Potty Star!

And now for the T.M.I. post:

Audrey has been sitting on the potty after naps for a while now. Nothing much happened but she always seemed to like it...it was a good time for reading books. One Friday two weeks ago, she did not want to put her diaper back on so we went without the rest of the evening. A few days later, we got some stuff together and jumped into potty training.

First up, we knew we needed a motivator. We happened to have a bag of Christmas colored M&M's in the house (thanks Aunt Jean!) and we learned when making cookies this past month that she really, really likes M&M's.

Next we needed some fashionable potty training clothing. Baby legs worked out great, helping to keep her warm the first few days. The socks were all her doing.

Last, we made a chart for her. We ended up changing it a bit so she could keep filling it up. The last few stars were the pooping ones - and we're still working on that. She still prefers to poop during her nap. But during the day we are underwear only and she is doing great. I think we really only had 3 or 4 accidents in the first week.

It's amazing to think that just two weeks ago she really didn't know what "peeing" was, and now we are taking trips out of the house (even to Seattle for the morning!), leaving the diapers behind. Good job, potty star!

Wii Fit

A quick video of Audrey's first video game session:

First Haircut

We've been putting it off for 26 months...well, technically we really didn't have the option for the first 22 months. But these last few months we have talked about whether it was finally time for our "baby" to get her first haircut. So we took advantage of some days off between Christmas and New Years to venture down to the Supermall - only the best for our little girl! She quickly settled in to her own little airplane and Cathe got to work. I'm not sure what we were expecting but we were so impressed at how well Audrey did. She sat there completely still while her hair was cut and then "styled". It turns out I didn't need to be worried either. Somehow I thought that cutting her hair would mean the end of those adorable curls and that her hair would never be the same. It turns out she still has a lot of curls and the change wasn't dramatic, everything just looks a little more refined.

We celebrated by hanging out on the toy cars and eating a lollipop. We actually went through two lollipops because she dropped the first one on the floor. Good thing we had a backup!

Now this video may not be the most interesting, but for archival purposes we've always wanted to get a video of her running before she perfected her technique. Here is Audrey giving us a tour of the mall.

Cooking with Toddlers

Here is Audrey helping put together some roasted vegetables for dinner. As soon as she gets some knife skills, I'm planning on fully kicking back on the couch while she does all the work.

When you cook with toddlers, the two second rule most definitely applies.

West Coast Snow!

The best part about a snowstorm? Catching snowflakes on your tongue! Or...

Making snowballs! Or...

Building a snowman, complete with a carrot nose and Craisin eyes!

While this wasn't her first snowstorm, she likely doesn't remember her first blizardy Utah winter, nor her second slightly snowy but mostly soggy winter in Maryland, so we decided to celebrate the falling snow like it was new. It isn't likely to be around for long so we pulled out all the stops in the few hours between nap and sundown, and we had a great time doing it.