16-Months-Old and Growing Up Too Quickly

Mahalia's vocabulary has continued to grow exponentially in the past month. She says soooo many words/phrases, it's unbelievable that she's only 16-months-old. One of the GREATEST words that seems to be (finally) permanent in her vocabulary is "mama". She used to say it pretty sporadically, but it was more like "mamama" and she would usually say it when she was hungry. Well in the past few weeks she has been saying it more and more and it's specifically for ME! It makes me smile so big every time I hear her say it. =) So, now she can identify the people in her immediate family: mama, dada, and pup-pup ("pup-pup" is said the most frequently and with more enthusiasm than the other two words but we're not complaining). =) Also included in her growing vocabulary is the word water...only she doesn't quite say it like that. She started by saying "wa-duh", then it was "wa-wa" or "wa-tuh", then it was "wa-ger" and currently it is "wa-gee" or "wa-gay". We're not really sure why it has morphed in such a weird way, but it's pretty cute because it's unique to her. =) Mahalia can also say the names of all of the characters on Yo Gabba Gabba. She's usually only good at saying each one correctly when she's singing along with the theme song. Otherwise, she tends to call all of them Muno (although it sounds more like "Bu-lo"). Other words she says include you're welcome ("cuh-cum"), "poo-poo" (more on this in a minute), "okay??", "uh-oh", "baby"and "hair". She has said some pretty funny things that we aren't sure when/where she would have heard them: "See you later" (obviously it's not quite that clear) and "toodle-oo" (it was quite clear and we REALLY don't know where that came from)--she said this last word to Jeremy as she closed the bathroom door on him one night when she was about to take a bath. Mahalia can also say every number (almost clearly) when counting from 1-10. The cutest/funniest number, and the most recent in her vocabulary, is 7...she says "seckin". =)

So, about "poo-poo"...At the end of last month/beginning of this month, Mahalia started to say "poo-poo" after she pooped in her diaper. After doing this a few times, I decided that maybe we should start (casually) trying to potty train her. So, I went to the store and bought her a potty chair. For a few days, I would have Mahalia sit on the potty chair (diaper off, of course) whenever I was using the bathroom. She never did anything when she sat on it (and I think a couple of times she may have even waited to do something once her diaper was back on), but she was totally open to sitting there...if only for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two. Then, she and I caught Jeremy's cold and neither of us were particularly interested in working on it at that point. So, I have decided that when we are both completely well again, we will try again. I won't be doing any kind of serious potty training once we do start again because she's still pretty young and I don't want it to be a traumatizing experience at all. So, we will see how it goes and I will keep everyone posted...

P.S. There are new pictures on her shutterfly page.