Communication

Eliza is communicating with us more and more recently!  It is so fascinating to watch her learn so much - so many new things! - every single day.  I can see why people say that toddlers are "sponges".

Eliza's signing has really picked up recently.  I learned a few new signs from the DVD "Baby Signing Time", so I have been showing them to Eliza and she has started using them already (and yes, I did let her watch the DVD once with me - though we're still not keen on letting her watch TV regularly).  It took a while for her to start using signs at first - I think by 8 months she was consistently using the sign for milk to ask to nurse, and that was shortly followed by "more" and "all done" (and, quite randomly, "fan").  But that was the extent of her signing up until recently.  Now she can (and does) sign "fish", "eat", "cat", "dog", "cracker", "hurt" and "drink".

And then, just this morning we were walking through IKEA with my parents and I was pointing out a baby nearby, and she did the sign for baby!  I didn't even model it to her first, she just signed it - I was totally blown away.

It's pretty neat to watch her learn to communicate more effectively.  She is also starting to talk more, too; she will try to pronounce almost any word you ask her to.  The words she regularly uses these days are:

• "mama"
• "dada"
• "bah-pah" (she uses this word for Grandpa and Grandma - either that, or she thinks my mom is also grandpa - haha - but I don't think so, I think she just can't quite vocally differentiate between grandPA and grandMA yet)
• "eye"
• "hi"
• "bye bye" (this one was new this week!)
• "clock"
• "fish"
• "look!" (she points when she says this, it is so cute!)
• "hat"

My girl is growing up so fast, but it is such a joy to watch and be a part of that I honestly don't feel sad about it.  I only sometimes wish I could slow down our days, our lives, our busy schedules so that I wouldn't always feel like I'm going to miss something!

Diaper-Free by 2012?

Potty training is still a ways away for Eliza, but we're starting "potty awareness" already.  We're following her lead, though, so as not to push it.  Over the past month she has started to show us that she is becoming quickly aware of her bodily functions, and it's really interesting - and kind of amazing for such a little person!  She can tell us when she pees, or perhaps just after, when she can feel her wet diaper.  She points to her diaper when it needs to be changed - it's quite handy sometimes actually!  All we've been doing is talking to her about peeing and pooping and explaining to her that that wet feeling in her diaper is because she peed, and that sometime soon, she will pee in the potty like mama and dada.

Part of this process includes leaving the door open when we use the bathroom.  Quite honestly, I've been doing this for a while when I'm at home alone with her, so it's not a big change for me.  I've just started talking about it more with her.  I know she understands me, because she will point to her diaper when I talk to her about it and sometimes she'll point to the toilet, too, so she definitely gets the connection.

I think in the next couple of months we will get a little potty chair to put in the bathroom.  I figure it can't hurt to introduce her to it and get her interested in the process, even if she is many months away from official potty training.  Though, I'll admit, it would be nice if she potty trained on the early side... as much as I love cloth diapering (and her cute CD bum!!), it will be nice to not change diapers for a while!

What are your experiences with potty awareness/learning/training?

Toddler-Ease

Has anyone read this book?

Thoughts?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?  

Thanks!