Addison the 2-Year Old, November Edition!

Halloween
Back in September, we began asking Addison what she wanted to be for Halloween. She said "Tangled" (Rapunzel) right off the bat, and only a couple times said Cinderella. So come October I went out shopping for Addison's Rapunzel costume. I got it a week or so before Halloween and Addison was so excited she wore it right away.
A few days before Halloween we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. We didn't get very fancy at all, just the basic jack-o-lantern, but it was enough to entertain Addison and she had fun helping us scoop out the goo.
Halloween was on a Monday so I took the day off of work to be able to take Addison trick-or-treating right away at 4pm. Grandma Simon came down to visit for the day too! We played in the backyard and walked to Green Park. My plan was to get her dressed in her costume around 3:30....but of course, around 3pm, Addison fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie. I woke her up just before 4 and she was very crabby. It was a struggle to get her into her costume, but once it was one she was very excited and ready to go trick-or-treating.
We hit up our block right away and Addison loved every minute of it. She got very good at saying "trick-or-treat" and thank you for the candy she received. We took a break for dinner and then headed back out around 7pm to hit up another few houses.
Addison had a great time and was very excited about all the candy she got - for many days she asked us for candy repeatedly :)

Let's Go to the Mall!
As the shorter days and colder weather of fall and winter have rolled in, our time spent at Green, Little and Big Parks in our neighborhood have been few and far between. Filling that void is the play area at Woodfield Mall. On weekends and on days off of work, we've been frequent visitors to Woodfield - doing some early Christmas shopping and other errands. It's been very easy to take Addison along with us as she perks up as soon as we mention the mall. "Can I go to the play area?" - and of course that is a part of every trip to the mall.
It can be pretty crazy in there on days when it is crowded. Sometimes there have been mean kids or push or shove or are bossy that have upset Addison, other times it can be so crowded in there it is nerve-wracking for us to keep an eye on her the whole time. But all in all she has a great time. She has her couple favorite spots she likes to play on, and frequently runs over to "check in" with us - which I like :)
Addison also loves to go on the escalators and elevators. We usually go in the JC Penney's entrance and she now knows exactly where to go to get to the elevator when we walk in the door.

Potty Time!
In October, we could say that Addison was potty trained at home. However, when we'd be out and about in the world we still used pull-ups most of the time. In November, we kicked it up a notch. We prepared ourselves for accidents, but began to take Addison out w/o pull-ups. Thus far, we have never experienced an accident (knock on wood!). Every time we are at the mall, aside from us asking her every once in awhile if she has to go - she tells us that she has to go on the potty AND holds it as we make our way to the bathroom - which at shopping malls aren't always the most convenient!
So when we are with Addison, we could say she was 100% potty trained (except over night we still use pull-ups). She would wake up from naps on her own and go sit on the potty by herself (and just call for us when she was done!) Even sometimes when we'd be running around the house playing and she would just stop and run into the bathroom to go all on her own. It was really awesome and we were so proud.
However,  the biggest frustration was that we could NOT get her to go at Auntie Lorie's during the day. Auntie Lorie's was the final frontier as she would get VERY upset anytime Lorie would ask her to go on the potty. In November, I started taking her over there in undies to see if that would help her break the seal - but she still fought it and had several accidents with Auntie Lorie.
So, then I started bringing her "Toodles Potty" to see if that would help the transition. There was still resistance from Addison and it was so frustrating trying to figure out what was going on in her head. We'd ask her why she doesn't want to go potty at Auntie Lorie's and she'd just say "cuz I don't want to!"
After a few days of taking Toodles Potty over there, she did finally go a couple times on her own potty at Auntie Lorie's but still had accidents. Then around Thanksgiving, Addison started transitioning to wanting to go on the big potty more and more often. This was what finally broke Addison's resistance over at Auntie Lorie's and she finally began going on the potty over there. In the morning, she would tell me "I don't want to bring Toodles Potty. I'll just go on Auntie Lorie's big potty!"
Our hope was that she would be fully trained before Baby Punkin arrives, and I have no doubt that she will be. Just yesterday, she was watching a movie in  our room by herself, got out of our bed, went into her bathroom, tuned on the light, closed the door and pulled down her pants to go #1 & #2 all on her own. She called us when she was all done - and we were SO proud of her! She certainly enjoys the attention and praise she gets for going - so I think the battle has been won!


Our Little Pop Star
In November, Addison got on a big kick of singing "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King. There's really no way to describe it that does her performance justice, so I'll just say it is hilarious. She sings it in a funny voice and shakes her little hips around. She doesn't sing it quite right, but she's consistent in the melody that she has come up with so that adds to the hilarity!
Addison likes singing a lot of songs. Some of her other favorites are "Moves Like Jaggar" and LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It." The first time she sang that song, it totally caught us off guard and we were dying! The best part is that at first when we'd sing it, she'd say, "No! I'M sexy and YOU know it!" Oh, she's so funny!
And in just the last couple weeks she's started saying "buttock" instead of "butt." We have no idea where that came from, other than perhaps in 'Shrek' he says that once. That has expanded into Addison turning around and shaking her butt and singing, "Shake your booty-tock!" Seriously hilarious. We really need to make sure to catch all of this on video for when she is in high school ;)

Now we are into the Christmas season - I'm sure this year is going to be even more fun than last year because now she knows it's coming. Last year, it was all about teaching her about Christmas and showing her everything. This year, she's got it down and already knows to say "I want that for Christmas!" Ohhh, boy!
Merry Christmas, everyone! Stay tuned for the Addison - Christmas entry in a month or so!