31 months

My little girl is another month older. Time sure flies. You are seeming more and more "grown up" and mature every day.

This month when I went to the dentist, you came with me to see what it was all about. You have your first dentist appointment in a few weeks. The dentist told me that not only should I be brushing your teeth for 2 minutes (thanks to your Jungle Book singing toothbrush) but I should also be flossing your teeth. So we have started doing that. I was very surprised at how you actually like it. I am sure the novelty will wear off soon and it will become a battle before long.


I love your hair. It is getting so long. Somehow you have curls all over but not too tight. When it is wet I realize how long it really it. You like to brush it to "make it longer like mommy's". It is a lot shorter in front. I am not sure why but it has not grown very evenly. Some days it looks really cute and some days it goes every which way. I try to get you to wear your hair in pigtails or at least a clip so that it stays out of your face but you hate it and pull them out. Notice the tears in this picture because I made you wear pigtails. We took them out right after the picture but don't they look cute?
You are a great helper with your baby sister. You bring me burp cloths, diapers, wipes and the "floatie pillow", otherwise known as a boppy (used for nursing). Sometimes it is hard for you to give it up because you are having so much fun pretending to go swimming. With the weather cooling off we try to enjoy ourselves outside more, especially in the evenings. We often eat outside on the patio and then daddy and I talk while you play in the sandbox. You like to dump the sand on the patio and then use the broom and dustpan to clean it up. You say and do the funniest things. Here are a few of the funny conversations we have had this month:

• "I told my teacher I do the hokey pokey with my mom and my dad and my baby sister". Really, oh yes, I remember when all of is did the hokey pokey in the den. What? We have never done that silly girl!
• "I hungy. I need food in my tummy."
• "I like snakes" Ick!
• "Daddy, I need shoes to keep my socks warm." Said after daddy explained that socks will keep your feet warm.

Here is a conversation in the car:
K-Mom, I need sunscreen.
Me - Why sweetie?
K - So I don't burn my fingers on my french fries.
That is logical. I told her that sunscreen was so the sun did not burn her. Why not use it for other hot things?

When you tell a story you can get really dramatic and use large hand gestures. Daddy and I crack up.

At Nana's you have a lot of fun playing with stickers. They are actually old return address labels but you enjoy them just the same. For some reason you decided that you needed to put them on your leg. You completely covered both legs with return address labels. Silly girl.

You are my little buddy. It is so fun to have real conversations with you. Your curiosity is amazing and you soak up new information like a sponge. You have a great memory. Today we had a great time getting a smoothie. It was your reward for not having any accidents at school today. I bought our smoothies and was going to go get in the car to go home. You walked over and sat in the chair. We sat and talked for about 10 minutes before going home. It was so fun to hear all about your school day. It gave me a glimpse into many years of being friends.
You are really enjoying your new Sunday school class. You love the puppets, songs, playground and story time. On the way home we always ask you what you learned and through questioning can usually figure out the lesson. It helps that at the beginning of the school year they always start with Creation. Here is one dialogue:
Mom: What did you learn at church today?
K: Adam and Eve
Mom: What did they do?
K: They hiding.
Mom: Why were they hiding?
K: They were silly.
Mom: Who were they hiding from?
K: God, they not obey God.

After each week's lesson we try to review it all week long so that it sticks in your head.

Two is such a challenging age. You are growing up and learning so many things. You have been in a bit of a rough spot with potty training. It is very frustrating because you have been out of diapers for so long and I would really expect you to not have many accidents. I have learned though that I cannot make you use the bathroom, eat or sleep on demand. Those are things that you can control. You often want to skip a nap. You say that you are not sleepy. There have been days that it has taken an hour to get you down. But, you do eventually take a nap every day and it is usually for 2 hours so I would say that you still need a nap. Today you really fought it and finally gave out sleeping with your legs in the gap between the bed and the wall. It doe snot look comfortable but you slept a long time.

You are trying all kinds of stall techniques at naptime and bed time. If one of us says, "let's go read books in your room", you reply that you do not want to go to bed. You know what is coming. You stall by choosing books, finding your baby, sitting on the potty for a long time and even brushing your teeth. All of these things are a part of your routine yet you try to draw it out as long as possible. When we leave your room you want us to leave the door open a little. I think you get scared if it is closed all the way. Lately though it has caused problems as you get out of bed to come find us. We need to put a stop to that. Funny how as a child you try to avoid sleep and now as an adult I wish I could get more.

You L O V E your daddy. I love watching the two of you interact. He can't wait until you are old enough to work on the truck with him and I know you can't wait either. Any time he goes out to the workshop you want to go sit in the truck and watch. You rarely get to though because the workshop is not the safest place for a 2 year old.
You have started to want to use your stool all the time. You have two lightweight plastic stools and a larger wooden stool. You will carry one to where you want to see something. I am amazed that you can carry your wooden stool all the way from your bathroom (where it belongs) to the kitchen. In this picture I thought I was putting the computer where I could use it without you trying to play with the buttons but I was wrong.
A new annoying thing you are doing is shutting all the doors "just a little bit" which means that you want them to be cracked open a little. Every time you go through a door you shut it behind you, leaving it cracked open. It takes forever to walk through the house with you and you get really mad when they are open.

You love to watch TV and we are really trying to limit it. At the end of my pregnancy and when Caroline was first born you watched a lot more than usual. Now that things are falling into a better rhythm, I am trying to do a better job of limiting TV time. Some of your favorites include Hermie, Curious George, Diego, Dora, Elmo and Blues Clues. At Nana's house (where there is cable) you also love to watch Disney Playhouse, Franklin, Berenstein Bears and Handy Manny.
You are doing well at school. A lot of days you don't want to go because you are afraid that you will miss something fun at home but once you are there you have a good time. I love hearing about your day when you are in the car on the way home. You tell some of the funniest stories.

You are a sponge, learning so many things. You now recognize most of her letters and numbers even though I have spent very little time working with you on these things. Each week we are reading a lot of books about a specific subject and it is fun to see all the facts that you are learning. You also know a lot of songs.

You are getting really creative and developing a great sense of humor. You try to tell jokes and be silly. In fact, you have a really funny (and yet annoying) fake laugh. It sounds like a big girl being silly.