Cora Update

23 months!

I'd love to say goodbye to diapers!

Potty Training Update: This month has shown us that long potty training experiences will be our norm.  Most days this month, she's peed one time a day in the potty; sometimes with little need for prodding; other times after extensive reading/encouraging/prompting.  On the other hand, she's had two awesome days in the last week:

• Last Saturday, she peed at home and on three public toilets, staying dry all day as we drove to the Northshore, went on an 8 mile bike ride and out to lunch.  We didn't even rush to potties.  She was going 90+ minutes between potty opportunities. It wasn't until 3:30 in the afternoon when she was over it and went back to diapers for the rest of the day.  (When Cora is done, she is done.  We were 30 minutes late to a party because I tried to keep up the momentum, but NO.)
• Yesterday (also a Saturday), she stayed dry the entire day except for one oops!

At the start of the month, we were having so much trouble I thought it had all been a fluke, but then she would do something like the following to remind me that she can absolutely own this pottying thing: one morning she hadn't been interested in peeing, but she saw me putting on makeup and wanted to play with my make-up brushes.  So I said, "makeup is for big girls that wear undies."  She left the room, went to her potty, peed on it and came back and told me she'd gone! 

So the end of the month consensus? We'll keep up the efforts.

Sleep Training Update: We are one week+ into a sleeping through the night stretch!  That meant it took us about three weeks of 1-2 wakings a night where we rocked and rationalized.  She is no longer nursing in the night.  We feel victorious!

Cora Speak Update:

• Her first full sentence was this month: "I wanna drink Mama wawa" (meaning she wanted to drink out of my cup.)  She is a water-aholic.  She always wants her sippy cup. Other recent sentences: "I wanna help Mama." and "I dropped my bop."  She's been saying words and short phrases (i.e. "Cora cup") for so long that it's weird to hear her converse!
• She continues to refuse to attempt her name.  When you ask her name she says "bebe".  When we say "Is your name Cora?" or "No, your name is Cora," she goes "No!  Bebe!"  She thinks it's great fun.
• First words out of her mouth in the morning are a roll call: "Where Dada?"  awaits response  "Where Jack-Jack?"  Then she smiles, "Where mama?...There!"  "Where bebe?"....and then points to herself.  She frequently checks in on everyone's status throughout the day too.  "Dada work?"  "Where Jack-Jack?"
• She likes to assign ownership to people, i.e "my seat," "my book," etc. and "mama wawa, Jack Jack wawa, dada wawa."
• "MINE!" is her favorite word

Cora Funnies

• Anytime Jacob brings hot sauce to the table, she flips out and insists on having some on her plate.  Also, if she sees us adding salt, she wants some too.
• Potty training is pretty cute as we still all get very excited when she pees, Cora included.  She loves "Undies!!" and dumping her own pee into the potty.
• She still rocks the facial expressions!

Cora Difficulties

• She can be grumpy and emotional a lot!  Especially after nap.  She tends to only want me and not just me nearby, but "Mama hold!" Right now, I can hear her screaming and crying outside (where Jacob and Jack are playing) and I'm pretty confident it's not for a good reason.
• She is SENSITIVE!  Jack can just look at her wrong and she gets mad/offended/upset.  He definitely does things to get a reaction out of her, but other times, he's just trying to play with her and she's all "NO! Jack Jack - no Jack Jack!"

These two things we could live without, but Miss CB we could not live without!  I'm very excited to wish her a happy 2nd birthday in a month!

Becoming a big, independent, strong little lady!