Prayer

Dakota has been learning to pray on her own. I try to say bedtime prayers with her every night and then before meals as well. She's been folding her arms and closing her eyes for quite a while but has recently wanted to assist verbally.

She repeats a lot of the prayer when I say it and also likes to throw in her own blessings from time to time.

On Sunday, some family came over for dinner and my aunt was asked to offer the blessing. Dakota folded her arms and as Betty was saying the prayer, Dakota started interjecting with her own statements like, "Thank you food. Thank you hungry. Bless Grandma and Dave..." Finally, Betty paused to let her say her piece and Dakota rounded it up with, "THE END!!"

By then, we all couldn't help but giggle. I still tried to help her end it the proper way, but we all thought it was pretty cute.

Christmas Karaoke

We sang karaoke at Gma Yuk's house for Christmas. Dakota gave it a whirl.

First, she sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I propped her up on a chair, handed her the mic, showed her the computer and told her when the music starts that she can sing into the mic. The music started and when I tried to sing with her, she shooed me away saying, "Go away, go away, go away!!"

Later, Doug took her up to sing "Twinkle Little Star" and she did the same thing to him. She then requested "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer".

She wanted to star all by herself. And she did. She sang the songs pretty well and without reservation.

I was pretty proud of her for being so brave and showing an interest in participating in such an intimidating activity.

Tinkerbell Christmas

With Dakota this year, everything for Christmas seems to be themed Tinkerbell.

The Christmas lights glowing are "tinkerbells"
Candles lit are "tinkerbells sleeping"
Jingle Bells are "Tinker-bells"
She asked Santa for a Tinkerbell tent
And she received the tent as well as a tinkerbell snuggie

Oh my little tinkerbell...

Drive me Crazy

Lately I've been saying a lot of this:
"Dakota, you DRIVE Mama CRazy sometimes!"

Yesterday was one such time...

Her response:
"Link dries Dakota CRazy son-tines!"

I had to laugh..

(Link is her cousin)

Oak'ey be so dangerous..

Oak knows how to climb UP stairs but not down. So we've been trying to keep him away from the stairs when we are upstairs. Dakota even knows and as soon as Oak even looks towards the stairs, she scolds Oakley "NO NO Oak'ey. No no stairs!" And she'll try to shut the door to the bedroom so he can't get out, or she'll pull on his clothes or almost strangle him trying to get him to stay put. I've been trying to teach her to be softer with him and that she doesn't have to boss him around that much. It's ok, if he looks towards the stairs LOL. Just don't let him go down etc...

So this morning I am in my room putting some clothes away and I thought the kids were playing in their bedroom. I could see the hall by the stairs and never saw them cross it. Suddenly, I hear Dakota saying "Help me! Help me! NO NO Oak'ey!!!"

So I reply by telling Dakota, "Leave him alone. It's okay." (Thinking they are in their room and she is mad that he is looking at the stairs or going anywhere near the door). I continue to hear her scolding him and start to worry she might be hurting him, so I start towards their room when I realize Dakota is at the top of the stairs. Lo and behold, they had crossed the hall w/o me noticing and Oakley was suspended head first down the stairs with Dakota pulling on the footy of his PJ's like they are reigns and holding on for dear life!

Thank you miss Dakota. THIS time you were so helpful! If it weren't for her, Oak would have tumbled down a full flight of stairs head first.

After I grabbed Oaklely, Dakota says, "Mama, Oak'ey be soooo dangerous!"

I had to agree. We also gave her tons of praise for being a great big sister.

Guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on those two than I thought!

Kas and Bape

We spend a lot of time with the kid's cousins and Lucy calls me 'Kas' all the time. Dakota is so use to being around her that she's started calling me 'Kas' interchangeably with 'Mama'.

Similarly, I call Doug 'Babe' most the time.

So, this morning, we were all laying in bed together and Doug and Dakota were having a pseudo pillow fight.

Dakota turns to me and says, "Kas, Bape hit Koda with a pillow."

Hahaha...

Giggles

Tonight while I was B-feeding Oakley in the rocking chair, Dakota was trying to climb up on the chair with us. Oakley started kicking her away gently with his foot. Dakota kept sliding off the chair exclaiming, "OOOPS!". This happened over and over till both kids were giggling uncontrollably at each other.

