New year, new beginnings with Amelia!

Oh yes, we are trying all sorts of "new" at this house. Here are the top three:

We are starting off the new year with...wait for it... POTTY TRAINING! I know it is a scary thought for me as well. We have already spent the last 6 months getting her used to the potty. From using a big potty out in public. to a little potty at home, she seems to not mind at all where she goes. She seems to understand the question "do you need to go potty". Best of all she seems to like it so far.
 So here we go! We are going to start first thing tomorrow morning with putting her straight on the potty when she gets up and every hour there after. Any advice from you other moms out there would be VERY welcome!

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We are currently using Pampers easy ups. They are great for no leaks when she sleeps and she can feel and see when she goes.
She has a little potty but believe it or not, will go alot more in a regular potty.
Our goal is to be in panties by the time she is two (which is in another 6 months). Yes I know there will be set back, there will be accidents. I am just hoping we can get this down and be outta of diapers soon.
So wish us luck on this new scary endeavor.

Another new beginning this year is... drinking out of a regular cup. She so wants to drink out of a cup. She begs us every day to, but the mess is crazy! water ends up on the floor, she ends up soaked to the bone, like I said mess.
However we may have found a solution!

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This cup is the ideal transition cup for growing toddlers. It helps your toddler transition to grown up drinking, without the mess. The unique spill-proof valve is lip activated and allows drinking from all around the rim, just like an adult cup. 9-ounce capacity.

The Avent training cup. Now we have only tried this the last two nights at dinner, but it seems to be doing the trick. The first night she still soaked her self, but thank goodness for bibs that soak up all that. The second night Success! She drank out of it alot slower and did not get any on her bib (talk about one happy mama). We are hoping to do this for at least a month and then slowly transition to a regular cup.

Last we are starting to work on words at least twice a day for 15-30 mins. It is hard to keep Amelia entertained for this long but I have found many resources to help with that. From picture books, to flash cards, to drawing, it all seems to keep that toddler attention. 

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Right now we are just using these flash cards that I found at our local dollar general for a dollar. I am hoping to expand on this later.

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We are using the flash card app: 

Called My first App. It is great for showing lots of pictures and a variety of cards from animals to body parts. It is also easy for Amelia to use and play with in the car.

We also have a couple of picture books and I personally love those because she love to repeat the animal sounds back to me as we are looking.

Last the drawing. We try and draw a couple of letters and pictures together and then color each one a different color. Its fun and keeps her attention. 

So that's the new for this new year. We have a lot of ground to cover, but I love this new stage we are in. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and teach my daughter all these new things!

I hope all of you are having a happy new year!

GOD BLESS!!!