The Moana Chronicles, May 2011

I know Kerrie is dying to hear the details of my weekend training... but I think it would be more fun to keep her in suspense because really, it's going so well its simply too frightening to share. Especially my run. Wow, it is really coming along! But I'm not going to talk about that now. No, instead, I'll tell you about Moana. :)

She has become quite the daredevil. Yesterday we were at the playground and she was climbing up pretty high when she lost her balance and fell... about 5 ft onto the ground... luckily the playground has a rather soft surface in anticipation of these kinds of things so while she cried, it was more because she was scared than because she was actually hurt. Interestingly, the second she stopped crying she got right back on that thing and climbed right up no problem. Talk about getting back on the horse! Good girl.

I'm probably biased, I mean, being her mom and all, but I think she is exceptionally gifted. She has an amazing memory for just about everything, and her vocabulary is through the roof. I don't think there's a word she doesn't use correctly in a full sentence? I'm impressed anyway, and I don't think I'm easy to impress most of the time.

I find it interesting that she is such a natural leader. She's two years old, yet when we go to the playground she walks right up to girls 3, 4, and 5 years old and says, "Hi Friend!" Then she proceeds to grab the other girls hand and lead her to do whatever Moana wants to do... Come look at this! She'll say... Come go down the slide with me... usually the other girls are more than happy to play along. I'm guessing Moana won't be hurting for friends as she gets older. She's very social.

Speaking of being social, she's really into 'sharing together' these days. That is one of her favorite phrases and she uses it all the time. Come into my room, Mama! Then as we're having a tea party she says happily, "We're sharing together!" We share food and toys and books and blankies and she always seems quite happy to share. I'm guessing at some point the sharing will stop, right? Don't they go through a mine-mine-mine-mine-mine stage at some point? We're not there yet.

Moana absolutely loves Auntie Nalani (all women other than me right now are Aunties)... This is awesome for lots of reasons (and what's not to love about Nalani??) but especially because we will be traveling with Nalani for both Honu and IMCdA... Two big trips coming up in June and I am really excited to be bringing Moana along. Last night she was saying Let's watch Mama RACE! It was super cute. This week will mark her third trip to Honu. She first went over when she was 7 months old. I remember this like it was yesterday!

She was in diapers then, and she's still in diapers now. This afternoon we were outside playing and I was squatting down in the grass. She said, "Are you pooping?" Ha! Um, no, I poop in the potty, I told her. I didn't tell her that it has happened before where I have squatted behind a tree while training but she doesn't need all those details right now... and I guess, neither do you... Anyhow. I've completely stopped pushing the potty training because in all honesty, I think it would be easier to have her in diapers in June when we travel rather than dealing with always frantically searching for the closest bathroom in the airport, you know? I'll revisit the potty training thing in July. Watch, the day before we leave for Idaho she'll INSIST that she will not wear a diaper and needs big girl underpants only. That will make for a fun flight, no?