The Royal Tweetment

Today our daycare was closed, so I stayed home and worked/hung out with Vivi.  We had a really great day hanging out and reading, playing, and spending some quality Mommy/Vivi time.  But you know who else was having a great day?  Penguin.  Vivi was totally in the mood to pamper her little webbed friend.  When he went down to nite-nite, he got not one, two, but three blankies.

And not one, two, but three snuggle buddies to nap with!

She read him his favorite book...

...and gave him a nite-nite drink.  Penguin was having a very, very pampered afternoon.  Vivi is a very good mommy!

New Addition!

Put your hair back on.  I'm not pregnant.

Everyone regained their breath?  Good.  Now.  We have a new addition to our household.  One about which Russ and I are very excited and hopeful.  One which may change our lives for the better.  His name?

Frog Potty.

I know, I know.  She's pretty young to be starting such efforts.  But she stays dry through naps, frequently announces when she's about to do the deed, and is very interested in when we use the big-person potty.  So we figured what the hell.  Diapers are expensive.

So, we brought Frog Potty home and had him sitting innocently in the living room, letting Vivi get used to him.  She soon took to sitting on him fully clothed and reading books.  All right.  Then we moved up to her announcing she needed to go potty, disrobing from the bottom down, and then hopping on and off of the Frog Potty without results.  Everyone I know tells me this is a step in the right direction, which is what I was keeping in mind as we scrubbed the resulting potty from the carpet, instead of the removable part of the Frog Potty (number one, thankfully, as I do not know that I am mentally equipped for a number two on my living room floor, on several levels).

Much to my amusement while I was making breakfast this morning, I heard from the living room, "Monkey.  Big-guhl.  Potty."  I glanced around the corner to see Vivi assisting Monkey in daily bathroom detail.

Sure enough, she encouraged Monkey very kindly, telling her "Big guhl, Monkey.  Vee Good.  Potty."  She then abandoned Monkey on the pot (perhaps the Big Job was pending?  I don't know) and wandered off. 

I watched as she went and got Sock Man-key and smiled to myself, figuring that she was going to teach all her little buddies to use the potty.  But Sock Man-key didn't fare so well.  She held him out in front of her and said, "Nope!  Monkey.  Cheenge diaper.  Stinkee Poop."  Then she flung him down on the couch (NOT where we change stinky poops, btw) and ran off and grabbed the Lily (our changing pad) and a spare diaper.

Poor Sock-Mankey.  Well, I've always been told that boys are more difficult to toilet-train than girls.

BIG Week!

This has been a BIG WEEK in the Otto house!  Vivi is all over the place!

Today, we had her 18 month check up.  Turns out we discovered a few things.  1) Vivi is smart enough to have place recognition, and unfortunately has mentally earmarked the doctor's office as a place she DOES NOT LIKE ONE BIT.  As soon as anyone who was not me or Russ entered the room, the screaming commenced.  Our pediatrician, thankfully, has a sense of humor, and says that this behavior shows above average intelligence for her age. I think he may have been trying to be kind. Hm.
We also found out Vivi is in the 30th/33rd percentile for weight and height.  Since they stop taking "gestational age" into account at 18 months...this means she will likely follow in her cousin Eva's beautifully petite footsteps.  Shrimp-shrimp ago-go!

Vivi also astounded us by counting to 10.  Then she did it again in front of Aunt Kate (and we were so very grateful, as we kind of felt like those psycho people who claim their kids can do ridiculous things like change a car battery whilst still in diapers...so it was nice to have a witness).  We later tested her to see if she could actually count, not just parrot back numbers, and sure enough, when we place different objects in front of her she will count them (if she feels like it).

And, on Tuesday, she started basic pre-school!  Ellen (our daycare provider) came to us and said that she wondered if we would mind if Vivi started pre-school early.  Normally she waits until kids are two, but on Monday all of the older kids were home for Martin Luther King Jr Day, and they were doing an activity centered around that while the little kids were doing free-play.  Viv ignored the free-play, and wanted to do the activity.  So, here is her MLK booklet, and her first "coloring sheet" from daycare!

Ellen is going to start helping her with numbers, colors, letters and shapes.  WE ARE SO EXCITED!  And I am, ps, super excited that Ellen actually has a pre-school program, complete with themes, activities, and what not.  I have learned from family and friends that just because someone advertises they offer pre-school it does not mean that it will be pre-school as you envision it.  Ellen is awesome.  I can't wait to see what Vivi comes up with next!

Family Photo-trastophe

Every once in awhile I attempt to get a candid family photo, as we constantly keep the camera on hand.  You may have noticed that none of these photoshave made it on to the blog.

Because they frequently look like this.

 

 Here, Vivi shows how she can be "nice to Mommy" by poking her in the eye.

Sadly, the patience of an 18th month old does not last long, and the photo session disintegrated even further.  

If that were possible.

Perhaps next time we'll succeed.

Markers, revisited

So...we learned an unfortunate side effect of markers.

Sometimes, when you are trying to put the cap back on...

...you "ass-i-denwy" (accidentally) stick the marker up your nose instead, resulting in the unfortunate "Smurf-Booger" look.  Oh dear.

Graffitti Artist

Lest ye think the wonderful world of Vivi's Christmas gifts had been exhausted, let me present our final exhibit...markers.

We were wanting to encourage Vivi's artistic talents, and I was very wisely advised by my sister to go the route of markers over crayons because a) you barely have to apply any pressure, b) they are larger and easier to grasp, and c) they so rarely result in the unfortunate "Multi-colored poo" incidents so popular amongst the Under 3 set.

But where to color?

Why, on one's house of course!  What better, bigger, blanker canvas exists for a little lady's first great art project?  We uncapped and let Vivi have at it!

Aided and abetted by Mommy, of course.  I wasn't going to miss out on a chance to draw on the walls.

The first scribblings of our little artist!  Eat your heart out, Jackson Pollock!

Home Sweet Home

So, we bought Vivi a kitchen (as you might have noticed).  And she likes it.  She plays with it.  But you know what she REALLY likes to play with?  The box the kitchen came in.

Russ carved some windows in it, set in front of the fireplace, and she cackled with glee, lounging in there with Jack-Dog every chance she gets.  For reasons unexplained, she INSISTS that her penguin, who had been lounging in the corner unnoticed for several months, be in the house whenever she is (you can see his blue tummy in the background of all these photos).

Here she combines a few of her favorite things--her house, Jack-Dog, and "Groger-Pages," also known as "The Monster at the End of this Book."

I guess everyone needs a place to call their own...Russ and I can just start shopping behind dumpsters, I guess!