Little Miss Independence

There are now only 2 things standing in G's way of officially being a little girl - her milk bottle and her diapers. And I'll admit, I've been delinquent at least in the bottle department. I know I should have switched her months (if not a year) ago but she loves it so much and I figured, she's our last baby, so I'd let it slide. We were so blessed to have her and we'd already decided that we were done. I guess it's easy to say that to yourself, but it's another thing for your heart to realize that it's really it. It's totally the mom thing of hanging on the last vestiges of babyhood.

She had her 2 year checkup this past week and her pediatrician agreed - the bottle is getting in the way of her eating. She doesn't eat anything anymore - lives on her milk, the occasional egg, bagels and cereal bars. I've got to strap her down in her booster to get any toddler fruit into her - she throws all other cut up fruit across the room. I even tried polluting her milk with the wretched Poly Visol vitamin drops (shudder!). But she still loved it!. So cold turkey it'll have to be - we're trying this weekend.

The biggest thing for us is listening and interacting with her, as this little person is not only just communicating with us now, but having arguments and telling stories. Here's a list of little phrases/ funny things she came up with this week:

-at dim sum, she was playing with the cup, saucer, chopsticks, pretending to eat and saying "delicious". Grandma and Grandpa's friends who are learning English didn't understand her - they thought the English word was "yummy". Grandma said that was what regular toddlers say, but not G.
-also at dim sum, she was telling us about all the animals she knows, then points to the wall and said "Dragon go roar". I then asked her what the other animal on the wall was (a phoenix). She said "Looks like a turkey".
-she refuses to get in the stroller to pick L up at school. She wants to walk by herself, and won't let me hold her hand. If I try to guide her gently by touching her coat hood, she swipes at me "Don't bother me mommy". Great !!!
-she's discovered her nipples. One of the first things she ever said ages ago was "Wo wo (Chinese for dog)" when she pointed at Ian's chest. Don't know where she ever got that. But I digress. So lately it's "Look at my wo wo mommy" as she's rubbing her chest. Double Great!!!
-this morning when she got up, she told Ian to "wake up" and "Go change". She only cuddled with us when Ian agreed to scratch her back. Then as I went to get my sweats on to go downstairs she said "mommy getting a new outfit?". Hey, good idea.

As for potty training, well, she knows the concept, but refuses to do anything but throw toilet paper down the toilet when she's on it. Her special place is just behind the couch in the family room. Then she yells "I gotta go baff-room" after the fact. Yeah, we sort of figured it out a few minutes ago. She stopped pulling her pants off all the time a couple of months ago. Thank goodness - that combined with the nipple massaging may have led her toward pole-dancing as a career.

Well, at least we've got some time to steer her straight!