Meghan's 29th Month

You my dear are a handful. Mommy was gone last night to church, and you were very clingy tonight. Sweet girl for the most part. Still the jealous one "I can walk too, Mommy"... case in point. Yes, Meg, we know you can walk.. :) A good big sister but getting to be a little rambunctious. Bubba seems big enough to wrestle, try to sit on, try to climb over, but still small enough to walk over his head when he's sitting? Can't have the best of both worlds. Try to be a little mommy and bossy, but the majority of the time, just loving. Lately you want to hold his hands and try to get him to walk with you.
Night time routines - in bed for sleeping by 8:10 at the latest. After hugs all around, especially bear hugs complete with growls. (You are very affectionate and want a hug and a kiss - and know they are stall techniques). All after brushing teeth complete with your new skill of spitting. Love to watch you move your lips around and "swish". Two or three books.
And a little mischievous - did we talk about you being ugly to Daddy during nap time and ripping the pages out of your Curious George book? Your vocabulary is amazing. I don't know where you get all these words. And you pay so much attention to everything! You have purple sandals - which, by the way, reek since your feet are so sweaty! - we introduced as "look at your cool new shoes". Now, they are "my cool shoes". Funny.
You are just now paying attention to the TV - have discovered Monsters, Inc. We happened on The Wizard of Oz - and you sat and watched it. Entranced by the animals dancing. Only to request the "tiger" the next day. Not so interested in Mary Poppins. Quite bored actually. And just now discovered John and Kate Plus 8 - guess you like the kids. And, of course, even when you don't seem like you are watching it, you don't want it turned off. Making Mommy and Daddy reassess what they are watching and how it might affect you.
Still calling it "mustik" - we love mustik in this house and quickly caught on to dancing. "Dance, Momma" she says while bobbing her head to the music. You love to sing in the car, love to make up songs with Daddy (a fact he loves) - love to learn new songs saying "again" - you want to learn it! Definitely your favorite melody is Frere Jacques.. which you have figured out is the same as Where is Thumbkin - so we sing Bubba all the way through... Mix the words all together. Always singing. Put Cooper's bottle bag around your neck - as always to help Momma carry stuff to the car after daycare - and started drumming it. Would love to figure out how to foster this!
You are sleeping in your big girl bed now without the railing. You hadn't ever fallen out so we went ahead and took it off... Even moved the bed to the middle of the room. I jokingly asked you if you fell out, and you said yes. Don't think you really did though. We even took the gate down from the stairs in the night - you maneuver them pretty well so not needed. You stay in bed well through the night and usually either go see Bubba in the morning or come down to see us, whining for your milk. The only issue at night is if it is raining. You do not like loud noises. Freaked out the other night when I ran the food processor. Did we mention you fell off the counter and almost knocked some teeth out the other night with the water filter guy here? Mommy was letting you watch and turned away for mere seconds... that won't be happening again. And then it was even more traumatic when he made noise - we seriously had to go outside! Could be worse I guess.
So back to your stories. You can't be trusted with your school stories. We are still battling on the potty training thing. We went completely pull-up free one long weekend and tried at school - making them and us frustrated. Multiple accidents a day. Refusing and throwing fits when they try to get you to potty. Playing on the potty instead of going. They don't have time to physically get you to sit on the toilet and, of course, when they ask you if you need to go, you say no. One day it was really bad, when Mommy and Daddy decided to lay off for awhile, and it seems you were traumatized a little. I asked you about it in the car on the way home, and you informed me you didn't want to talk about it. I asked you want you DID want to talk about - "Jesus". "Okay, does Jesus love Meghan?" "Yes" "Does Jesus love Bubba?" "Yes"... Jesus loved everyone but Miss LuLu that day - obviously we were not liking Miss LuLu at this time. Usually, we love LuLu - seems you usually were getting excited when she showed up in the morning.
So the end-all, you are stubborn. This potty battle has been going on for a very long time. Do really well at home for the most part - once again depends on your mood. And then something happens and we regress.... You even have figured out that big girls wear panties - so you inform us you are a big boy instead. That way we don't have to and can excuse the diapers... :)
Cooking is you favorite thing to do with Mommy. One of our definite routines. If Mommy's in the kitchen, you are there. You drag that stool around after me all over the kitchen. And truly it's amazing how quickly you catch on. The other night you were helping me make a fruit salad, grabbed the lime and started rolling it on the counter like you had seen me do. I never taught you that! And we were making guacamole the other night when you started digging through the drawers exclaiming "Can't find it"... Looking for your masher so you can be in charge of the avocado. The only 2 year old who knows how to work a garlic press, break eggs, pepper grinder... one episode of burning when you reached for a pan after the oven after being warned... staying away from the oven and know it is hot. No knives. It's a good practice for counting and identifying our food and measuring... I LOVE that you love to help. If only Bubba would be more tolerant of being stuck in his highchair playing with assorted kitchen spoons :) we could play longer. And you, stubborn child, always give Bubba a big spoon when you set the table and keep his spoon for yourself... Very proud these days of your "big plate" - you want a real one and not plastic. And quit wiping your hands on your shirt!!!

(Written 07/28/10)