thirty-three months

I love how she cups my face in her hands right before she falls asleep and says "I love you, mommy. Too much." I've been telling her that I love her "too much" since the day she was born and it kills me that she picked up on it. I smile every time she says it. I love how after she's wound down to go to sleep and I leave her room how she ALWAYS comes out for one last check before going to sleep. I walk her back to her bed and tuck her in and give her a kiss and tell her goodnight. She onlys needs the reassurance once and I love that.

I love how she asks for a boost to go up her slide the wrong way and on her way up says "boosting, boosting, boosting" as she goes up. She tries to get all the way up on her feet and turns around and does this adorable little dance when she makes it. I love that she always wants to go explore the neighborhood for new friends and how she's always disappointed when no one is outside playing. If someone is outside, watch out, because she isn't even going to entertain going home until they go home. She bought lemonade from a couple of girls on the street yesterday and she was so proud of herself. She even told me that she didn't even spill it.

I love how she asks to be pushed on the swing but jumps off the second the swing starts moving. She's scared of swings but won't admit it. She always tells me that Cameron likes to swing a lot higher than her but "that's OK" almost like she's trying to convince herself that it is OK to be super, duper cautious about everything.

I love how she tells me that she is going to get a popsicle for going on the potty even though her pullup is soaking wet. And she KNOWS it. I think she thinks that I might not notice the pee or something.

I love how she tells me that everything is "beautiful" and how she asks to put on a "beautiful dress" every night before she takes her bath. She gets the dress on and immediately starts spinning. I love how she thinks dresses have to have no sleeves. If I try to put a dress on her that has sleeves she cries and throws herself on the floor and says "this is NOT a dress, mommy. I want a beautiful dress."

I love how she stomps her little feet and says "Mommy carry me!" all of the time. If Daddy offers to carry her, well, that's just not good enough. I love how she tells me that she wants to read ALL of her books before bed. She doesn't want to pick one, she wants ALL of them. I mean, seriously, she has like 200 books on the shelf in her room. We'd be reading well into tomorrow if we tried to read them all.

I love how she wants to sit on the kitchen counter and eat her dinner while I'm cooking it. It is sooo annoying that she's already done eating by the time dinner is made but it is adorable that she wants to help. She's gotten pretty good at measuring ingredients and stirring stuff for me. I love how she says that things happened "last morning" instead of yesterday. When I correct her she says "Yeah, last morning." IT'S WHAT I SAID MOM, GET A GRIP.

She loves to paint, color, play with chalk...anything artistic. She's started coloring within the lines of her coloring books and it kills me that she paints Baby Jaguar brown because "he is brown, Mommy!" It seems like just yesterday she'd draw one line on the paper and then walk away, now she'll sit there for HOURS.

The teachers at school are always commenting on how easy-going and pleasant she is and talk all the time about how she's always smiling. I think she reserves her bad behavior for when I'm around. And there has been a fair share of bad behavior lately...mostly notably her complete refusal to even try to keep her pullup dry or to go on the potty when asked.
I love how she lets her brother see her artwork from school and how she'll give him the extra one if she has two of something. Now, if there's only one of something, she's not all that great about sharing but if there is two, there is no one she'd rather share with than her brother. I love how she says "Here Cameron, you can have this" and shoves it in his face even if he doesn't want it. 
She always tells me that me and Mr. Tiger are her best friends and you know I was thinking the other day that she's my best friend too. There is no one I'd rather spend my days with, no one I'd rather curl up on the couch and watch a show with, no one that I would rather cuddle up next to and fall asleep. She my best girl, Renee, my one and my only girl.

Comments

[Nicole]

I am going to duck right after I type this, because I know you are going to want to swing at me for writing it, but . . . when did she become a little girl?! She has become a preschooler in the blink of an eye! Good luck with the beautiful dress thing - that has just amplified by 1,000 as the months go on in our house!

Beautiful shots, as always!

[AmandaH]

So cute! Too funny about the dress--so it looks like she'll wear sleeves under it, but not ones that are attached?? Geez!! So funny how they get their little ideas.
"Last morning"...for my boy it is "Just yesterday" but he means it for anything that happened previously! So like, Xmas stories, they were "just yesterday."
Cute girl!!

[Lindsey]

She is so beautiful! The hair just cracks me up. It is getting so long!