Nights like this, I realize how much I love having 2 kids!

Earrings

So Dakota has been begging for earrings for months now. She always tries to put my earrings in her ears and admires them when I wear them. Doug tried talking her out of it by telling her it was going to hurt and that it would be "OUCH earrings". She'd just replay, "OKAAAAY! Ouch earrings!!!!"

This has gone on for about 6 months now. And randomly she'll just come up to us and say, "PUH-LEEEEEASE Koda have ouch earrings??" And every time, we say, its gonna hurt and they'll have to poke her ears and she just says 'ok'.

So the other morning she was asking again and we went thru all the same conversations and she kept saying "YEEESSSS! Ouch earrings!" "PUH-LEEEEEASE???" So finally Doug relented and I took her to get her ears pierced that day.

She picked them out herself (her birth stone-Aquamarine) and then sat very very still in the chair with her hands folded in her lap... waiting for her 'ouch' earrings. She waiting while the girl drew little dots on her ears and compared them. I warned her again that it was going to hurt so she wouldn't be shocked. Then came the punch! She squealed and tear came down her cheek. But I told her over and over that she was 'so brave' and that we were almost done and she was going to have pretty earrings! She was resistant the second time around but I held her hands and told her that we just had to do one more so she could have pretty earrings on both ears and then we would be all done and she'd have her pretty earrings forever! So she bravely held my hand and said, "O-o-kay" and let the lady do the other ear. She cried again for a second and then as soon as we put the mirror in front of her face and showed them to her, the tears stopped and a big smile crept across her face.

Then she looked at me and said, "Mamma, I so brave. Look! Parkly (sparkly) earrings!"

She was pretty happy after that and skipped with joy all the way back to the car. She also stopped and showed anyone who would listen. Then she insisted we call Mima and tell her.... So I dialed my mom and just got voicemail. I explained to Dakota that Grandma wasn't there and she replied, "How about Betty?" Betty is my aunt and Dakota loves her.

She has been thrilled all week about her new earrings and likes to tell everyone how brave she was and how pretty they are! All in all, she doesn't regret it and we don't either. :) She may be young, but she definitely knew what she wanted this time!

Ramblings of a 2-yo

Dakota picks up the binky holder that attaches to the diaper bag that looks kind of like a mini purse and says, "Mama, my hand bag!" I couldn't figure out if she really knew that term and was a little shocked, but later while watch Madagascar 2, I realized they say that. She seems to pick up on everything! Better be careful what she watches!

"Mama, wanna watch Kung Poo Nanna!" (Kung Fu Panda)

She also cut the top of her finger and came to me with blood trickling down, "Mama, Koda ouch singer (finger). Mama!! Sleeping Beauty singer (finger)!!"

Again, gotta pay attention to what she watches. And we obviously watch too many movies at our house :)

Creepy Crawler

Yesterday, I left Oakley downstairs and ran upstairs to get a diaper ask Doug to change his diaper. Dakota followed me up, and we were all in the master bedroom talking. Doug agreed and started toward the door when I hear him exclaim, "What THE ???? Are you sure you left him downstairs???"

I replied, "100% sure, why? Did he climb up the stairs?"

Yes, indeed he did. He was making his way into our room as we spoke.

My creepy crawler is now a climber as well!

He absolutely HATES being left alone in a room and this is proof! I am convinced his stair climbing is a direct result of his sheer will power to be in the same room with us.

O-Kaaaaaay

For over 6 months now, Dakota has said "OK!" in place of 'yes'. She said it all the time and in every tone depending on the situation. But the past week or so, she has said 'yes' more than once, and her new response for 'yes' is "Uh-Hmmmmm" (uh-huh). It's pretty cute when she does it.

She also LOVES everything lately. She is learning how to express herself more and one of the ways she does this is by saying "I WUUUV ______". It's everything from 'I love apples' to 'I love Mama's car' to 'I love food hot'.

So lately, our normal conversations look something like this...

Dakota: "Mama, I WUUUV deer."
Me: "You do??"
Dakota: "UH-HMMMMMMMMMM!"

