thirty-one months

The girl turned thirty-one months the other day. And yes, I'm still counting. I can hardly believe she's been around that long. I have a serious backlog of pictures to post of her because she's been sort of liking my camera these days. It's been a nice change of pace.

She's started wanting to play dress-up and I will not tell a lie: I'm HAPPY about it. Like, when I saw this picture, my heart sighed. My little girl...it's not exactly that I want her to be a girlie girl in the end but I'd like her to be girlie girl when she's two :) I bought this dress on clearance for like $7 when she was like two weeks old and I've been just waiting to pull it out. Also, what she is doing with her hands in this picture? It KILLS ME. I always wonder where a girl is supposed to put her hands when she is getting her picture taken. Her poor baby brother paid the price though because if she is going to dress up like a princess surely we need to find something for Cammon to wear too. (I'm sorry, Sunny. Sort Of.)

For 30 months of her life she was The Sleeper. She went to sleep easily and stayed there. Her brother was the one that we cursed about at bedtime. Simulataneously, Cameron learned how to sleep in his crib like a normal baby and Renee decided she doesn't really want to be in hers. OF COURSE SHE DID. It would surely be way too much to ask to have a night or two of sleep in this house. I'm not sure if it is the new bed or what but bedtime has become a battle with her.

She wants ONE! MORE! SHOW! or a snack or MORE MILT! or OHMYGOD THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IF I DON'T GET TO PLAY WITH MY STICKER BOOK RIGHT THIS INSTANT. There is no worse feeling in the world than ending an otherwise perfectly happy day with dragging your kid kicking and screaming back to her bed for the 15th time. She hasn't been falling asleep until like 10PM and then getting up about 17 times in the middle of the night. It is slowly but surely sucking the life out of me.

She started pre-school this month and I'm not sure what to think about how it is going. She MELTS DOWN at drop off but is smiling and well-rested and excited to show me the pretty pictures she made when I pick her up at the end of the day. Her teachers are always saying how great she did and talking about how much fun she had but when I ask her about it she says she doesn't want to go back there. I'm going to give it another month or so and then look for something else for her if it doesn't get any better. I can't deal with her turning into Satan Herself within seconds of me mentioning going to pre-school.

Potty training has been, how do I say it, INTERESTING. Last weekend we went cold turkey at home and started putting her on the potty every 45 minutes. She managed to stay dry all day and her only accident was when she pooped. I was all excited and then she went to daycare for a day and then to pre-school and then back to daycare and when Friday got here and I started trying to get her to do it again, she was having NONE of it. She peed ON MY BED that day and I was so FRUSTRATED because I feel like the whole thing is totally out of my control. It took me all weekend to hype it back up and Sunday she stayed dry all day again and was proud of herself for going and now she's back to daycare. RUNNING IN CIRCLES CHASING OUR TAILS. Progress is progress, I guess. I'm so proud of her when she goes. I was sitting in there with her yesterday and I seriously almost teared up about my kid pissing in the toilet. PA-THE-TIC.

She got her first haircut this month which basically amounted to me allowing someone to cut her rat tail off. You know how biker dudes have that long, thin, gross braid in the back? Yeah, she was totally rocking that look. I was so worried that trimming it off would kill the curls but I'm happy to say that they didn't go anywhere. And she looks so much more grown up now.

She let me put her hair in a ponytail but I had to tell her that it was a "princess braid." Becky at daycare had tried a few times to put a ponytail in her hair and I don't know if she pulled it too hard or what but the kid hears the word ponytail and she bolts like I'm going to try to tie it in knots or something.

She thinks her brother is funny and she mimicks the sounds he is making. When I tell her that "Ma Mi" is his way of asking for more milk, the next time she asks for milk, she says it exactly like that. I love that she still calls him Cammon and once in a while I even catch her slipping him special treats.

There are a couple of books that she thinks are really funny and when I get to the page before the page she thinks is funny she starts laughing with her whole body. She gets herself to the point where she laughs solidly for like 10 straight minutes. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.

She still loves stickers and I am sooooo tired of them being stuck to everything all over my house. I find stickers in my hair, all over the furniture, the other day I found a sticker stuck to the TOILET.

She says "I asted really nice" after she makes a request and when she really wants her way. She says PWEEEAASE and thank-you and excuse me at the proper times. I think it is hilarious that she still uses the T sound for the K sound. She says it like it's totally right and when I correct her and try to get her to make the T sound, she says MILTTTT with the emphasis on the T and looks at me like I'm an idiot for correcting her because she is totally right.

She loves to play tag. It used to be "run with me, Mommy" where I chased her around the house and she squealed with joy but now she wants to chase me as soon as I catch her.

She's obsessed with finding matches for things. Like, if she finds two cards with the number 4 on them she'll come running over to me and say "Mommy, they MATCH." She's knows all of her letters, numbers, shapes, colors. We've started spelling words now and she gets a kick out of that.

She plays pretty much exclusively with puzzles and legos. She's starting to pretend in weird ways, like the other day she made "seeds" out of playdoh and "planted" them all over the carpet. When I went to pick them up she FLIPPED OUT because she was watering them so that they would grow into "beautiful flowers."

I was hoping to escape from the phase where she blatantly ignores everything I say but we're there. Hello, three year old. I'm going to need medication to stop from flipping out because seriously. I KNOW YOU HEAR ME SO QUIT PRETENDING LIKE YOU DON'T. It is so frustrating.

This Dora fairy costume that my sister Jen got her for Christmas is pretty much her uniform of choice. I love how she flaps her wings and flies around the house.

She still loves Mr. Tiger the best. When I took this picture she was looking at him telling him that she missed him when he left and that she loves him very much. I love that she calls him (and the rest of her stuffed animals) "friends."

She's my girl, my best girl, and she always will be. She won't even let her dad put her coat on most days because she wants Mommy to do it. I have to admit that I secretly sort of like that part. She's no dummy, she knows who loves her best ;)

Comments

[Lindsey]

She is so beautiful! And OMG - I'm sorry, but the pic of Cam in a tutu is PRICELESS! LOL

[heather]

gorgeous girl, gorgeous pictures, gorgeous memories for you and for her :)

[Kellie]

You take some amazing pictures!!

Her in her dress and rain boots is a favorite. So is Cam in the tutu :)

[jenny]

she's so adorable. :) great way to document everything so you don't forget a single thing.

tucker is going through the same things with bedtimes. driving me crazy. hopefully someday (soon) it's all just a bad memory - haha!