Imagination, Sharing, and Patience

"What are you eating, Cora? Are you eating candy?" I heard Brad say in the garage.

Did Brad give Cora candy? Why would he have done that? Our policy has been that as long as we can keep her in the dark about such things, the less we have to patrol her candy/sugar intake. Why would he suddenly introduce her to it?

"Go show Mommy what you have, Cora. Can you share with Mommy?" Brad said. Cora entered the room and walked toward me carrying an old, empty Altoid container. She came over to me, pinched her fingers together pretending to pick up a "candy" and put it in my mouth.

"Mmm, thank you, Cora," I said.

"Dan-coo," she repeated back to me, as she proceeded to fetch another "candy" and put it in her mouth. Satisfied with having shared with Mommy, she sat down next to the cat and offered him a candy, also.

I'm glad her candy comes in sharable portion sizes. I'm glad that even in her imagination, we can practice sharing.

"Turn" is one of Cora's new words, and ideas. Sharing food, when there is plenty to go around, has been a joyful thing for Cora. She seems to enjoy sharing her food and drinks: giving a bite of something she's eating to someone else is fun for her. Sharing toys, on the other hand, is a completely different story. So the idea of "taking turns" is making it's way into Cora's vocabulary.

This morning she was playing with our friend Liam in an infant car seat. Liam had just sat down in it and Cora, in a panicky voice, says "Turn??!!" Translation: Isn't it Cora's turn yet? Can't I have a turn?

Liam, the older and wiser friend, kindly exited the car seat and allowed Cora to have her beloved turn in the car seat. Thank you, Liam.

Perhaps patience is another idea we need to infuse into Cora's concept of taking turns...

Change is in the Air

Fall has officially arrived. The trees seem to have changed color overnight.

Cora objects to everything...even things she actually wants.

Our church is adjusting to being without a senior pastor, but things are going well.

The Jetta is out of commission. Oh, wait, that's not a change from the norm...

We have a dog.

And a cat.

Brad is going hunting and Cora, my mom-in-law and I are going to Alaska!!!

Hold on to your seats, ladies and gentlemen, life is a wild ride!

More firsts

Yesterday Cora said what I would call her first sentence. She's combined words before when imitating us, but they usually aren't very clear. Yesterday Cora and I were playing with a toy and she put it in my hand and said "Mommy, do it" clear as a bell!

Then today at lunch she had two sippy cups for some reason and she pointed at each one and said "one, two" perfectly clear. Brad and I were so shocked and excited! We clapped away and cheered for her. She was so proud of herself - or maybe she just liked the reaction. She kept saying "one, two" and after a while when we stopped clapping she looked at Brad and said "Daddy, clap"! I can't believe how fast her speech is developing lately!

Another thing I forgot to post a while ago is that Cora has started saying her own name! I don't know what I love that she can say her name, but it makes me so excited. She has been saying friends' names (Alex, David, Cadence, Liam) for a few months but when I would ask her "Cora, what's your name?" she would say "Name!" It was really cute how she said it, too. Well, while we were in Michigan she started saying Cora, but it comes out sounding like "Doo-wa". How adorable!

Lately Cora has also been saying "no" on her own accord. It hasn't been in defiance yet - I know that day will come soon. But she'll answer a question sometimes with "no". This morning I asked if she was all done with breakfast. If she is, she usually says "all done". This morning she said "No" and kept eating! I'll try to get a video of her saying no because it's so fuuny. She sticks both her lips out really far and it comes out very nasal sounding!

Potty Awareness

About a year ago, I ran across something that some parents do with their children called "Elimination Communication". Other names for it are "natural infant hygiene" or simply "diaper-free babies". I never dared to go as extreme as what some parents do, but one thing I did adopt from this was putting Cora on the toilet anytime I knew she had a poop coming. Excuse my frankness.

So for the past year Cora has been sitting on the toilet maybe once a day, but sometimes we would go weeks without sitting on the toilet because she often messes in her diaper during a nap.

This summer, after swimming in our pool, I would often take her swimsuit off outside and let her dry off naked in the backyard - one of the joys of privacy fences. If she happened to pee while playing outside I made a big, excited ordeal about the fact that she had just peed. She soon caught on to what pee was and often would exclaim "Pee" after having just gone. Later I started putting her on the toilet before bathtime just to sit while the tub filled up. Again, if she happened to pee in the toilet we celebrated!

The toilet has been a natural part of Cora's day and she has rarely objected to sitting on the toilet. Some say this is half the battle of potty-training.

A few weeks ago, Cora was playing with one of her dolls and pointed between the doll's legs and said "pee". She then ran over to the toilet, sat the doll on the toilet and said, proudly, "Pee!" She then proceeded to wash the doll's hands, which turned into a complete bath for dolly!

The new development is that at least once a day for the last couple weeks Cora will tell me when she has peed in her diaper. Also, I have been putting her on the toilet or potty chair (she gets to choose) about once a day and she almost instantly pees, stands up and proudly shows me. I wasn't planning to start actual, intentional potty training yet, but I'm starting to wonder why I would wait much longer! It's obvious that she knows how to eliminate voluntarily so the next step is teaching her to only eliminate in the toilet...

This is my hesitation: diapers truly seem more freeing to me than having a potty-trained (or a potty-training) child. I know it may sound crazy to some, but diapers are so absorbent that I can go out with Cora, run errands, stop at the park, come home and eat lunch without having to change her diaper - usually. Once we start potty training, I know that freedom will be gone for a while as I'll have to be constantly aware of where the nearest bathroom is - unless I wait till she's much older with a larger, stronger bladder. Does it make sense to wait much longer when she's showing such positive signs right now? Or am I an over-eager mother who should relax until Cora's 2 or 2 1/2? What do you think?