Dakota has loved to sing for as long as I can remember. She is quite good at learning songs and knows most of the songs from her Disney movies. I put her in the bath and while I ran back to her room to get something, I heard her rockin' out singing in the bath "In the Jungle, the mighty Jungle, the lion sleeps to-NIIIITE. Oh weeeeeee-EEEEEEE-O-WE-O-umm-ba-WAY..."

This was cute in and of itself and I caught some of it on a voice recording. But then I tried to catch it on the video camera by sneaking down the hall and only poking the camera around the corner of the door frame, just enough to see the kids in the tub. However, it didn't take long for Dakota to notice the small lens peeking at her and she busted me in the video! "Mama, I'm right HERE!"


VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbUZWDYlhI

Two Bites

Sometimes I have to coax Dakota to eat her food. I usually say "Just take two bites and then you can ____________" (Fill in the blank). So the other morning Dakota found a stash of cookies and brought them up to my room. I told her she could have a cookie after she ate breakfast. I gave her breakfast and she ate it. She then came back into my room and offered me one of two cookies she had in her hands. I told her she could have hers but that "Mamma doesn't want a cookie right now." She kept insisting, so I told her to put in on my desk. She did. Then she climbed up on my lap and next thing I know, she grabs the cookie, turns towards me with the cookie up to my lips and says "Just two biii-iites. Just twoooo bii-ites" in a sing-song voice kind of mother like. Who could resist that? So I took a bite! :)

Bippity Bobbity Boo!

I found a collection of pencils that I made as a child, and in it was a light blue pencil with a seashell on the top. I though Dakota would enjoy this since she likes seashells, so I pulled it out for her. I gave it to her yesterday and she carried it around all evening. This morning, as I was preparing her breakfast, I look over and she is holding it by the shell and waving it around like a wand and singing "Bippity bobbity boo" from Cinderella. Funny the connections her little head makes...

Mama Koda-bee

Koda-bee is a nickname we've used for Dakota since I can remember. Sometimes when people ask her what her name is, she will respond, "Koda-bee"

Anyways, there is an old picture of me when I am about 3 or 4 that's framed with popsicle sticks and is currently hanging on a nob at our house. Dakota was looking it at it, and I asked her, "Who is that??"

She replied, "Its a MAMA Koda BEE!!!!"

I thought that was pretty cute.

Poop E'ry-Where!

Dakota has been potty training for the last few weeks and has actually done quite well. The other day I needed to email something and left her downstairs alone for a few minutes. Next thing I know, she is walking into my room with her pants off saying "Mess! Leg!" As she gets closer, I notice that its poop all down her leg. I wipe it off and run downstairs... I figure, maybe she pooped in her panties and tried to take them off herself or maybe she went in the toilet but somehow got some on herself in the process. So what did I discover??

She pooped in the potty (in her little potty) like a good girl and then tried to be a big girl and empty out the potty into the big toilet on her own. Only, she doesn't have a very steady hand and ended up spilling it all over our living room and herself in the process. She also left the potty looking like a volcano.

Unfortunately, Oakley saw the spill and inched his way over and was covered in it by the time I got to him. I had to strip him, clean under his finger nails and between his fat rolls, scrub the carpet in about 20 different spots, and completely clean the little potty. As I am in the kitchen rinsing out a rag I was using on the carpet, Dakota comes running into the kitchen and proclaims, "Mamma, POOP! E'ryWHERE!"

Yes, Dakota. YOU got poop EVERY where!

The Stars

We went to Chuck E Cheese for family night and when we left, it was dark. As we were walking to our car, Dakota noticed the sky and pointed out the stars. Then she stopped walking and with a perplexed look on her face, said, "Mamma, where's moom?" (ie. moon) I had to search the sky to find it myself, but when I pointed it out to her, she said "OH! There it is!"

I just thought that was cute. I didn't know she knew that when the stars were out the moon should be too!

Wipe!

Dakota has been potty training for the last week and has been doing really well. She's been in panties full time now (minus bedtime) for 3 days with no accidents. I left her downstairs for a minute by herself and the next thing I know, she's in my bedroom, half naked with a huge smile on her face. Before I could say anything, she exclaims, "WIPE, WIPE!" and turns around and pokes her bum out for me to wipe :) I wiped her and went down to find she had in fact left me a surprise in the potty. When I saw it, I gave her tons of praise and she jumped up and down and said "BIG poop! Potty! Yay!!"

