Meredith got a happy gram today.  Her teacher's name is Ms. Moore, and at snacktime she said, "Moore, more crackers please" and made the signs for more and please.  Her teachers were very impressed at her big sentence and that she knew the difference between Ms. Moore and more.

Meredith has also been counting things - cheerios, buttons, etc.  She loves to count to 10!

So last week Meredith was very, very interested and very consistent in her potty usage - she went (3 times pee, 2 times poop) every night.  So Saturday morning I was all ready to spend the day focused on potty training . . . but she said no and refused to go altogether.  Oh well.  We'll try again later!

I never thought I'd be writing in such excited terms about poop and pee, but I'm happy to report that Meredith had a poopy in the potty tonight!  Yesterday and the night before she peed.  She is really catching on to this - now she just needs to get comfortable with the potty at school.

We went to Tampa to celebrate "fake" Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Eric, Aunt Cheryl, Ryan, Aunt Cynthia, and Cynthia's boyfriend Brian.  Meredith and Ryan got along great!  Grandma pulled out the slide that all the kids used growing up, and Meredith and Ryan took turns going up the ladder and sliding down backwards, and sending toys down the slide respectively.  Meredith (and Mom and Dad) racked up on great presents - books, Little People, a Fifi the Poodle jack-in-the-box, a mascot for the Vancouver Winter Olympics . . . plus she got to play with all the retro toys from Dad's childhood.  Meredith was sad to go home and hopes to see everyone again soon.

We are in no way ready to take on the challenge of potty training yet, but since Meredith has shown an interest in going to the bathroom with Mommy and asking about it, and telling us when she is going potty (sometimes), we thought we'd get her a potty of her own and letting her get used to the idea.  She has enjoyed sitting on it and opening and closing the compartment for wipes.

This morning Meredith watched Sesame Street.  Hours afterward, she sang the theme song for the Elmo segment (really, she did - the "la la la la, Elmo's Song").

At snack time, she counted her fruit - and when she got to six she really had six pieces of fruit in front of her.  She did this all by herself - no prompting!

We shopped for new shoes today at Nordstrom.  Apparently her feet are size 5 or 5 1/2 instead of the 4's she's been wearing (and the 4 1/2's I bought most recently).  She was really excited about trying on shoes - she picked up a bunch off of the display, and loved it when our sales guy put them on her feet, then she got to walk around and see herself in the mirror with them on.  She kept saying "Shoes!"  So she got 2 new pairs of shoes today. 

Sadly, Meredith was sick today - she got sent home from school and Daddy took good care of her.  She felt pretty good most of the time, though, and she managed to meet a milestone we've been looking for for a while.  She said her name!

We had fun watching football at Amelia's house tonight.  Meredith played with Amelia's new toys with Graham and Amelia's cousin Leena.  She also ate a ton of lima beans.  (Who knew?)

We also got to meet baby Reece at Crack and Jaime's!  Meredith was a trouper to make it to 2 parties in 1 night.