Pullern!

Evie is now completely half-way potty trained. Any time she needs to go Number 1 she suddenly and quickly exclaims "Avoll pullen!" which translated is "Ich will pullern" which loosely translated means "I need to pee."

Whoever is nearest then flies her to the bathroom (or sometimes she just hops or gallops) sets her upon her kiddie-seat throne and she puts her hand to her ear to make sure you're listening, and then lets it go.

When she's done, she hops down the little step we set in front of the toilet, and insists "I do myself!" She pulls up her pants, flushes the toilet, washes her hands, and returns to receive her daily dose of adulation for her great accomplishment. (William on the other hand makes a game of forgetting each step, so I have to remind him -- every time -- to flush and wash when he's done.)

Evie has even made it through naps staying dry. Not long after she wakes, sure enough, she exclaims, "Avoll pullen!" and bounces off again to the bathroom.

Philips

William can write his own name now, in all caps: WILLIAM. He can also write STOP and MAMA and PAPA (which once came out as MPMP) and EVIE (or sometimes EVEI).

A couple days ago he showed me a piece of paper where he had written HARRY POTTER -- no joke -- in all caps, complete with the jagged letters that he copied from the front of the DVD case. It was quite impressive.

Then a day later, he showed me that same paper with the jagged HARRY POTTER, but he had added PHILIPS. It took me a second, then I realized he had copied it off the front of the TV. I started laughing and congratulated him again on his achievement.

Evie

A while ago as I was writing the Milk Teeth post, a favorite bedtime scene played in my mind. I saved it as a draft but never returned to it. I think it might have started out of my realization that I needed to write more about Evie, that I've spent too much time writing just about William. I've forgotten where it was going, but I still like the image it creates. Here are those two lines I saved:

"I covered her with her blankets, plugged in her pacifier ("ga-ga" in her terms), and gently told her to roll over and close her eyes. She did, I caressed her back and hair a couple times, and turned to check back on William."