Almost There!

"Dee-tee Dotty! Good Girl!"

It's what Julia has started saying when she gets off the toilet after success. I hesitate to even write anything about her recent breakthrough because she may go through another down phase. But for now, she is wearing big girl panties when we are home and pull-ups when we leave the house, and the last 2 days has only had 2 accidents at home and did not go at all in her pull-up. When she has an accident she comes to me saying, "no no dee-tee" and she usually finishes going in the toilet.

For the last month or so, every time we have gone to a store, restaurant, church, or other public place we go to the restroom when we get there and sometimes before leaving and she almost always goes. This, along with wearing cloth panties at home, has helped her tremendously. I should have started that long ago.

For a long time now (at least 10 months), she has been almost perfectly trained for #2 - unless she was sick or had lots of family around she would just take care of it during one of our many frequent trips to the potty during the day or when she got older she began letting me know. Dirty diapers are extremely rare (maybe once or twice a month), and we're grateful for that! It also means I don't worry about a poopy accident in her panties.

I'm hoping we're over a big hurdle this time and she won't regress. Just before she turned 15 months old, she was very close to being potty trained. She would keep her diaper dry all day and yell "dotty" so we would take her, but after that she had lots of ups and downs in that area and I thought we'd never get where we are now. Now she just needs to start telling me again and we'll be done.

Snow Day!

We had a fun snow day here last week and got 3 inches of beautiful snow. The snow had just begun to fall when Julia woke up and I wasn't sure how long it would continue, so I bundled her up before breakfast and took her outside. She was excited about the "know" until we went outside. At first she wasn't sure about it, but I told her the snowflakes were kind of like bubbles, which made her eyes light up. The problem with that is that she kept calling them bubbles the rest of the day. She also kept saying, "mess" when she noticed the snow on the bushes and on her clothes and shoes.

Later on, we went to the front of the house to see how much had accumulated on the ground. Julia didn't really like walking in it so she mostly stood and looked around. She also tried eating the snow from her gloves, which she seemed to like.

At this point, Julia was very concerned about the mess on her shoes (notice her expression) so we went back inside. Her suede boots and her socks were wet, so I didn't blame her.

Daddy came home from work in time for us to go out once more. We took Julia to one of the parks in the neighborhood where we began making a snow man. We didn't stay to finish because Julia was cold and complaining about her shoes. The only waterproof shoes I had for her to wear were some rain boots I bought for later on so they were huge and she couldn't walk in them.

It might be a long time before we have another family pic in front of our house with snow!

Sesame Street Live

We took Julia to see Sesame Street Live last weekend with some friends. Julia and their daughter, Raegan, are big buds so we went together. Julia really enjoyed the show!

Riding together and holding hands.

Julia wasn't quite sure where we were or what was going on until we got seated.

Lil Aggie

We took Julia to see her first A&M game, which happened to be women's basketball. Julia usually takes her nap around 1pm, so we knew the noon game would push her. Before we left, Kyle taught her how to say "Aggie" and "whoop!". She also made the connection that our maroon shirts had something to do with the word "Aggie." Once we made it to the game, she was mesmerized by all the activity in the arena. By half-time, she was tired and ready to go, so we headed back. She loved the experience.

Glued to the game.

Just before we left (she was so tired!)

Within 5 minutes of getting in the car, she was out!

Valentine's Weekend

We enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's weekend in historic Gruene, TX. Julia's Mamaw and Papaw came to keep her so we could get away and have time to ourselves. We stayed in one of the cabins on the river at the Gruene Mansion Inn. Besides browsing all the neat shops in town, we also listened to music in Gruene Hall, and enjoyed wonderful restaurants and beautiful weather.

View from our private balcony overlooking the river below.

We ate dinner at Gruene River Grill one night.

Gruene Hall - the oldest dance hall in Texas!

Julia at home with Mamaw and Papaw's new puppy named Kaylee.

On Sunday evening once we returned home, we went out to dinner with friends.

Recent Videos

This video captures some of her excitement when it is time for a bath, as well as her giggles/night-night wishes before bed.

After listening to squeals and repetitive yelling coming from the bathroom while Julia was taking a bath one night, I finally text messaged Kyle to ask what she was saying over and over. Then I went up with the video camera.

This one shows Julia interacting with Acie and Abbie.

Recent Photos

Here are some recent photos of Julia:

Trying on Pop's hat when they were in town for a quick visit several weeks ago.

Playing at the park

Her first time to drink from a water fountain.