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Reading: Little People lift the flap books, Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer, Richard Scarry books, Karen Katz books, all of our potty books, Seuss, and Usborne First Hundred Words. She's also partial to her Little Bunny Follows His Nose, Munch Bunch, and Usborne Peek Inside the Zoo books.

Eating: My formerly-awesome eater is now a picky eater, partial to fruit, sweet chocolatey cereal, breaded chicken (skin), popcorn, noodles, yogurt, yogurt melts, buttered toast, sausage, cheese and rice cakes. Little L will sometimes get in a mood for something specific (ham, cheese and cucumber sandwiches with mayo, fresh pineapple and cottage cheese, or Viet salad rolls), but her tastes tend to lean towards savoury snacks. 

Saying:

"No more iPad left! No more iPad here!" (After I've hidden it)

"You have to use your balance!" (While sitting on a large rubber ball)

"I heard something. I heard a phone!" (When I forget to mute my iPhone)

"Did you have a good sleep?" (To strangers, because she cares)

Daniel Tiger Potty song (all day long)

"How did that get here? What is x doing here?" (When she's being playful)

"I want to go and find mommy!" (Too often)

"Oh no! Hands are all sticky!" (After pulling apart her strawberries, or eating chocolate or oranges)

"The girl is wearing pink. The boy is wearing blue." (While reading Katz' Now I'm Big)

"I want to go hide in the tent. Are we hiding from Daddy?" (On the family bed, as we sit under the duvet together)

"The ___ looks like a ___" (learning to compare, and doing it all the time)

"Haven't seen in a very very very very very loooooonnnnnggg time" (when she hasn't seen something for a little while)

"I don't cry at little things. I cry at big things!" (In response and mimicking us after we told her she could use her words for little things but if she was really mad or sad, she could use her tears for these "big things")

Playing: Little L is experimenting with different ways to move her body. Sometimes she will close her eyes and walk backwards, or "I crawl like a little worm" as she wiggles on her stomach on the floor. She likes to do a kind of march or walk on her tiptoes or scoot on her butt on occasion, and now dancing, wiggling while standing, and spinning around in circles are also part of her movement repertoire. 

My Little L has found her first crush in Daniel Tiger (of PBS KIDS fame), and watches the two "sanctioned" videos on our iPad religiously; these are the potty training one and the birthday one about disappointment, in case you were wondering. She sings along and generally enjoys everything about the cartoon and the two iPad apps that are Daniel-related. Even in the absence of  technology, she can be found singing either the potty song or the show's theme song. They have contagious melodies and now Hubbs and I sing them too!

Towel games are a new favourite activity, whereby Little L takes a bath sheet and uses it to play pretend (eg., she pretends to sleep on the floor with it, or have a little picnic, or be wrapped up like a princess in a royal robe, or make a tent for hiding).  She also likes playing with us when she is using the towel, so it's a social game rather than a solitary one.

Wearing: Still anything from 2T to 5, and her feet are 6" long so whatever size corresponds (in Zulily sizes it can range from 6.5-8.5). 

Other New Things: Now that Little L has more vocabulary and general awareness, it's harder to distract her and she is more likely to exert her will when we want to do one thing and she wants another. We are using a lot of "when, then" statements and the 5-count to transition her from one activity to the next. Tantrums are also an unwelcome but regular part of our days.

My girl has also decided that she no longer wants to bathe with me. Now, if I climb into the tub with her, she will say, "Mommy stand up! Mommy get out!" I don't mind; this has made bathing her infinitely easier.

However, she has decided to sit on the potty (pants and diapers still on), which is a step in the right direction! We aren't potty-training yet, but I am totally front-loading her with books and apps that encourage it. Here's hoping she gets the message! :)

I am amazed that Little L now knows how to load images and videos on the iPad. She can even fast forward and rewind. She knows how to load all of her apps and set books to auto-play. Really,  either the iPad interface is just super intuitive, or my kid spends too much time on tech! 

And though I can't think of any new experiences that she has had in the past 30 days, a return to Science World after several months does indicate how much she has matured and grown! We just bought memberships there so we hope to frequent it more often and get her used to, and even excited about, all of the exhibits. 

So that's life in a nutshell. Apologies that posts may be infrequent for a while. I'm trying to maximize visiting time via FaceTime and in person with my dad, so spare time is mostly spoken for at this point. Plus, with holidays approaching and new Christmas experiences planned, we have a busy December schedule ahead!