The Rankin Zoo 

I occasionally get accused of bragging about Coral here at the RankinZoo. First of all, one of the main reasons for this blog is to keep track of how Coral is growing up. Things like when she took her first step, said her first words, etc. So, sometimes I post things in here that sound like bragging but I’m just trying to get it down so I can look back later and see how things went.

Second of all, it’s the RankinZoo - all about the Rankins - and Coral in particular. So, what do you expect?

Anyway, today Coral and I were waiting in the car. She was chattering away about something and then she pointed out a couple of spots on her leg (I’m not sure if they’re freckles or dirt) and said the following (word for word), “There’s one spot, and there’s one spot, and that makes two spots.”

I’m not sure if that qualifies as math or not - but I was pretty surprised to hear her say it. She’s been pretty good about counting items for a while now - although sometimes she loses track or adds on a few at the end for good measure. But I’ve never heard her say anything that sounded at all like adding. Maybe she’ll be doing calculus by New Year’s?

Also, an update on potty training. She uses the potty at least a couple of times a day pretty consistently - but she’s not even close to being reliable. I suspect we’re pretty far off from getting rid of diapers but it’s good to see her showing a little more interest in actually using the potty.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Every time someone asked Coral what she wanted for Christmas she answered with the same three things:

1. A new baby
2. A new tiger
3. Elmo

So it’s not a surprise that Freddie, a friend of hers from nanny share, gave her a new stuffed tiger for Christmas. It’s a really cute, and soft tiger - I like it a lot.

I asked Coral what his name was. She says his name is “Th”.

So now we have:

• Chi-chi-oh: her baby
• Kee-kee-oh: her old tiger
• Th: her new tiger

Every year my company sends out a homemade gift to our clients, friends, and family. This year’s gift was gift tags. Part of the tradition is that no matter how hard we try, we always run into some last minute problems - and this year was no different.

Brian posted about the process this year in the Viget Blog.

The actual VigeTags site is pretty cool too - you should check it out. Be sure to scroll all the way to the left to the tag that I picked out - click on it to get a special holiday message from someone special.

Merry Christmas!

Coral has started showing some interest in using the potty. The other day she was wearing some underwear and I noticed that they were wet. The is the conversation that followed:

Me: “Coral, did you go pee-pee in your underwear?”

Coral: “No”

Me: “Is your underwear wet?”

Coral: “Yes, it’s water.”

Me: “Where did it come from?”

Coral: “From my body.”

Hmmm, sounds a lot like pee-pee to me.

Most nights when I go in to sing Coral some songs before she goes to sleep the light at her bed is still on and we have to turn it off. I usually ask her if I can turn off the light (because when she does it there’s quite a routine we go through).

The night before last I went in there and asked her if I could turn off her light. She looked at me and replied, “of course not.”

One reason I keep this blog is so I’ll be able to go back some day and figure out the first time Coral did something-or-other. I’m sure most people won’t find it to be all that exciting but on Monday Coral used the potty for the first time (number 2). It was quite a surprise for us because up until now Coral has had zero interest in using the potty. We’ll have to see if this is a random thing or if now she’ll be more interested in it.

Also, I understand that Coral was hanging out with her cousin, Eva, and that Eva used the potty (at the mall no less) and so maybe that inspired Coral to give it a try. Who knows.