receiving the kiss, she’d call out “Dank you” as she ran from the room.

Recently, upon coming out of her room after a good night’s rest she’ll chirp “Morning!” as she heads to the potty. This morning I realized that when she comes out of her room and says, “Morning,” she promptly closes the door behind her so as not to wake up CootieBoy. When I commented on this to CootieDad, he laughed and said that yesterday morning she came out and then as CootieDad went with her to the bathroom she looked at him, pointed at the still-open door and said, “door,” fully expecting him to close it. Obviously she realizes that she can’t rely on him and has to do it herself from now on, as noted by this morning’s immediate closing of the door on her part.