The News at 30 Months (2.5 years!)

Shame, shame, shame on me.  I haven't posted one of these updates about Audrey in five months.  It is NOT looking good for Baby Boy ever having hope of me recording his life and milestones.


Ah, well.  What you can when you can, right?  So here:


At two and a half, she is simultaneously becoming more independent and dependent by the day.  She can do so much by herself, but she also longs for a lot of interaction and socialization, specifically with adults.  She is incredibly verbal and talks constantly, so she prefers having someone who will listen and respond to all those thoughts in her little head!  


Her vocabulary, verb conjugation, and overall verbal ability never cease to amaze me.  She uses past, present, and future tense correctly about 75% of the time.  Most of the new words she's using lately astound me mainly because they illustrate that she's also grasping a difficult concept.  For example, she'll explain that she "accidentally opened the wrong day on the advent calendar" (which she did when I left her unattended with it) or that one out of the three dolls she was playing with sits up the "easiliest"  (okay, so she didn't quite have the exact phrasing correct, but it still impressed me!)  She also uses pronouns and possessive nouns (she vs. her, his cup instead of him's cup, etc.) correctly most of the time.
Her slang and casual vocabulary are pretty funny to hear as well, especially when she refers to David as "Dad", as if she's just too grown to say "Daddy."    


Another crazy thing for us to witness developing is her memory.  You cannot say anything you don't mean because she'll hold you to it.  She's always been one to harp on things continuously, but the difference is that now she could go weeks or months in between bringing it up and is still able to recall it with accurate clarity.  Yesterday, for example, we went to meet some friends at Chick-fil-A.  She told me how the last time we saw them was at their house and the time before that (about two weeks ago), they came to our house.  That time, Mrs. Karen went to go get Chick-fil-A and bring it to us and her friend cried while her mommy was gone and then we played play-dough.  She also remembers our beach trip in September (and wants to talk about it all the time), our visit to the pumpkin patch in October, our trip to Savannah in November, meeting Baby James in the hospital (totally to our advantage so we can remind her of that when our time comes!), etc.  And Lord help you if you skip a page or say the wrong words from a book.  She knows most of them by heart and will correct you immediately.


Potty training has markedly improved, though I still wouldn't say we're there yet.  Her record is five days without an accident, but then she'll have two wet incidents in one day out of nowhere.  She still sleeps in diapers and we're still taking her at regular times - before we leave the house, after meals, & once every hour when we're out - so I don't think that really counts.  I think the truth of the matter is that we're finally trained.  I will consider her fully there when she can take herself to the bathroom, go, wipe, flush, wash, and dry without my assistance.  I expect that'll happen by the time she's ten.  At this point, I'd just settle for not having to remember on her behalf and her taking ownership of it.  One day.  


She still loves to sing and dance, read books, play with her dolls, and be outside.  The past few months, she has also really gotten into helping me cook.  She'll drag a chair over to the counter, climb on, and help add ingredients and stir.  Her imagination is thriving and I would LOVE to know where she comes up with some of the stuff she does (see quips and quotes below.)  She makes up words, songs, and dances all the time.  She enjoys doing mazes, is getting great at counting objects (though she still skips 15 almost every time), and even has a vague concept of things like time and addition.


Her overall personality is still a mix of both David and me.  She can be shy, especially in a large crowd (David), she's very observant (David), and inquisitive (David).  She likes her order and routine, sometimes to a fault (me), has a temper and gets frustrated with objects (me), and is impatient (me)...hey, wait...why is all the negative stuff from me?!?!  Truthfully, I think it's easier for me to spot areas in her that I know she'll struggle with because they're my battles too.  Though she doesn't have a sibling yet, I can see many first born traits emerging:  she's a leader, she's a perfectionist about many things, she has a strong sense of right vs. wrong and a desire to please us.  She likes rules and boundaries, and she really likes making sure others follow them as well.  In fact, her stuffed animals seem to get put into time out a lot.  Her caring and nurturing heart is so precious, but as a two and a half year old, she's obviously still very self-centered.  So, as long as she doesn't have a boo-boo too, she'll be more than happy to doctor yours up and fuss over you.


Speaking of self-centeredness, we've tried hard to instill a sense of gratitude and the desire to help and serve others since before she could walk.  Lately, she's been able to earn a coin, usually a nickel, to give to our church's Feed 5000 project every time she helps us empty the dishwasher.  (We are firm believers in doing chores and helping out because you're part of a family, not for an allowance or reward, but we thought it would be good to have one activity she could do to raise money for a project our church was doing.  We'll tackle saving, spending, and tithing down the road.)  So, for a few weeks, she collected all the coins in a box and we kept stressing why she was doing it.  When people would come over, we'd let her show them her box and explain that she was going to give it to the church to help them buy food for people who needed it.  Let me just tell you that few things have warmed my heart as a mom as much as watching her tiny hands carry her little plastic bag full of coins and dump it into the bucket at church two weeks ago.  Of course, she has since asked for it back, so we've started another round of collecting for the church.  


