Defining Herself

"I'm a girl, a child." Julia says emphatically.
"Don't call me a baby" she adds with even more confidence.

We continue to direct her but Julia is taking control of her life quickly. She is moving through potty training with lightening speed now that we've started to emphasize it. She so wants to wear underwear - "like you and like mommy".

Her abilities and skills continue to appear and refine. She has so much of Tara's confidence and directness...I can't wait to watch a teen Julia and Tara butt heads (insert evil laugh).

I am excited to see how she defines herself with each passing age.

Potty Training Joy

Yesterday I got a voice mail message from Jai describing the first successful "pee in the pot." So exciting!!

The other day my sister & mother were discussing whether I'd be "upset" to miss this first milestone ... NO! I just want it to happen.

The past few months have been frustrating as the process has been so slow. I of course am not a patient person. As this process continues to teach me, I'm not in control of what Julia ultimately does, especially with this part of her body. It really cannot be forced; she has to connect what is happening with her bladder & understand the need to be seating on the toilet BEFORE the urine leaves her body. She's been wearing training pants for about 8-9 months, but I really don't think she was ready or capable of using them to true potential. The past few weeks have been mostly amusing as we decided to have Julia go "commando" as much as possible. Parts of our house have gotten clean with much mopping. Little Naked Girl is what we call her! : )

I understand why Susie & Bonnie might wonder, but I know there will be more opportunities to watch Julia pee in the pot. I'm very proud of her for communicating with Jai & getting to the toilet on time! Julia really wants to wear underwear & understands that peeing in the pot is necessary. I bought some great organic cotton underwear at Hanna Anderson in Atlanta (when Susie & I went to the ATP tournament earlier this week). Julia was SO excited. 1 pair has the days of the week on it - she really likes that one!

Keep up the great work, Julia!

Julia is 2!

Hard to believe, but she is!

She is amazing, quite the toddler, running everywhere, talking ALL the time, tons of fun.

Actually according to Jai's developmental emails he receives each month, Julia is now a pre-schooler. That seems too early - she's not old enough! However, she needs some kind of school experience & structure in a year or so, definitely by 4, especially when we have another child. She's such a big girl!

It was so fun to see her in the morning & wish her "Happy Birthday." Her face broke into a HUGE smile. I think she understands it - or at least enjoys the attention which is normal.

Her birthday celebration was our typical laid back, nothing fancy, style. I made her favorite (& easy) applesauce cake, also we had some homemade ice cream which she loves. This year it included Grandma Bonnie & Uncle Joel, but still only family. Maybe in year 4 which should be a Saturday we'll have a small party with 3-4 friends.

Presents: You know how much I love gifts for my birthday, but we've really scaled back for monetary & environmental reasons for birthdays & Christmas. Lots of people say we have to give her something ... they really think it's wrong that we don't do anything for Christmas! That's not our value anymore - we try to be careful consumers - so we decided to be thoughtful about how to recognize this event.
We discussed some possible birthday traditions & decided that Jai & Julia's would involve music. They went to Grimey's Record Store today.

We decided that we want to get her a new book for her personal library (we don't buy her books, she gets 1 monthly from Imagination Library, at least until she's 5), since we'll borrow books for her from the public library (once she's beyond destroying them!). The plan is for Julia & I to go to Fairytales Bookstore on Saturday & choose a book. I'm thinking another Eric Carle book - I saw one about a spider (she loves the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song) when we bought her big crayons there last weekend. Maybe another series book by the author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" - love that book! (we got "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" - she LOVES my mom's many cats!)

She got 2 books from her great-aunt, Billie. Jai called his Auntie Dear that morning so she could wish Julia "happy birthday" - it's so cute when she calls her "Auntie Dear." It's so cute when she calls other people by their name too. Adorable, so proper & adult!

Julia also got a great card, from Anne Marie, Kevin & Sam, related to Eric Carle's book "Very Hungry Caterpillar," about being 2. So sweet! Niki gave her an apron with a big "J" embroidered on it. Matches our kitchen apron set - nice! She also got a board book, Tinkerbell socks, cute card & $10 cash from her cousins in Chicago. Julia made out like a bandit in the gift department - just right for a 2 year old.

Jai hopefully will put birthday photos on flickr soon. I added them on 12-11-10 - cool date! Another cool date this year - 8-9-10! :-)

Julia is a wonderful child, we are blessed to have her in our lives!