Belle at 16 Months

 

Talking & Brains: 

Most kids around Belle's age can say about 4 to 10 words... if you've seen the "Belle Talk" section of this site you know that Belle is leaving most kids her age in the dust in this area. But that's just the more obvious gauge of her brain power. Belle is a SMART kid! Too smart for her own good really... and definitely to smart for her parents good. :) She's amazing. She understands everything we say more or less and can even count to 2 and understands the concept of 1 and 2! 

She has this book her and I read that has pictures of a lot of objects and I point them out and say the name of them. Well after one reading I tried just asking her where such-and-such was in the book and she pointed right too it! And in no time she can tell you where all the objects in that book are and can say most of their names. 

Belle also understanding abstract concepts. For example she knows that her ball is a ball and her stuffed penguin is a penguin. But she also knows they are both toys. 

Walking: 

Belle took her first few steps on July 20th and is getting better and better by the hour! She is all over the place now and tries to loose us every chance she gets. She wants us to just leave her alone sometimes so she can be by herself. She'll walk into her room and try to close the door on us and says "by by!" It's so cute!

 

Potty Training Begins: 

Belle had been acting like she's been ready to potty train for some time now. But potty training is a little hard to do when you can't walk, so we'd been waiting till she conquered walking better. I also kept hearing the "right time" to potty train was closer to 1 1/2 to 2 years of age so I hadn't been in a real rush. But she just seemed SO sick of her changing table and very interested in the toilet. :) So on August 5th while at the store I saw a training potty and figured "what the heck! I'll just put it in the bathroom and she can get use to seeing it there. No pressure." So I take it home put it in the bathroom and Belle makes a bee-line for it saying "pee-pee, pee-pee!" To our very big surprised she used it that very day!! She was SOOOO proud of herself too. She got this look on her face as if to say "I am just SO cool!" :)

Now she's by no means done with diapers. She only uses the potty a couple times a day and is still very much in need of diapers. But we put her on it a couple times a day just in case and she even asks to go use it a couple times a day! And just the other day on August 10th she actually did a poopy in it! I don't expect her to be fully potty trained for a couple more years but she's off to an amazing start!