Ha ha... made me laugh so hard and feel so proud at the same time!

Hey Car

In our new house we live right off a busy street and the only thing separating us from the traffic is our fence. But you can hear them zooming by when we are outside. I opened the door for Dakota to go out back to play and she heard a car zooming by... she leaned her head out the door and yelled, "Hey! Car!" Just made me laugh.

Oakley Laughs

A few weeks ago, we were on our way to a friend's wedding reception in Provo. We drove by some run down apartments and I said, "Those look pretty ghetto... although I guess if you're a Poor Poor college student..." and I was interrupted by a loud burst of giggling. I guess he though "poor poor" was funny.. I said it a few more times to him and each time he bursted out laughing. First time we've really got him giggling. We were all laughing at how cute it was.

Also in the car, on our way home from Boise for my mom's wedding, I sat in the back for a while to calm him down and started pretending like I was going eat him with 'yummy' noises. He also erupted with laughter and we were able to get a little on video from Doug's phone.

He is a smiley happy guys most the time and pretty easy these days to make him laugh. Good natured boy.

Talking, Talking

Dakota probably learns 5-10 new words each day and is growing smarter by the minute. She picks up on things we didn't even know of.

For instance, the other night, we were having rice with our dinner and there was soy sauce. She wanted some like daddy, so we put a little on her plate. She wanted to do it herself, and ended up with a large puddle of it on her plate. So the next time she reached for it, I took it off the table and put it back in the fridge. She squealed, "MY Sye Sauce!!" We didn't even know she knew that was what its called. We laughed pretty hard as she said it over and over.

We also tried to teach her the difference recently between "hot" and "spicy". Last night she ate a fried jalepeno and got upset and we asked her if it was too spicy... her reply, "Okay, PI-cey". Yes it was!

Lion King

Dakota LOVES Disney's The Lion King. Its her latest favorite and we watch it frequently. I didn't know she knew it so well but we have the soundtrack and were listening to it in the car. The underscore to the part where Simba is waiting for his dad and the stampede comes was on, and Dakota shouts out, "OH NO! SIMBA!!!" I was pretty surprised that she could make that connection just from listening to the music. Also, during Hakuna Matata when Simba goes from a cub to a grown lion, at the exact right time, she exclaimed, "BIG Simba!"

She also sings along with most of the songs. Our favorite...

"O JUST. can't WAIIIT! be KI-ING!"

Spelling

Since she knows her letters, its not uncommon for her to spell words that she sees. Today she spelled "G-E-R-B-E-R" while eating dinner.... because that's the brand of fork she was using :)

Scissors

Yesterday, Dakota comes into the kitchen telling me "ouch finger, ouch finger". This is not new as she pretends to hurt her finger all the time and asks me to kiss it better. Well, I got ready for a kiss better and looked down to see blood. She had a pretty little slice across her finger and it was bleeding. I couldn't immediately see what had caused it, but I took her upstairs and washed it off and applied a band-aid. About a half hour later she comes up to me again and is lifting up her shirt, when I notice that her brand new (this is the first time worn) shirt has 2 odd shaped holes in it. SCISSORS... only scissors could make those holes.. like when you fold fabric unevenly and then cut and it makes a zig-zag hole shape... I searched the room and found a pair of scissors that Doug had left out the night before by mistake.

I explained to Dakota that we don't play with scissors or we get an ouch like her finger... but all she got out of that was the ouch part and started showing me the cut on her finger again :)

I'm tellin' ya... we gotta keep a close eye on this one!! But it could have been worse, and for that I'm grateful!

Pictures to come!

A few funny words

Dakota talks a ton now. There are a few new words she's learned this week that I just think are funny to hear her say.

They say "Sputnick" on Toy Story 2, so now she repeats it and says "Putnick". She also thinks this term is interchangeable with "St. Nick" in Christmas songs.

