Twenty-Six Months

Growing / Her feet seem to grow the quickest of her little body. I swear she outgrows her shoes monthly. Her waist is still teeny tiny, but now she has a little pudgy belly. She has the longest fingers I ever did see on a child, and her fingernails grow like weeds.

Eating / She is a real tyrant in the food department lately. All things she once enjoyed (or shall I say, all healthy things) she no longer likes. I feel like a short order cook, constantly trying to find something that will please her. She is obsessed with yogurt packs (which I’ve recently banned) and is back to drinking kefir at bedtime. She insists on always having the whole piece of anything, for instance, she must have an entire Cliff bar (and out of the wrapper). If I dare break off a piece and hand it to her, she has a meltdown, same with leaving it half wrapped in the wrapper.

Speaking / Her speech never ceases to amaze me. She literally pops up from bed when she wakes and starts telling me stories, either about what she did the day before or what she would like to do that day. She enjoys telling me what she “likes” and what she “loves.” “I like this song mama,” or “I love bunny.”

Learning / She is working on walking up and down stairs. She can do so if there is a handle to hold onto, if not she will resort to crawling instead. She is learning to put on her shoes and take on and off her pants. She has become very good at putting away her own clothes and shoes (sometimes not in the right bins, but close), and she is learning to put away her toys (this skill however, is less desirable to her).

Mastering / She has mastered getting into the pantry and retrieving her own food. She knows where we keep all the goodies and helps herself to a treat (mostly crackers or raisins ). She is sadly mastering the art of tantrums. She is definitely evolving into her terrible two’s and has sudden meltdowns over the slightest things (I believe the behavior is mostly due to extreme tiredness though, the girl won’t nap!).

Loving / She is in love with her blankie, it used to be a plush owl blankie and now its a pink monkey blankie. When she asks for her blankie, paci and bunny, we know its time for bed. She thoroughly loves shutting all the doors in the house and turning on all the lamps.

Loathing / She is terribly afraid of the dark suddenly, she now sleeps with a nightlight that stays on throughout the night and a turtle that illuminates stars on the ceiling. She also requests the hall light to be on and the door left open when she goes to sleep at night. She is still loathing nap time. I put her down every afternoon, and at best, she sleeps 2-3 times each week.

Laughing / Rough housing really gets her going, she loves being thrown on the bed or up in the air, or playing horse on Far’s back. She also finds it quite funny when Ryan and I kiss. She giggles each time we lay one on each other, its really quite cute.

Playing / She loves singing lullabies and dancing around the room. She sings her alphabet frequently and does a mash up of all the lullabies into one (its pretty inventive I must say). She enjoys playing with Playdough and making animal shapes with cookie cutters, and playing with watercolor and paints. She loves doing toddler yoga, we have a great book entitled “Toddler Moves” that she just loves following along with.

Ok, so I missed a month, but I landed this one on her twenty-sixth birthday. That must count for something.