Princess Poopie Pants

I'm not sure how much longer I'll be seeing this little girl in diapers. The baby in her is depleting almost daily. Sunday I woke up & thought I should really try training her, according to the "experts" she's ready. So every hour I sat her on the pot & she never did pee but I rewarded her for being a good sport every time. She loves to flush the toilet & wash her hands. That in and of itself is so fun for her. Yesterday I just talked to her about it, we were gone a lot. This morning while I was getting ready she ran in nude, all excited "Diapi off!" she yells all the time, she's always so proud when she's taken it off and is so glad to be "nudy" as her dad says. Soon after she started peeing in the floor, I grabbed her & got her on the toilet so she finished & we made such a huge ordeal, I could tell she liked the response she got.
Today after her nap I had her try & nothing. Later I walked in my office and she said "Look, mommy!" And there she had peed a little in the floor. She hates messes & yucky things so I told her she made a mess and it was yucky to pee on the floor so next time tell mommy and run run! So she goes into the bathroom, opens the lid, climbs up on the toilet (good for her that she's a little monkey) and went all on her own! WOW! I was amazed. It was like she ran a marathon or climbed Mt. Everest or something, I was so proud. She had the biggest smile and said "I DID IT!" So we'll see what happens next. It could swing both ways & easily backfire on me, but she's a smart little thing, I think she's gonna get it! Tonight at dinner I asked her what she did today and her eyes were twinkling and had the biggest grin looking at me. And then she said "POTTY!" I asked her, did you go in the potty and she said "YES!"
Yeah Gracie, good job, girly! Mama's proud of you! :)

Amazing!

Today Gracie & I went to the mall to play at the indoor playground & there were lots of kids her age. Here are a few photos I was hoping to get. Every time we go she loves the tree slide, this is one of the main slides she learned on. She got in the big tree stump & said "mommy, play with me!" So I got in with her & we hung out. Here's a video of her hopping from one flower to another, she does this all the time, it's so cute. Then we went & had lunch with a friend at this place called Austin's Such a quaint place. There is live music & poetry reading at night. The Labyrinth was playing, which brought back lots of memories, I used to love watching this movie when I was little & when David Bowie was singing "dance baby dance" Gracie loved it & was dancing on this little stage. I got a bit on video. I'm assuming Austin's rarely if ever has kids, the manager was watching & laughing at her the whole time & gave her a microphone, she was a little shy at first but warmed up to it. If you're reading this & are local, the food is SO yummy! We sat on a big red couch. There are board games & wireless connections. A very cool place just to hang for a while.
If you can believe it, I was excited to get Gracie down for a nap so I could venture off to Walmart & grocery shop by myself. I was looking forward to just browsing and taking my time through the isles, kinda therapeutic. Can I tell you I saw items I never knew existed & who knows how long they've been selling them for? I'm over the printing coupons thing, I ran out of ink in my printer & decided by the time I pay for my ink to be refilled I'm even. Ridiculous! It's a conspiracy. When I print the dang coupons from the websites they print huge logos on the bottom of the page to go with the coupon, as if it needs to be advertised! So I'm over it. It ticked me off. I'll stick with the newspaper.
Tonight Gracie tried little maneuvers to get out of going to bed. She said "I'm not sleepy!" for the first time ever. Then she said "I HUNGRY!" She thrashed around for a while and finally went to sleep. This week when she's getting punished she says "I tired!" in this little pathetic voice so that we'll have sympathy for her & not scold her anymore. Nice try, little girl! My favorite new word of hers is AMAZING! Everything is AMAZING! :)

Undies & Bathing Cuties!

Here are a few photos from today. This morning Gracie put on her favorite underwear of mine, she's quite creative how she wore them! And quite proud of herself.
I also captured her getting a sip of my "toffee!"




