Random List Wednesday! Ila's Latest and Greatest

I meant to post this yesterday but I spaced writing it. I did get around to it this evening though, so here you go!

Random List Wednesday (just pretend it's Wednesday still):

Ila's latest developments and happenings

1. This week Ila started calling us Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Dada. I LOVE this new development! I've always been a fan of Mommy, but it's harder to say then Mama, so of course we happily answered to her endearing names for us over the past 2 years. But it is so sweet to hear her voice say "mommy" and "daddy" when she is talking to us!

2. Ila is getting better at telling us when she needs to go potty (instead of us just always taking her when we think it's been long enough). She gets rewards when she initiates the potty time, and I think that must help her remember more often! Oh, and when I say potty, I mean peepee. We are not having much success with the poopoo factor. Blurg.

3. Coloring. She's liked it for a few months now, but these last few weeks she has REALLY started LOVING it! She can even draw circles if you draw one on the page first. Yesterday her and Daddy worked on squares and triangles too. She colors at least twice a day and holds the paper up and says "look Daddy, circles!" until he looks and praises her. It's super cute.

4. Communicating. She has really started to talk and to ask for things and tell stories. Of course we're in the "can't understand lots of things she says" stage, but we're working on it. Today she was asking for something over and over again, and I could tell there was a little frustration when I kept asking her what she wanted. I asked her to show me what she wanted, but it didn't help. She finally settled for coloring, but I'm still not sure that's what she was asking for. This part of parenting can be difficult for the toddler and parents, so I'm praying and working on lots of patience and understanding for both parties!

5. Picking up after herself. This week Trent has spent lots of time reminding Ila to put her toys away when she is done with them. She has always enjoyed cleaning and picking things up (something she inherited from her father, for sure!) but this week there has been lots of growth. It's really exciting to watch her respond so well to our little reminders of "put it away." It's great to see her understand so much!

6. Hair! Ila's hair is going crazy and wild! I love it. She loves to rub food in it, right after it gets washed. I don't love that part. It's nice to see it getting longer and longer, but it could grow more uniformly, I wouldn't mind that!

7. Jumping. We've been working on jumping for months. Ila LOVES to jump, but it's more of a gallop, since she only has one foot off the ground at a time. Just yesterday, she finally did it. A full out JUMP! And then she kept doing it. It was super exciting in this house for sure!

8. I have to talk about her laps. Ila runs laps around the house at LEAST once a day, but usually 3-4 times. She just takes off running. Often times it's to get chased, or to chase, but almost every night, around 7, she just starts running. Sometimes we count her laps out loud, which she really loves, and sometimes we chase and hide and scare her, which she also loves and sometimes she just runs and runs. It's really cute and a great energy burner at the end of the day.