Mckelle is 18 months old!!!

She has been busy taking life on.  She loves to play outside, especially with Jace's toys.

She is so adventurous and loves exploring the playground...all on her own...with Mom at a close distance, more for my sake than hers.

 She is still very independent and shows me everyday by wanting to do things on her own...like frost a valentine cookie.

 She is still as mischievious as can be.  I start to panic when I hear too much quietness.

But what has really changed is that she is about 85% potty trained.  She was totally ready.  She would come to me right after she went in her diaper and wanted it off.  The only thing I could do was to jump in and do it.  I DREAD POTTY TRAINING...I HATE IT WITH A PASSION.  That said, she has made it absolutely a piece of cake.  She is doing awesome.  She has even stayed dry during naps and almost all the way at night.  She does have a few accidents here and there, but overall she is seriously AMAZING.  We are talking about one driven girl with her own agenda.

Yes, potty training is a FAMILY affair!

Mckelle weighs in at 21.4 lbs.  Her verbal skills have taken off.  She has started to repeat what we say and it is so cute, especially when she prays.  She recently got her very first ear infection, but I could hardly tell until she spiked a fever.  She is such a tough girl.  I hope that she takes all these strong qualities and uses them to be a leader among her friends.  We love her and are so lucky to have such a pistol in our family!



Mckelle in a big girl bed in her brothers room

Over Christmas break we put Jace and Mckelle's beds in the same room and we changed Mckelle's crib into a daybed.  They both have done really well considering how opposite they were in their bedtime routines.  Mckelle would fall asleep with it dark and with the door closed.  Jace on the other hand would have his door open and needed the hall light on.  So, we compromised and left the door open and would turn on the bathroom light.  The first couple of nights we had to walk Mckelle back to her bed over 25 times.  We would often times find her playing in the toy room or doing what she is doing below...making a huge mess.

Naptime had changed for her too.   At first I would put her in her bed and then close her door...just like when she was in her own room.  She would cry and cry and usually never sleep in her bed.  I found her on the floor like below...

and one time I couldn't even get the door open because she was up against the door.  One day, when tucking her in I asked her if she wanted the door open and amazingly enough she said yes.  Even more amazing was that she would actually stay in her bed and she wouldn't cry.  She is now in the habit of just going to lay down and going right to sleep.  I think she has great sleep habits...except that she still does wake up around 6:45 in the morning and on rare occasion will sleep until 8.