Talia Girl

Talia is feisty and stubborn and funny and sweet and bossy and loving and whiny and helpful and lots of other things all in the same day.  I can't hardly keep up with that girl sometimes.  Sometimes I just can't believe what a beautiful, sweet darling she is and other times I know she was sent to me as my mothering trial.  Talia has had some big stuff going on recently, so I thought a little Talia update was in order.

First big thing . . . she braved climbing up the big ladder at the park all by herself!  She has been wanting to do it all summer, but she would get scared and I couldn't ever really help her because I had a Beckett in my arms, so I told her to use the stairs instead.  Last week though she started up it and I just encouraged and told her where to move her foot next and she did it!  All by herself the first time.  I was so proud of her for being brave and she was so proud of herself for her accomplishment.  She climbed that ladder and went down the twisty slide over and over again.  Go Tal!

Not so much a big thing, but a funny thing.  Last week Talia was dragging things around in the kitchen while I was feeding Beck a bottle in the living room.  I asked her what she was doing and she ignored me.  Never a good sign.  When I finished feeding Beckett I went in there and saw this.

She informed me that Mickey and Minnie were on time out because they were talking back.  I had to laugh.  Especially since she still acts like I'm torturing her to death whenever she gets put on time out, but apparently the message is sinking in for this goofball girl.  This was around dinner time after I had been going through the clothes in her closet.  Everything I pulled out to have her try on she wanted to keep on.  Including her winter hat and next summer's flip flops.

If you are not a fan of potty talk then this is the end of the post for you!

Another big thing . . . Talia is learning how to use the potty!  I decided we would give potty training a try.  I've had two in diapers for almost a full year now and that's definitely getting old.  I thought she was ready, so last Monday night I took Talia to Walmart to pick out underwear and get some M&M's.  Tuesday morning when brothers left for school I got her dressed in underwear.  We put her froggy potty (which we have had for several months now) down in the living room in front of the TV.  She was pretty excited.  Especially about the unlimited juice!

Three cups of juice later and still nothing.  I knew she was going to have to go soon.  She started crying and said she needed a diaper.  I told her to sit on the potty.  She sat there crying and asking me to get her off the potty, but I just told her to sit there a little longer.  All of a sudden she started peeing and looked SO surprised.  I sat by her and told her what a great job she was doing.  When she was done she was all smiles and was so excited.  She was extra excited that she got M&M's (she always wants only blue ones).  As soon as she finished eating her candy she decided she wanted to go pee in the potty again so she could have more M&M's.  Unfortunately she didn't have any pee left and got a little frustrated.

I am SO proud of how well she is doing with potty training.  Davin was still the easiest to potty train, but Tal is doing awesome.  She's only had a few accidents and has woken up dry and gone in the potty in the morning almost every day so far.  She also keeps her pull ups dry on outings and waits until she can go in the potty.  I even took her to Sam's Club this weekend while she was wearing underwear!  She is still anti going #2 in the potty, so that is her downfall and causes most of her accidents.

We are definitely going to be sticking with it and I'm hoping that one of these days the enticement of picking a prize at the store will be enough to get her to drop a deuce (pardon the expression) in the potty instead of on the patio.  (Yeah that was a fun night.  This happened right after Ian had left for the evening. Blech!)

In the meantime I'm trying to be patient when she does have accidents and encouraging when she has successes.  I have to say, I am so grateful that this is not my first time potty training.  I know she will get the hang of it.

Just to end on a nicer note . . . Talia is a mama's girl.  She climbs all over me and wants my constant and full attention.  Often when I'm zoning on the phone or reading a book she will climb on me just so I won't forget she's there.  Sometimes I kind of like it.  She also obviously watches me pretty closely and mimics my end of phone conversations with (I assume) high accuracy.