Then we went to the beach with her little buddy Jack, his brother & sister Madalyn & Evan. She likes Jack but she won't let him know it. But when Jack ran off she was very concerned & yelled "Jack, wait, oh no! Jack, come back!" Over & over. And when his mommy spanked him she said " oh no, Jack, boo boo!" He is such a cutie & so sweet. He gave her a hug today when his mom asked him to & Gracie just stood there, waiting for it to be over. She'll come around! They had fun playing in the water together, each one of them telling me "more" in their own unique 2 year old way. Jack's comes out like "mer" and Gracie's is 2 syllables & 2 different pitches I can't even type it. "mowore" somethn' like that!





Bear prints in the sand...oh my! He must have been thirsty or went for a dip.

Blocks & Cookies

Daddy & Gracie building with blocks

Cookies & milk - You must "dip it" as Gracie says!

A few of Gracie's loves

Gracie LOVES her purse, carries it around the house & outside everywhere lately

Gracie LOVES her cousin Ella! They had fun playing during our recent visit. She says her name all the time, so cute.

Gracie LOVES to play in the makeup in my little studio. Yesterday she was caught stacking the powders & counting them!

Fireworks, ABC's & 123's

Tonight we went to see fireworks & she loved them. She called them drums & kept saying "BOOM BOOM" or "BAM BAM." She'd point & ask, "see 'em?" & she'd shout out the shapes or colors she could see. While we were waiting she was lying on her back on the grass with her hands in the air feeling the breeze & said "nice out!" We had mentioned a few times how nice it was outside & little ears pick up fast! She's my little nature lover though. She really gets into all the birds, pink clouds, stars, moon, flowers, animals, etc. Her excitement & energy is contagious!


Gracie watching fireworks!


The few of the latest news with Gracie girl ~
Gracie sang the entire alphabet yesterday all by herself! It was the sweetest, cutest thing to hear her little voice pronounce the letters. I've been listening to her sing it up to G and this time she didn't stop. I knew she had it in her!

She can't swing high enough, we swing her as high as possible and she yells at us in this demanding voice like we're holding out on her or something, "High! Mommy!" "High, Daddy!" with her little brows furrowed. We're like, that's as high as you can go, my goodness!
I just had to...Gracie's 1st time swinging, 5 months

She is SO into popcicles, most always asks for one while swinging. Now she wants certain colors. Blue is her favorite, I have to physically show her that blue is gone before she'll attempt to think about another color, she is so disappointed, it's hilarious. After that it's whatever color comes to mind.

This week she strung her 1st bead all by herself. She's been trying & trying and finally got it through the hole & out the other side. "I DID IT...YEAH!!" It's so cute to watch her eyes so intent and her little fingers holding the string & bead, coordinating all the movements together to get it just right. Then she wants to jump rope with it with the one bead on it. She cracks me up.

She's counting almost to twenty now. She skips 17 & 18 and goes for 20! My favorite is that she calls sixteen "pinkteen" I LOVE it! Her new phrase is "for ya!" If she's giving me something she'll say "mommy, FOR YA!" I have no idea where she got that. She also says "Hey guys!" when she comes up to Todd and I. She loves to help me cook & she likes to stir whatever I'm making. Her favorite is rice so she always assumes rice is what I'm making. When we make eggs her job is to put the cheese in and she reminded me today when I forgot and shouted, "Mommy, MY TURN!"

There aren't enough high fives you could give the girl, she adores the high five game. After we say grace, she must high five us, every occurrence is a high five occurrence. She's always got her hand up shouting "five!" And she loves to swing her arm & smack you as hard as she can with full force. Then she'll say "side, high, low." Then we usually say "got you" and tickle her so now she says "got me!" She even high fives the water fountains at the park.

Father's Day Celebrations

Breakfast with mom & dad, Todd & Gracie


New Smyrna Beach ~
Look at these two! They are so cute & having so much fun rolling around in the sand, getting sand in their finger nails, hair, scalp...I am itching just watching them, this is not my day so I'm sucking it up, I am SO not a beach girl, give me my pool or a mountain any day!