22 mos, but still waiting on baby #2

Nicollette is now 22 mos old, as of the 4th. As of today, the 15th, still waiting on baby #2. Hopefully Nicollette will be our little helper and not jealous of the littler one when it finally arrives. "Baby" is probably her favorite word and everything she sees seems to be assigned, "mama", "dada," or "baby."

She is showing some signs of being ready to consider potty training on some days and not so much on others, but we have decided to put it off since she will likely regress after the new baby is here and constantly being changed.

We have read her several books about new babies, but I think they may have given her the idea that the baby will just show up, and so often after naps and such she will ask and look for the baby.

Since the last real update in August we have done a few family things. We went to the Omaha German Society Oktoberfest and she seemed to enjoy it. We picked apples a few times at Trees, Shrubs, and More and we just picked up our pumpkins there. She has had a blast decorating the pumpkins with felt stickers I picked up last year. The Target dollar bin ones have worked the best and she has been able to do it over and over a few times.

Grandma has come to visit to help with Nicollette when I go the hospital for the new baby. We had her show up before the due date to get to know her routine and that is going better than expected. She was quickly playing with Grandma and is usually OK with staying with her while we leave.

As with many toddlers, Nicollette can be a picky eater, but she currently can say and always wants "cheese." Although it took about two weeks for her to say it that clearly. She surprised us by first saying it while we were eating samples at Whole Foods. Sometime it seems she eats the same foods for lunch over and over. Usually for dinner she at least tries to eat what we are eating.

Bedtime is the other common toddler problem. We are trying to get her to go to bed for either of us, cuddling in our room and then into her toddler bed, but sometimes that doesn't go so well and other nights she goes down more quickly. Still usually insists on "mama" and "no dada." She still often wakes up in the middle of the night and want to cuddle with "mama" in the air mattress that I still have next to her toddler bed.

Will all this going on I do wonder how she is going to do with my overnight in the hospital. Even with a healthy delivery, you are in the hospital about 2 days.

One of her little playmates is moving and I am sad to not see them grow up more together, but they had fun while they lived in the same place. Wish we could have done more with them this last few weeks, but the end of pregnancy just seems so exhausting. We have skipped church the last few weeks, where she often sees her. Plus who want to risk going into labor during church.