As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve had all sorts of big changes around here.  The way things worked out, it just so happened that these three things all happened on the same day (Monday of last week)!

First, Mia made her Jack-N-the-Box pop out all by herself!  This may seem minor but it is a great example of her increased attention span, determination, focus, dexterity, etc.  Her gross motor skills are becoming more fine tuned every day and you can see it in everything she does.  The Jack-N-The-Box is just one manifestation of her continual progress.  And, call me silly, it almost made me cry!  I remember the day she received it (it was the first Christmas present she opened this past winter), and she was so fascinated by it.  Even then, she wanted to do it herself  but she lacked the coordination and patience to turn the handle the requisite 8 or so turns.  You should have seen her smile the first time she did it on her own!

Second, Mia is now wearing underwear!  We have been using the “elimination communication” method since she was quite young.  This is totally different from traditional “potty training” and, if all goes well, it means that kids remain aware of their potty needs from an early age and, thus, learn to use the potty a bit earlier.  The concept of “elimination communication” is really interesting and warrants its own post…so stay tuned for that.  But back to Mia’s underwear…we still do diapers for night time and for some naps or long car rides, but for the most part, she is wearing underwear or just no diapers.  Of course, we still have the incidents where she says “Go potty!” and proceeds to pee right where she is standing but those are (thankfully) becoming less common.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Finding underwear that are small enough for Mia was no easy task.  Finding undies made from organic cotton was even harder (out of all the places on our bodies, I really want our undergarments to be free of harsh chemicals!).  I found one place that fit the bill and ordered two sets: three in various lavender prints and three in plain white.  The lavender ones look like little girls’ undies (which is to say adorable).  The white ones look more like little boys’ briefs and have a thicker center to help absorb any potential mishaps.  Guess which ones Mia wants to wear?  She would NOT put on the white ones but as soon as she saw the lavender ones she started saying “wear it, wear it, pretty”.  It takes some serious conniving…er, planning and convincing…to get her to wear the white ones.  I now find myself pointing out my white underwear and saying things like “Look, Mama wears white underwear, too!”

The third thing is that we removed the side of her bed (crib) so that it is open and she can climb in and out all on her own!  We weren’t sure exactly when to do this but we figure we can always put it back up if we decide it was too soon.  So far though, it has been great.  When we go get her after naps and in the morning, she is sitting up on the side of her bed, with her feet hanging over the edge.  When one of us walks in, she promptly stands up and walks over to us (most often, while saying, “Pick you up, Papa/Mama”).  She stood there watching us while we were taking the panel off and explaining what we were doing.  As soon as the panel was off, she smiled, looking back and forth between us and the crib, and then climbed up and laid down on her pillow and smiled.  Then she sat up and proceeded to climb in and out of her bed about 50 times, while saying “Watch this, Mama. Watch this, Papa.”  I think she likes the new arrangement.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer arrangements. 🙂