I'm a Mom and I brag about my kid.

I will say it up front. I am going to brag incessantly about my kid in this post. I'm going to think of it as "documenting her development" but really I am going to brag about her of course because she's the greatest little person that ever lived (in my world). If you bail now, I'm sorry you won't get to hear about how amazing Miss Morgan is.

Morgan is pretty well potty trained during all awake hours. Naps are hit/miss. I don't remember her last accident unless it was the time she peed her pants after our cold family run several weeks ago; however, she had an accident at Mary's today simply b/c she couldn't get to Morgan fast enough - no worries - Morgan will learn to hold it better and she has in the past. This past weekend (as I mentioned 80 billion times in previous posts) we went to St. Louis for Adam's softball tourney. It ended up being about a 4.5-5 hour drive on the way there and we only stopped once. Morgan took just over an hour nap after watching some Dora and we didn't end up stopping until about 2.5-3 hours into the trip. When I took her to bathroom (fully expecting her pull up to be wet (ps I got pull-ups b/c using the potty and then putting a diaper on in a gas station bathroom sucks)) she was totally dry. What?! She then made it to the restaurant and went there...NO wet pull-ups. The whole trip. On the way home we stopped at a gas station prior to lunch and the line was too long, so I told her we'd go at the restaurant...dry again. An hour after lunch she said "potty!" and we stopped about 5-10 minutes later (what!? no potties in the boondox?!) and she was fine. I am not confident yet to let her in just undies on a long trip but I'm confident that if she goes before we leave to go anywhere (ie. QCs 40 min away) she'd be great. Holy cow my kid's potty trained. Awesome!! And I can safely say she was PT before she was 17 months old (even if it was only a day before). Yeah!

The hellish 8th tooth has arrived. It's her right top eye tooth and it was a bugger but it finally appeared Saturday (03/19/11). Sweet. Don't you ever do that to my kid again (hello molars later). I bet she tried 2-3x to get it in and it finally happened.

Morgan is an expressive language and articulation genius. Ok, and receptive language too. Her speech continues to explode and get more clear every day. She's really in tune to how we say new words to her and does her best to repeat them back the same way we say them to her. A few short weeks ago, "puppup" meant puppies. Now she's saying puppies clear as day. This weekend she was trying to lift things that were too heavy for her. Now she's walking around trying to pick anything up and saying, "Hebby!" "Ih hebby!" (heavy, it heavy). She will also say hi/bye to anything with a pulse and her eyes light up when she gets a response even if it's just one of us in a different room. I don't know why but ever since Morgan started talking I feared she'd be a final consonant deleter. Maybe this was b/c I have some of these kids at work and they can be difficult to correct...but I no longer have that concern. I don't know how else to explain what Morgan is all saying and how well she is saying it without having an audio of her talking. PS. She now says "em-an-ems" (M&Ms) clear as day and remembers to ask for her single M&M after every successful trip to the potty. Hmm...I think it's almost time to phase those out. ;-) Maybe.

Morgan is now picking up on tons of nonverbal cues/actions. She seems me crouch down to get Jessie riled up outside and will walk up to her and bend over at her waist with her little knees bent too. She sees us clap to get the dogs' attention and will start clapping and yelling "Dettie!!" too. She's got quite a sense of humor and as soon as she realizes we're joking about something, she says, "Mah-MA!" or "DaDDEEE" with attitude and try to get a rise of out us to be funny. She LOVES hiding things under her legs, blankets, anything and watch with a "I have no idea (wink wink)" look on our faces as we pretend we have no idea where the hidden item went. Yesterday we were in a gas station for a break and snacks and I started hiding behind an aisle thinking she won't care I'm hiding/playing and will run back to Adam (who has all the popcorn, Morgan's new love). Nope, she crouched down with me and ended up finding me in a tiny crack between the Snickers and Starbursts. She's so intuitive. I can't get over it.

Amongst all these good things, of course Morgan is still my "world is ending" tantrum thrower. Dora's over and Daddy's going to put in a new DVD? Scream like my arm is being cut off (ps. and without a nap yet). Go to the kitchen to get my M&M for going on the potty? NO WAY, it's always in the bathroom so I'm not having the wait!! Much of this is her age and comprehension level. I'm working my way much more quickly now through the Happiest Toddler on the Block and it's making tons of sense. I made good headway on it this weekend ... now if only it were a book on tape right this minute so I could listen to it on my run later... I know it likely exists but don't feel like paying more and tracking it down. So on we go, my dear little tantrum thrower Morgan pants.

Let's see, what else. Morgan is using her fork and spoon, but typically she prefers to hold the fork with one hand and eat with her fingers on the other. It's quite comical to watch as sometimes she even pokes food with her fork, takes it off with her other hand, and then eats it with her fingers.

Morgan's new BFF is being outside. Watching her explore the world outdoors isn't just a new obsession for her, but sort of for me as well. She watches birds, loves the moon (reference previous recent moon post), and tonight while we were at a friends' house cutting up a tree, she wandered all around giving small sticks to "Puppy!" (Ferdinand) and showing us the "Hot!!" (fire) (sticks burning in the pit). Good times.

Thinking of more things to brag about (since I made it blatantly obvious that I was taking this post to do just that) ... Ok, I think I'm done. Here ends the open bragging from me for now. ;-) I'm sure I'll have to do it again after she continues this amazing growth/development spurt.