Caterpillar= "Catz-piyyyar"

Wonderful= "wore-er"

You're as pretty as a princess= "You Pee Princess"

Penguin= "Payn-wen"

A few other common ones are:

Fell Down= "Sell Dowwm"

Prince Naveen= "Prince N'een"

Water= "Wow-er"

Door Knobs

We just moved to our new condo in Bountiful and the door knobs are different... regular round knobs that you can put child-proof things on... So we did. Except that its only been 3 days and she already figured out how to open the doors with the child-proof things on them. So, a lot of good that did us! Up until today, even though she knew how to open the doors, she has been staying in her room during naptimes and when she wakes in the morn. But this afternoon, she started opening the door... then she'd slam it shut and run across her room to her bed... THEN, repeat! That is what she has been doing for the last 45 minutes. I'm surprised all the slamming hasn't woken Oakley yet.

O-R-E-O

As Dakota was devouring a Mint Oreo today, she suddenly looked down at it with intense concentration and spelled "O-R-E-O". LOL She noticed the writing on the cookie. Well, she can't quite read yet, but she can spell!

KO-DA

Dakota calls herself "Ida". So we've been trying to teach her to say "KO-da". She can say it, but still says Ida most the time. Today, I said, "Say, KO-da" and she said, "KO-Ida!" :) Well, we tried... hahaha

Singing

This week, Dakota started singing a lot more than usual. She knows the words to a lot of songs that I didn't know she knew! She can sing along with a lot of songs in her movies... They go something like this:


"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE o bum-bum-bum-ba waaaay" (In the Jungle)

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa me-e" (You've got a Friend in Me)

"Bi Baaa Booooo" (Bippity boppity boo)

"Sing, sing gaaaaay-le" (Sing Sweet Night'n'gale)

"Yooooou knoooooow" (That's How You Know)


She can also name almost every character in all her movies. I was pretty impressed.

Kiss

Dakota has been very should I say *obsessed* with kissing lately. She points out whenever people/animals are kissing in a movie and she has her toys fake kiss each other all the time. Lately, when she decides we're worthy of a kiss, she'll say "kiss, kiss..." and then grab us by our hair and lay one on our lips! ;) We think its pretty funny but we better watch out when the boys start coming around!

Myyyne

Dakota's been walking around for the last week or so, saying Myyyne... not to be confused with 'mine'. It is pronounced differently. I couldn't figure out what she was saying. Today, she said, "Myyyne, Myyyne?" over and over... I didn't know what she was asking for. Then she said, "Myyyyne. Show." I still didn't know. Then she started chanting, "Sim-muh, Sim-muh.." OHHHH! SIM-BA! LION show? "Okaaay!!!" Now I get it... She wanted to watch Lion King. :)

Bite

Yesterday, Dakota walked up to me, put her partly eaten whole apple in my face and said, "Mamma's bite!" She let me take a bite.

Jesus

I have been praying and singing primary songs to Dakota since she was very small but only recently (around Christmas) tried to teach her about Jesus specifically. We have a Nativity video she loves to watch and I did not realize how much she had learned from it and how much she'd been paying attention to what I teach her. I collected random pictures of Christ that are just a couple inches big, that I put in her church bag that I thought would be good to entertain her during Sacrament meeting and remind her of why we are there. While at church today, she pulled them out for the first time and started going thru them. I asked her "Who is that?" on each one and she would reply "Jesus". Then she pulled one out that is a picture of Mary kneeling at Christ's feet after the resurrection. Again, I asked her, "Who is that?".... she pointed to the woman and said "Mary". Then she pointed to Christ and said, "Jesus" . I couldn't believe it! I had no idea she knew who Mary was. It is so amazing what these children's spirits know and can teach them at such a young age.

Hi Ho

Lately we have been watching Snow White... Today I caught Dakota singing... "Hi. Ho. Hi. Ho. GO-ooooh"

Translation= Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go!

I thought it was cute :)

Sentences

Dakota just started speaking in broken sentences in the last week or so. She also uses possessives a lot... "Koda's shoes" "Mamma's shirt" "Oak'ey's blanky" etc.

This morning she dropped one of her foam letters in the bathtub where she couldn't reach it and looked at me and said, "Mamma get U"

Pretty good!

