Strategies for dressing a toddler in winter

Compromise. "Well, how about tights instead of pants?"




Peer pressure. "Look! The hippo is wearing a fleece. Don't you want to wear a fleece?"




Bribery. "Once you're dressed, we'll put on ALL your hair doodles."




Remember, more is more. "Do you want to wear THREE hoods?"




Appeal to vanity. "Do you want to see your THREE HOODS in the mirror?"




When all else fails, just put on all the most colorful and absurd clothes you can find. With enough layers, she'll stay warm.

I am a big girl now.

Big milestone for Juniper: this morning she peed in the potty for the first time! She was really excited about it.

We're hoping to embark on a serious potty training adventure in the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck...and send Nature's Miracle.

Saturday morning breakfast

Blow on it...make sure it's cool.





"No! Don't cut it. I want a big one." Well, yes ma'am. One big one, coming right up.

I'm gonna be a big girl.

J: [muttering a story to herself in the backseat of the car] "...sad...and the poop...cleaned it up..."
A: What did you clean up?
J: The poop.
A: Who pooped?
J: The rhinoceros pooped.
A: Where did the rhinoceros poop?
J: In the potty.
(pause)
J: I'm gonna do it someday.
(pause)
J: I'm gonna be a big girl someday. I'm gonna poop in the potty someday. I'm gonna learn to be a big girl someday, but now I'm little.

The many nicknames of Juniper Honeycutt-Dill

June Bug
Bug
Pudner
Butter
Buniper
Sweet Petite
Bonk
Shaolin Bonk

Closet + flashlight = fun

Juniper and Violet like to hang out in Juniper's closet, which they call the little room.




They recently found Sally's bike headlight, and are having lots of fun playing with it in the pitch dark closet.

Big girl puzzles

A few weeks ago we discovered that while we've been piddling around with the wooden toddler puzzles with the little peg, over at Cheryl & Jason's house, Juniper has learned how to do real puzzles. In fact, putting puzzles together is one of her very favorite activities.

It's amazing to watch her problem solve and figure out how the pieces go together. She'll look for like objects and try to fit them together. ("It's the beak. This one has some beak.") She'll try pieces from multiple sides, turning them around to see if she can make it fit. ("No, it doesn't go. [turn] I did it!") When a piece doesn't fit, she'll set it aside for later. ("We're not ready for this one yet.")




She needs a little encouragement and support to finish her advanced 24-piece duck puzzle, but she can do the 12-piece Juniper & Violet puzzle all by herself.