Four Benders and a Greyhound: Our Crazy and Happy 2.5 Year Old Toddler!

Miss Dot,

Happy TWO AND A HALF years! So much has changed since you were two – so much! You’ve turned into a little person who has hopes, fears, feelings, and thoughts about things. You’re also not afraid to tell us about them – at length. You’re quite a talker and sometimes will just babble at the top of your lungs to be heard, which definitely comes from Mama, not Daddy. You’re still shy and like to be right by Mama’s side. Strangers are not your favorite and you definitely do not like men. You’ve had some “firsts” over the last six months – you had your first real trip to the beach, your first trip to Disneyland, you were a flower girl, you took your first swim lesson, started dance lessons at school, and went potty in the toilet for the first time!

You’ve had a wonderful summer full of fun and activities – we went to the beach! You loved it, mainly because Katie and Clara were there. We rented a house in Emerald Isle with Grammy, Pa, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Rob, Katie and Clara for 4 nights. You were entranced by the ocean, and not quite scared enough of it. You wanted to go right in and were unafraid of the waves. You also loved the sand and spent hours digging and helping your cousins collect sand crabs. You cried each day when we had to leave – luckily you got to see the Pacific Ocean a couple of months later in California. Mama and Daddy are making it a goal to take you to the beach each year, since you love it so much!

You also got to do a lot of fun things with your cousins this summer – you had a water balloon fight, went to the pool, and got to go to the Zoo in Asheboro one day when you were off of school. We also got to play with your swing set a lot and just hang out in the yard.

You’re still growing and are very tall! You haven’t gained much weight, and are still holding steady right under 30 pounds, but you’ve definitely grown a couple of inches. You are still sleeping about 12 hours at night, but recently have started refusing your nap at school sometimes. The teachers say you like to just sit on your cot and talk to them or read a book, but it makes you a cranky girl when you come home at night. You are learning a lot at school and sometimes you’ll surprise Mama and Daddy when you come home and talk about things that we didn’t even realize you knew – like lady bugs or tractors. Speaking of tractors, your favorite store right now is Lowe’s, because 1) you can sit on a huge tractor and pretend to ride it and 2) the Halloween blow ups are all on display and you’re obsessed. You’re really interested in Halloween this year and cannot wait to decorate our house and go trick or treating. Mama’s not sure how you’ll react when you actually have to talk to strangers though.

You have expanded your interest in TV shows too – you really love Mickey Mouse Club House, Masha and the Bear, and most recently we watched a Winne the Pooh movie, which terrified and excited you. You still love to play with your babies. You have six or seven at this point and like to line them up to put them to bed in the play room. You are also really into stickers and coloring. Your wooden girl dolls, which you can dress, are also one of your favorites – they were a fun hand me down from your cousins. You say all kinds of funny things these days. You like to reprimand people who are not doing something by telling them “NOT NICE!” You also like to talk to your babies the way mama talks to you – you’ll tell them something and then say “Do you understand?!?” You’ve gotten to be a bit of a challenging toddler at times. You will tell Mama and Daddy “no” when we ask you to do something and have thrown some pretty epic fits. We are trying to work on those.

Your favorite foods right now are hummus, pasta, fish sticks (???), fruit, cucumbers, and anything dessert – ice cream, popsicles, cookies, cake etc. You have a bit of a sweet tooth, but will only eat a little bit of whatever we give you. You have started asking to wear “pretty dresses” every day, but Mama tries to con you into wearing pants, because you skin your knees frequently at school. You still hate getting dropped off at school and cry when Mama leaves you – hopefully you’ll start to grow out of that. We’re working on potty training, but you haven’t quite gotten the trick of it yet, though you did go poo poo in the potty for the first time recently. You probably will figure out how it all works in the next couple of months!

Here are some adorable pictures of you doing these things:

Using your new stool you got to help Mama in the kitchen.