She did it! Yea!

We've been trying to potty train Emily in earnest now. I'm tired of finding wet diapers around the house. Once she does her job she just takes it off (and if the baby is lucky Emily will help her too), so enough is enough and we're potty training. Today we were sitting down at the table and she said "I need to go potty". So we took her. We left her there to do her job and she came back very excited pretty fast. One more big step in a very long process.

Zoo

This was Meredith's first time at the zoo. She was really tired when we went, so I want to go again (when it gets a little cooler) and take more pictures. She wasn't what we would call cooperative. (And with two young children our definition of cooperative is very lenient.)

Meredith's First Birthday

Meredith is one! She loved opening presents. Her face just lit up when she opened her presents. She was so cute. I have no idea where all that time went. She is always discovering something new. Since the last time I wrote in my blog she has done so many new things. She folded her arms for the prayer for the first time about two weeks ago, and then wouldn't repeat it again for a little while. Now when we say "it's prayer time", or "time for a blessing" she just folds her little arms. And then at the end of the prayer she'll say "amen" with us. It's so fun to see her volunteer to do this. She sees sister say her prayers every night, and a last week she wanted to try to say her prayers too. So, I tried to help her and she repeated what I was saying (to the best of her ability). The one word I could really decipher was "amen" at the end. She follows Emily into every mess. I am finally just keeping the bathrooms locked so I don't have to dig stuff out of the toilet and clean toilet water hands.

We got Meredith the Little People Zoo set for her birthday. She loves to push the button on the train that makes music and then she dances to it. Her dancing is bouncing up and down.

The girls love to dance. Emily will point to the cd player and say "dance, please". Meredith will start bouncing (dancing) as soon as she says it. They both want to dance with me at that point, which usually creates jealousy, but most of the time I find some way to dance together, or we create a train and dance around the living room.

They are so much fun. I'm so glad I get to stay at home with them and see all of their progress and the new things they do every day. I love the way the girls' faces light up when they see me. I am so blessed.

What a MESS!

To laugh or cry? So after making a million messes today, I just laughed and grabbed the camera. Of course you can see the canned food mess and they aren't wearing pants because we were outside playing with chalk. The pants had to go into the laundry. That's the tip of the ice burg. Nobody would believe all the messes if I didn't take a picture, so here it is. Just laugh. The title is my quote. Meredith was all smiles it was great fun, but Emily. She knew she was in trouble and wondered what in the world was wrong with Mommy who was all grins and trying to make them smile for the camera. Mommy'd lost it obviously.

First Tooth

Meredith has her first tooth. I'm so excited. No wonder she has been so grumpy. Her first tooth is on her bottom right (my left when looking at it). She is progressing so fast and doing so much. She is such a busy little girl and has such a personality. Emily and Meredith get along well until the other has a toy they want. They can both be very sweet to each other, but the sharing thing is hard. Meredith likes to talk on the phone. She started it the Saturday after we got here, so two Saturdays ago. At first she couldn't walk and talk at the same time because she would run into the walls and corners. But she picks up the phone, puts it facing away from here ear just below her ear and says "haw" for her "hello" and then jabbers away. It is so cute. I love it.
Emily likes to play the piano and sing. After every ten seconds she turns back to make sure we are still looking and we clap for her. She enjoys the attention.

Walking

Yesterday Meredith decided to walk everywhere. She's been able to walk for a while now, but she just decided that she wants to be a big girl and not crawl. She also has quite a vocabulary and repeats just about anything like a monkey. I told her she was grumpy yesterday and she said "grumpy". She also says "Daddy" quite well now. "Yummy" she says pretty well and I have just completely lost track of all that she has said. I think I will try and post a little movie clip of her walking and maybe even talking.

New Discoveries

She said "Mommy" first! Our little Meredith is now 11 months and two days old. On her eleven month mark she said her sixth word. I don't really count a word until she has said it two or three times. But she says "Mommy" or "Momma", "more", "ouie", "amen", and "Thank you". When I ask her to say Daddy she still just says "D". Sorry Nathan. But if it is any consolation, Emily said "Daddy" first, so I guess it is my turn.
Emily has learned to jump like a frog. I was just playing with her showing her how a frog jumps and says "ribbit" and she just did it with me. She makes a great little froggy.

For Nathan's sake I'll write in that after I wrote this (later that evening) Meredith mastered "Daddy".