Lauren is now 2 years and 9 months old. Wow. Even though I still call her "baby" she is at the tail end of toddler-dom and almost a preschooler. I now believe everyone that has ever told me that "time flies" and "it goes by so fast" and "before you know it, she'll be in ____ " (preschool, highschool, buying her prom dress. ack!)
I watched Lauren as she slept tonight and tried to remember what she looked like when she used to fall asleep in my arms as an infant. It almost brought me to tears that I couldn't remember. I had to look back on old photos to reacquaint myself with her baby face: the big cheeks, her teeny little nose, those hairy ears. I can still see a trace of that chubby cheeked baby but now I can also imagine the beauty that she will become. Daddy better get ready, she's gonna be a heartbreaker!
More than just a beauty, this baby's got brains and personality to boot! I'm not just saying that 'cause she's MY baby...well, maybe I'm a little biased. Just a little.
Here are her favorites at 2 years and 9 months
Food: corndogs, chicken nuggets, french fries. I hang my head just thinking about it. How did we let this happen? We're working on getting her to eat healthier. She also loves chicken adobo, rice, and fruit. That's a little better. Oh, and she loves oreos. So much so, that she has named a dance after it.
Activities: Running around our house (we have a path around the living room and kitchen that we routinely run during commercial breaks), painting (with brush..not finger paints. She hates those), coloring, and drawing. She also loves to cook in her play kitchen and the real kitchen. I often let her measure things out when I bake and she likes to stir things. Is positioning refrigerated biscuit dough on a cookie sheet considered "cooking?" If so, she does a lot of that.
TV: She's not so into Barney anymore. She loves Little Einsteins now and I don't mind it so much because there's a lot of music and art in it. Every now and then she likes Blues Clues or Veggie Tales and of course her favorite Pixar movies: Finding Nemo, Cars, and Bugs Life. Admittedly, she watches a lot of TV...but it's pretty much the same shows over and over and over.
Books: We read to her every night and for naps. She especially likes Richard Scarrey books and I've been lucky to find lots of them at used bookstores.
Puzzles: She loves puzzles. LOVES. Whether it's the wooden puzzles or the puzzle apps on my phone, she's a wiz and sometimes puts the pieces together faster than I can.
Dancing machine. Lauren has been a dancer from the time she could stand. She does this adorable butt shaking thing and it's cute now, but it won't be cute when she's 16 and doing it in front of boys. Most nights, she and Peter have a little dancing session in the office. He blasts the Stevie Wonder Pandora channel and they dance around for about 15 minutes before bath time. I just smile when I hear them stomping around upstairs. It's the sweetest thing. Here's a sample of her happy feet, taken during a wedding reception in Orlando:
Sleeping: Gone are those days when we struggled to get her to sleep. We've got a pretty well-established routine so bedtime is a snap: Bath (lately, she's been into bubble baths), brush teeth, pajamas, read books, dim the lights, say prayers, and then she says "Good night, go sleep mommy!" She pulls up the covers and rolls over on her side and is out within 10 minutes. This all goes smoothly every night as long as the following are present: Big blue blanket, pillow---the one with butterflies pillowcase, her stuffed animals "Teddy" and "Puppy." (Can you guess what kinds of animals they are?) She needs someone in the room with her to fall asleep, but once she's out, we slip out of her room quietly and she's on her own till morning.
Potty Training: We're not there yet, but hopefully by the next update, there will be something to write about.
Potty Training Chart. I've invested in lots of stickers. Lots.
There really is nothing to complain about this kid. She's happy, silly, creative, funny, loving, and oh so entertaining. She does have her moments, and there are some things she does that could drive me nuts if I dwell on them. I won't though, so I can focus on the good things....how she told said today that "Mommy and Daddy are my best friends!" Awww...
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