Mascara

I didn't know it, but apparently my little girl has watched me closely put on my makeup... especially my mascara... Because yesterday I found her by the sink with the little bottle brush attachment for the nipples that are shaped like a mascara brush and she had it up to her eye, poking her lid and fluttering her lashes :) Does this kid have to pay attention to EVERYTHING I do?!? I told her it wasn't good to do that and that one was for washing, but inside I was laughing!!

My little Monkey

This girl can climb anything and everything. In the last two weeks I've had to remove from her room: 2 boxes of diapers, her lion cart, the ottoman to the rocking chair, and her bag of crib bedding. Why? Because she uses them as a stool to climb up into Oakley's crib and places in the closet to get into things she shouldn't and to climb over the back of the rocking chair and come down it from the top like a slide!

So, I thought she was out of options until I went in and found she had pulled the dresser drawers out in the fashion of a set of stairs and used it to access the top of the dresser. Thankfully the dresser didn't break or tip over and the only damage caused was a bunch of wipes pulled out of their case and then put back in disarray. We are definitely going to have to anchor the dresser to the wall now, but seriously, what else can I do? I can't move the dresser out of their room....

She also scoots table chairs and a stool around downstairs to get what she wants off of counters, out of the pantry and in other out-of-reach places. This morning I walked into the kitchen to find she'd dragged a chair to the counter, climbed on up to reach the fruit basket which was on a shelf above the counter, and had taken a bite out of one pear, one apple and peeled and half ate a banana.

Such a monkey!!!

Baby Oil

Oh man this kid is going to be the death of me. A couple months ago, I came to get her from her nap and found vaseline smeared all over her room and body. Last night during her bath, I went into her room to get her towel and I hear her yell "bubbles, bubbles". I walk back in to find she has emptied a 1/2 large bottle of baby oil into the bath tub! The water was full of oil bubbles and I can assure you she was nice and soft and smelled like baby when she got out :) Now I have a tub to scrub...

Play

Yesterday I took both kids out to run some errands. Dakota was getting restless as I was putting her into her car seat to go. I explained to her, "First we are going to this store and then we are going to Old Navy and..." She suddenly pipes in and says, "And then PYaaaaY?" with a big smile on her face. It was practically a sentence and I was kind of shocked. I repeated back, "and then play?" and she smiled big and said "YEAH!" How could I resist that? So I got her a bouncy ball at ON for $ .25 and let her play :) I just still can't believe she totally understood what I was saying and knew how to finish the sentence the way she wanted!

Shoes

Dakota learned how to put her own shoes on this week. Granted, they don't always go on perfect or sometimes she needs help. She particularly can't differentiate between left and right.

So every time I turn around lately, she's walking around the house in shoes... different pairs all day long. She is good at matching up the pairs... but more often than not, they are on the wrong feet :) But she doesn't seem to mind as she prances around, proud that she put them on! And it makes me chuckle when I watch her clomp around with them on the wrong feet. :) Oh... and don't even THINK of trying to help her put on shoes now. She can do it herself! Or as she says it, "No, no! Mine!"

Bless You

The other day Oakley was in his bouncer seat and sneezed.... Dakota was walking by and promptly looked his way and said, "bless you!" Doug and I both looked at each other with the look... 'Did she really just say that??' and 'Did YOU teach her that?' NOPE. Neither of us taught her that. I guess she just picked it up!

Bye-Bye!

Over the weekend, we went down to visit family so they could see the baby. After dinner on Sunday, Rachel and Erika were leaving and Dakota was yelling from the living room, "BYE-BYYYYYYE.... aklbnaoidfkandiofpa" Then she came running over to the door and proceeded to yell it some more... She had a dead serious face and kept saying, "Bye-byyyyeee"... followed by some string of words we couldn't understand. But it sounded like the same sounds over and over with the same inflections, so she definitely knew what she was saying, but we had no idea. Doug and I were laughing so hard I was in tears. She must have said the same phrase about 15 times.

She did something similar a week or so ago.. Doug and I went upstairs while she was still down by the TV. She came to the bottom of the stairs and yelled "GUYYYS! jadkjfoapijdfkajgl". No idea what she was saying, but it was super cute and funny!