To balance all my bragging and boasting, I will add that her whining is still an issue.  It's not necessarily when she requests something, so it's more than just asking her to rephrase it in a big girl voice.  Instead, she'll whine if  she doesn't want to eat something, we don't respond right away, or we are taking too long to pay attention to her.  It is nails on a chalkboard to me and I haven't found a good solution for it yet other than consistent reminders and time-outs when needed.  Just leaving her and going for a drive, though tempting, seems a little irresponsible.


Her eating and sleeping habits haven't changed much in the last six months to a year.  She eats most everything, though we're keeping her off of peanut butter and peanuts because it appears to cause a little rash around her mouth.  Some day I'll take her in for an allergy test. Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, pizza, and cookies, though I assure you those are enjoyed sparingly.  She still naps from 2pm - 4pm, goes to bed around 8:30pm, and gets up at 8am.  She has been taking a long time to fall asleep at night, so I imagine after Christmas we'll be adjusting her to a shorter nap.  This makes me sad, but I know Baby Boy isn't going to sleep for longer than an hour and a half or so once he gets past the first month, so I guess it'll get me readjusted to those shorter naps.  




Here are some funny quotes and quips from her over the past few weeks and months:


 - "There are no clouds in the sky today.  They must be on the ground somewhere.  I'll use a stool to put them back up and then fly, fly, fly back down into your van, Mommy."


 - She's learned to "do a secret" as she calls it.  She puts her little hands around her mouth and whispers just quietly enough so the neighbors can't hear.  


 - Me:  "We did a great job cooking dinner, didn't we?  AJ:  "Yup.  You're welcome."


 - She calls the scar on my forehead a music note.  Because it's actually two scars right beside each other - a chicken pox scar and a vertical line - that's what it looks like to her.


 - A few months ago she told a random sales lady that "My parents don't play with me because they're older.  And they don't pay any attention to my brother and sister."  WHAT in the WORLD?  Nice, kid.  


-  AJ:  "Can you toss me a grape, Dad?"  (David obliges.)  "Thanks."


 - I was explaining to her that I wasn't sure her Daddy was going to let her do something. She answered, "Yes he will! I'll say 'pweeeeeeese' [batting eyelashes] and he'll smile, and laugh, and say, 'Okay!'" Oh boy.


 -  When answering her about what was for dinner I said chicken. She said "No way, Jose" with feigned shock. Guess getting the sarcasm gene was inevitable.


 - Words she says incorrectly that are too darn cute to correct: Burriteo (burrito), pennio (piano), and "bless yous" are sneezes.

 - When we asked her what we should name her baby brother, she replied "Zeke."  It's the name of one of her dolls (a girl, no less) and I believe she got it from the show Sid the Science Kid.  


 - She's very complimentary of other people and, sometimes, their attire or accessories.  She told one sitter she "just loved" her purse and told her Grandmom that she "loved her socks.  They're so cool!"  


 - In addition to throwing out the compliments, she's very gracious at receiving them.  Whether you compliment something she's wearing or something she had no part in (our Christmas tree, for example) she'll say "Thanks!"


 - She is obsessed with different things - stuffed animals, her fingers, her food...whatever - having Momma and baby pairs.


 - I knocked over some picture frames at a store the other day (thankfully none broke!) and I said "Oh no!" as I bent down to pick them up.  She came rushing over, patted me on the back and kept repeating, "It's okay, sweetheart!  It's okay!"  


 - When we use the "big potties" at stores, I squat down beside her and let her lean on me a bit to stabilize herself.  Sometimes I'll scratch her back to try and get her to relax.  When it's my turn to go, she'll ask, "Can you lean on my shoulder now?" or she'll come around and scratch my back.  A very sweet moment, albeit in a disgusting public restroom.  


 - She's loved learning all of the Christmas songs.  Her favorite is "Jingle Bells" to which she sings "In a one horse soap and sleigh."  She knows those aren't the right words, but she'll just say, "I sing it wrong don't I?  I'm so silly!"


 - She's very concerned about her Grandmom "having a friend" when her Granddad travels.


 - Her bedtime prayers are so precious to hear.  They range from being about Baby Brother (and I think something to the effect of "do everything for him".  Maybe so we don't have to?!) to being about her Granddad's travels to specific people and their boo-boos.  


 - She loves saying the wrong word on purpose or making up silly words.  It cracks her up when David uses different fruits for the book "Ten Apples Up on Top".


 - After bath, she runs into our room and does the hotdog dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while she's naked.  It's hilarious.


 - She's becoming more aware of different emotions and will tell us when she's mad, upset, tired, etc.  The other night she even told us she had started to fret about something.  

 - One night during prayer, David peeked down at her and saw her using her two pointer fingers to cover up her doll's eyes.


 - Manners have really started to stick without constant reminders.  She's pretty good at "please", "thank you", and "excuse me".  Of course, she still has trouble with tone sometimes as she demands that you "please do x right now!"


 - She constantly wants to be a part of the conversation if you are rude enough not to automatically include her or speak to her directly.  We must hear "What are you talking about?" a hundred times a day.  


 -  She and I have a thing we've started doing where she'll tell me I'm the best and then I tell her she is.  We argue back and forth until I usually relent first.  Still, I know she is...by far. :)


We are so proud (obviously) of what a sweet big girl she is becoming and, though we are a bit nervous about handling two little ones, we know she's going to mature quickly when Baby Boy arrives and be an amazing big sister!