She's just started enjoying movies...which is both positive and negative, I suppose. Her "faborite faborite" movie is Toy Story. She picked it out herself as her special prize for keeping her underwear dry 15 times. {Yes, potty training is still a work-in-progress but she is doing great!} She gets so excited when she sees Buzz or Woody or whomever else she actually recognizes. And honestly, I like it so much better than Elmo. {Sorry, Elmo.}
She loves listening to her own music..."my music." Her favorite is definitely "We are the Dinosaurs," but "Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy" are still pretty dope in her book. She used to like MY music, but now not so much. She is demanding. And adamant. And dances to her music, so we deal. {Or I deal I should say...it seems to seriously drive Brad insane.}
She continues to play well independently and often tells me to leave so she can "do it myself!" Including much of the bathroom routine. I watch proudly from the crack in the door as she really can do it by herself! Stools help. She likes to play in my bathroom cupboard but always puts everything back where it belongs, so I don't mind much. "What's this?" and "What's that?" are the most common phrases heard in our household, I'm fairly certain. Also: "where you going?" and "what you doing?" She speaks in full-on sentences but still can't pronounce her "L's" and mixes up some other letters, adorably so.
She's fascinated by stop signs and LOVES pointing them out. I recently taught her about yield signs and now that's another favorite to spot. School buses (or any kind of bus) are the coolest things ever. Trains and planes and motorcycles too.
Resisting sleep is still going strong. For probably a year now she has laid in bed awake, seemingly pondering her day, for sometimes upwards of an hour. And it seemed like she just needed that downtime. She would still go to bed easily and stay quiet but awake. FINE. But lately it is more like two hours. And she has combined it with every delay tactic you can think of and maybe some yelling and screaming thrown in there. And throwing things. It's awful. Bedtime used to be a breeze. And even enjoyable. But it's been months since I could say that. For some reason, she doesn't always put up such a fight when Brad puts her down and I REALLY want to know his technique. It sometimes makes it better when we go back in and accommodate her, but sometimes it makes it way, way worse, so I'm kind of a loss. I dread bedtime. And that makes me sad. So much negotiating with these tiny people!
She has a new friend at school that she made all by herself. She talks about her at home and everything. It makes her seem so grown up. And now when I ask her what she did when I pick her up from school she (occasionally) tells me! Real details! They're typically hard to decipher but we try.
Her current favorite toys include: dinosaurs, her babies (and their clothes, bottles, blankets), dollhouse, bean bin, tea set, blocks, magnetic dress-up dolls, puzzles, gifts bags she uses as purses to "put stuff in," pull toys (frog, alligator), crayons, school bus, and her tricycle.
She still loves the beach and LOVES swimming now. We got a new float and it's awesome. It's nice to have the beach so close, but I wouldn't mind having some cooler temperatures...any day now.
She's about 25 lbs, which is still quite a lightweight but she's our long and lean girl. She likes to dress herself and still insists on wearing "comfy clothes" for naps. She still likes a million blankets and allllll of her "friends" to be in bed with her.
She loves counting things...usually there are TWO of everything {"I'm two!"} but also three, five, or ten. She sings A LOT. But mostly in bed. Her usuals: ABCs, twinkle twinkle, itsy bitsy, the ever-popular happy birthday song. She reads books to herself--usually while doing her business (ahem). Going on a Bear Hunt and Five Little Monkeys are the tops.
Whenever I talk about our baby, she's not all that interested except to note that she has her own baby growing in her belly. But the other day she wanted to say HI to the baby, so I took that as a good sign. We do talk about how she is going to be a big sister and be mama's helper when the baby comes. We read her Big Sister book (when she picks it) but overall I'm just trying to find the balance of not making a big deal out of it, but still talking about it regularly. I'm a wee bit nervous about the whole transition for her, but people do this all the time so I know it's going to be okay.
The girl can throw a mean fit. Like raging her face off fit. I have to remind myself that she has a lot of BIG feelings inside that little body and sometimes they just need to come out. I always always always feel better when I stay calm and in control of the situation, so that is my goal. Although holy wow can it be challenging.
WELL. There is the little miss in a nutshell. A very large, very long nutshell. Since I never kept up with an actual baby book, this is it. DEAL WITH IT.
All in all, I love that little monkey. Even when she cries when I come to pick her up from other people's houses and she screams, MOMMY NO. Even then.
