oh heavens the little lady bug is getting big

my littlest is demanding this week i take notice of how big she has gotten. she is insisting we begin the potty training fun - demanding to use the toilet at every diaper change AND often requesting it throughout the day (which is "unproductive" but i notice soon after dismounting, she is taking care of business, indicative that she knows its coming but hasn't figured out the mechanics yet). i scurried out to buy some panties which freaked me out a little bit. now i'm waiting for a lull in the action to get to business with her. in the meantime, i'm encouraging her sitting on the potty like a big girl and giving her oodles of praise whenever she tells me she wants to use the potty (even if it is THREE times at the park, oh my).  let's do it little girl. i might not have been ready for this but if you are ready, then let's give it a shot. you shock me every day with your smarty-pants ways and your ability to communicate your every need and thought and identify every thing around you...and the things you don't have a word for you demand to know "is it?" and when i tell you, you always repeat it right back to me, confirming that you've locked yet another new word away in that amazing brain of yours. so i'm on board with giving potty training a shot, i know you can do it. and thanks for helping me out, because one baby in diapers (lots of newborn diapers shall be cycling through the laundry at an unbelievable rate) is so much better than two, i say. bravo, let's do it.  oh - and not only is she the proud owner of panties (she was searching through the entire clean laundry basket to pull out all of her "un-wer-wear") but she decided today that she would not be satisfied until i let her (all on her own) don my sports bra and wear it around. love her.
(and if all that is not enough to get you wondering how did she grow up so quickly, her big girl bed arrives on friday...not for use just yet, but for brother to get used to the idea of sharing his room and to have "at the ready" for when the time is right".  she loves crawling into/onto pete's bed and snuggling up so i know she will take to sleeping in a bed right away - its the (chaotic) transition of two littles sharing one room that has me just a little feeling quite anxious.  baby brother will sleep in momma's room for awhile after he arrives so she still has several months left of time alone in her happy little crib space).

they both love momma's new camera (so does momma!!!!) so when pete saw me running for it to snap the picture of betsy and the bra, he demanded i take a photo of him too - so here he is, enjoying a snack with gusto. ;)  i think the potty-training praise for betsy is going to strike a little nerve of (extra) jealousy with him, so we may have to work out a reward system that involves him too. when he was potty training, betsy got an amnesty jelly bean or m&m whenever pete got his reward for potty success....so to get him onboard with the process, i think he'll be the recipient of a treat when betsy gets hers. otherwise, there will be one very feisty little dude around these parts. they have both been severely competitive for my attention lately (if i pick one up or stop to hug one, the other one comes running, sometimes feigning a cry to be sure they get in on the snuggles).  my lap will really get crowded come february if they both demand to participate every time the newest baby requires snuggling (which i am happily looking forward to doing almost constantly).