Happy Half Birthday, Beanie!

Today Beanie is 2 1/2 years old!

While I miss the baby Beanie, this is such a fun age!

She is growing into such a sweet, loving, and curious child. I love how she talks so much, in long complex sentences, and shares her world views. It amazing how the smallest things make her laugh and how puts her own spin on things when talking.

Some funny comments:
- Last week she came home from school and was playing with my Mom. She laid down on a pillow in her playroom and tells my Mom "I had a hard day!". My Mom thought she said "a hot day" but no she said "a hard day". When I asked her why it was a hard day she said "I played a lot!"....LOL.
- She now routinely asks me" what did you make for dinner?"......ahhhh!
- One night she said " Mama go up and get the books ready, I will check the doors". She proceeded to check the doors. She cannot really move the doorknob but its sweet since she sees me do it.
- She loves to say "okay" at the end of a sentence. As in "we will have dinner, then read books, then brush teeth and conk off to sleep, okay?"
- Yes she says "conk" since I do inadvertently. The other day she gave my Dad a toy and said "I think the battery conked off". We burst into laughter and then she just went on with it.
- She can say the name of the city we live in and her full name.

She is very attentive to detail. Always has been even when younger. She likes things in their proper place and will put things back where they belong. She likes a clean house. She will tell me "Mama - there are dirty on the floor poking me....please do varoom-varoom". She is pretty good about picking up stuff if I ask her to.

In terms of playing she loves her indoor slide, loves drawing and coloring, playing with her train and cars, and in her kitchen. Her games are usually imaginary but based on reality - so she will play a game where her toys are having a party, or going on a boat, or on a carousal, etc - things that she has done and enjoyed.

She loves books and now likes to "reads" them herself. Its so cute because she will start them all with "once upon a  time..." and then mix up the stories. We sit outside after dinner in the porch and she reads me her books. I just sit there mesmerized by her!


Her personality is very loving. She loves to give kisses and hugs and now on many occasions will say "Mama, I love you".

She is also very caring. A while back I was doings something in the kitchen and stubbed my toe. I yelped in pain. She was immediately by my side, and wanted to kiss my boo boo. She then hung around me. When I asked her why ...she said she wanted to stay with me so I don't hurt myself again. Other times, she has said stuff like "Mama, I will take care of you" or when we are trying to sleep, she will rub my back and pat me as I do to her.  So sweet!!!

She loves to help, and it is so cool that I can ask her to bring me something and she will go get it!  She loves carrying groceries into the kitchen and unpacking the bags and putting stuff in the pantry, or helping fold laundry or match socks.

Food wise she is doing good. She loves her food. Favs are still dairy based - cheese, milk, yogurt, mac and cheese and pizza. She is not eating as much veggies as she used to - its a hit or miss, but she LOVES her fruit.  Breakfast is usually a bottle of milk and either oatmeal or cereal.  If I have pancakes from the weekend or something she will get it.  Her after school snack is usually a yogurt or cheese/crackers and berries. After dinner she will immediately ask for fruit. That is her dessert so to speak and sometimes she will have a medley of 2-3 types of fruits usually berries, peaches, apples and/or grapes.  I don't keep any desserts or ice cream at home and the only cookie I have are small ones with not a lot of sugar which she sometimes gets while getting ready to leave for school. She does not have any soda or candy or juice and I want to keep it that way as long as I can.

The potty training was going slow...but we are not in any rush. She goes in school and at home when I remember to have her go. She is in pullups now.  I bough her the small potty to put over the main potty so I think that will help a lot too. Today she has used the potty several times since this afternoon, so maybe we are picking up the pace a bit.

In terms of challenges - she is a 2+ year old, so we have our days when there are tantrums and "NO!" and stamping feet and  generally not listening and driving me batty. I am trying really hard to be patient but I have had situations when I could have reacted better. I have ordered a few books from the library about better communication. Overall I think she is quite reasonable and will understand when I explain something to her but then again she is a 2 year old, so it does not stay too long.

Our biggest challenge right now are:

(1) Having her sit quietly and eat. She wants to walk around, get up/down the chair, if sitting is moving around, wanting to talk/sing, be silly, etc.  I believe she does that in school as well - her teacher once mentioned it to me. Although I do think she is better there than at home.

(2) Bath time is now a struggle. She does not want to take a bath! Some times she will agree to what I call a "bum bath" but otherwise its a hassle getting her to bathe and don't even mention washing hair. Funny thing is once she is in the bath she has fun and even gets out without fuss. Its the getting in that is the problem. A few days back she was refusing so I just sat on the floor in the bathroom and said I was going to wait until she was ready. She came in sat by me. I did not say anything. We sat quietly for what seemed like hours but was probably only 10 min - then she said "okay I want a bath now". Not sure what that was about but maybe I need to use that tactic.

Going to school has improved some. She still will whine " no school today" but I am able to tempt her with something, as in, let's pick a flower for your teacher, or let's move the Fall decoration scarecrow to another spot in the garden, etc.

Overall, she is doing well and growing and is very amusing and fun.

Today she said the funniest thing.

She loves taking "money" (as in credit cards) out of my wallet despite my telling her not to play with it. She was doing that at my parents homes this evening, and my Mom dug out an old wallet and put 1-2 fake cards in there. We then went to pick up pizza for diner as a half-birthday celebration. She wanted to take her purse. So, I told her "okay good you can buy pizza". She responds "no mama, not my money, you buy the pizza"....lol!!!!

Happy half-birthday, my sweet sweet angel. I love you so much!