Toddlers Are Smart...

Much smarter than you think...

I am constantly amazed by the random things that Beth does and says... Just some snippets of things that have been going on in our household -

- Toilet training is coming along... we had like a 90% strike rate this afternoon. We're doing the bribing thing ... so if she does a wee or a poo on the potty she gets 1/2 a chocolate frog or 1/2 a lolly snake as a reward. Only trouble is, this afternoon, she discovered that she gets a reward, regardless of the amount of wee she does in the potty. So in the span of about 20 minutes, I got 4 tiny wees (and I'm talking like the equivalent of 1-2 tsps each time) and she got the equivalent of 2 whole snakes as a reward ... She was purposely holding her wee so she could go again in a few minutes and get another bit of snake! Too cheeky... so that's when I introduced the rule that if she does a big wee in the potty she gets a whole snake. That worked well... so now we're getting decent sized wees from her and she's happy 'cos she gets a whole snake. She's so proud of herself too... she goes around announcing "I did a wee on the potty!" Followed quickly by "Snake!"... yes... bribery is wonderful.

- Today Beth had her swimming lesson... 2nd time she's been in the pool without me and it went off without a hitch... I honestly thought she would be the kid that cried from being separated from me, but she's completely (and pleasantly) surprised me and it's evident she loves the water and swimming so much, she's happy to go in without me. She also has absolute implicit trust in our swimming teacher Julie, which is so good. Julie was holding Beth and having her float on her back and then gradually and subtly moved her hands away and Beth was floating on her back by herself! So amazing to see and I'm so proud of her. Today was also Safety Week, so she had to wear a lifejacket for a part of the lesson (and hold hands with the other kids and float on their backs) and seriously, Beth always freaks out when you put something weird on her (she doesn't even really like playing dress-ups!), but not a single complaint from her about wearing the lifejacket! And then they had to get in a rubber dingy and the last time she went in one she wasn't all that keen, but she was fine sitting in it this time. She's honestly come in leaps and bounds with her confidence.

- We spend a lot of time playing with figurines at the moment... Beth's obsessed with her little fireman figurine and likes to carry him around with her. We even had to take him to the shops with us yesterday (and I had to be on the constant lookout that she didn't leave him behind anywhere!) She will walk around the house calling out "Fireman, Fireman... where are you?" when she can't find him... Then we've making beds, chairs and bathtubs out of lego and having the fireman use all of them... she even likes to "tuck in" the fireman in the bed with a felt blanket.

- We had pho for dinner tonight (with leftovers I had frozen from the other week)... and without seeing me prepare a single thing for dinner, she could smell the soup reheating and when I asked her what we were having for dinner she said without skipping a beat "Pho?"

Lots of other cute things she's done lately, but I can't remember them at the moment... I'll try to jot them down more as I recall them... but honestly, I love the age of 2... Well, mostly ... I could probably do without some of the melodramatics we get... and some of the meltdowns... but on the whole, it's a very fun age!