Pickle Update

Molly's nickname is Pickle.  She is the sweetest little girl.  If we bump into each other, she says "I'm sorry!"  She is very good with her manners.  "More milk, please!" she'll request.  She is definitely a stubborn two year-old at times!  She hates it when I dress her or fix her hair.  That is the worst time of day for us!  Usually some kind of chasing ensues. 

We've been casually working at potty-training for several months now. She's good about peeing in the potty when I take her. She is also very good about using public toilets. On our trip to Michigan last month, we were delayed about eleven hours. We would have long run out of diapers if she hadn't done a super job using the potty at O'Hare.

Recently, I've let her go "bare butt" for an hour or two in the evenings after her bath.  During these times, she is awesome with using the potty.  She'll go into the dark bathroom by herself and use the potty.  Last night, she went in the bathroom for maybe ten seconds and ran out telling me she had gone poop.  I was doubtful.  After all, it was dark.  Maybe she just felt like she went.  Sure enough, there it was!  So, we're doing the "bare butt" method as much as possible. 

At our meal times, one of us usually prays and then we'll ask Molly if there's anything she'd like to thank God for.  Then, at bedtime, we would pray for her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a couple special prayer requests in addition to praying for Molly.  The last few nights, Molly has wanted to pray at bedtime.  She'll start by praying for Papa (we thank God for his life, even though he doesn't need prayers in heaven!) and a couple other special people.  She then starts looking around the room and praying for anything she sees, "My blankets, mine animals, my backpacks, the blinds, my bunnies, my kitties, my blankets..."  Ryan and I stifle our giggles while she continues to look around unaware.  I guess she has learned that bedtime prayers take several minutes because it seems like she goes on and on.  Now I know how she feels!

She is very creative and makes up words, games and songs.  Yesterday I had a bucket of clean soapy water on our patio.  I was busy cleaning the grill, and she began entertaining herself with the bucket.  She had a ball squeezing the frothy water out of a cloth onto the concrete and declaring that she was "milking a cow"!  She milked the cow for ten minutes and then started pushing the soapy water around with a broom.  We have a really clean spot on our patio now!