Some day I'll be able to understand her! ;)

Sugar and SPICE

My sugar and spice and everything nice little girl does not need any deoderant yet... but for some reason she is obsessed with it. With Doug's Old Spice to be exact. She finds it wherever it is. Last week she had gotten into it and even though I cleaned her up, she smelled like a man for the rest of the day! ;)

This morning, she moved an empty rubbermaid over to the closet, climbed on top, and reached Old Spice on a high shelf. I caught her in the act and told her to put it back and she did. I left the room and when I came back, I couldn't find her. Dakota? Dakota?

.... She was crouched under the shelves in the closet hiding behind the rubbermaid... playing with his deoderant!!! The little stinker!

Oak'ey

Well, Oakley was born last week on February 3rd and had to stay in the hospital for 5 days. He is home now on oxygen and Dakota is always asking about him. She calls him "Oak'ey". She loves to see him first thing when she wakes, and also to say goodnight every time she goes to bed.

My mom came to stay at our house and watch her while he was in the hospital.

One night, my mom was filling the bath tub and Dakota was running around naked. My mom came to chase her down and Dakota said "Kiki" (stinky) just as my mom slipped on poop. She had pooped in the hallway and Gramma stepped right in it!

Also, yesterday morning, I was getting set up to pump. Dakota came over and wanted to sit on my lap and started grabbing for my pump pieces. I said, "That's Mamma's" and she replied, "No...." and lifted up her shirt and patted her chest with both hands. LOL She knew what they were for and she thought she was going to pump too! :)

Stinky

So last night, a couple minutes after I put Dakota in the bath, she started saying "kiki-poo" TRANSLATION: Stinky Poo. I gave her a funny look and said, "There's no stinky poos." And she started holding her crotch and saying "kiki-poo" again. I thought she was just being silly. She NEVER poops after 3 in the afternoon. So I was not prepared for what was about to happen... I was in the adjoining room and I could hear her splashing around and then suddenly I hear her saying "YUCK! YUCK!" I poke my head around the corner and there is a big log of poop floating in the tub! Needless to say, I had to end bath time and clean up. I felt so bad that she had tried to tell me she needed to poop and I wasn't getting it! It would have been the perfect potty-training moment and I missed it! I will definitely listen from now on!

The whole time I was getting her in her PJ's she was telling me, "Mess. Bath. Kiki. Yuck." I

ABC Song

Yesterday we did a lot of driving. For half the day, Dakota was in the back seat chanting some repetitive sounds.... they sounded deliberate but I couldn't figure out what she was saying or doing. It sounded like "oh, oh, oh, emma-nemma-nemma-nemma-eeee...." Finally after about half the day, I recognized a little tune and I sang back to her... "l-m-n-o-peee?" and she smiled wide and clapped her hands and said "yay!". Like I finally got it :) She was singing her ABC's. I haven't sang the song to her much but her leapfrog system on our fridge that teaches letter sounds plays that song and I guess she's started to learn it! Now that I know what it is, she actually sings it pretty well... especially for a one year old!

Race

Dakota saw a race on one of her morning TV shows... after the show, she came into the kitchen... backed into the corner and said "SET. GO!" and took off running across the room and into the living room! I was so surprised that just after watching the show she understood the concept and was practicing racing. The next time she came back in the room, I said, "Ready?" and she said "SET! GO!" and took off again :) She did this repeatedly for about 20 minutes. I think it was a good way to burn off some energy!

One More Mess

I was in the kitchen and Dakota was in our front room and I hear her say, "Uh-Oh... Mess! Mess!" and then she peeks her little brown eyes around the corner into the kitchen to make sure I heard her. I looked at her and said, "Did you make a mess? We don't make messes.... can you clean it up?" She looks at me, holds her little finger up and says, "One more mess!" and goes racing back into the room. :) Like it's negotiable! Little stinker!!

"P"

Dakota knows all her ABC's but has trouble with the "p" sound and usually says "t" instead. To help her learn the sound, I always say "puh-puh-puh-PEE". So now whenever she sees the letter P she says "buh-buh-buh-TEE". It's one of our favorites.

Shhhh!

I was trying to get Dakota to talk to my mom on the phone. She walked over to a corner and stood still. I started asking her questions trying to get her attention and she turned her head and looked at me, put her finger to her lips and shushed me! She was busy filling her diaper... :)