A Little Lamb at almost 2 and a Half

I could go on and on about how much I love this age.  This 2-2.5 age so far has, while living up to its reputation of toddler craziness, been my favorite.  Zadie is hilarious and says and does the funniest new things all the time.  It's amazing how quickly she's turning into a little person, becoming easier and easier every day to converse with and (sometimes) reason with.  Some things about Zadie now and a few of my favorite Zadie-isms...

She believes that band-aids can cover a multitude of offenses...emotional, physical, bleeding, non-bleeding, etc.  She is quick to show me that she has a "boo-boo" and needs a band aid as well as to point out my tiny injuries and suggest that I too get a Frozen band aid.  The other day, she was revisiting some of her "boo-boo's" and noticed that she had an Elsa band aid and an Olaf band aid.  She hurriedly found another boo-boo because she didn't have an Anna band aid.

She's really into turns and being "next".  Whenever I go to the bathroom, she comes in to either announce "it's my turn!!!!" or "I'll be next".  I'm not sure how she decides whether I'm cutting in line or rightfully taking my turn.  Of course, she doesn't have to actually go.  She only wants to boss me around.  Speaking of the potty, her potty-training was unbelievably easy.  We had talked about the potty, and for a long time, she's been telling me when she's going but that she wants to go in her diaper.  On September 1st, she saw some princess panties.  She said she wanted to wear princess panties and I told her that she was welcome to, but that she'd have to use the potty if she was going to wear princess panties.  So she put them on and hasn't had an accident since.  I debated whether or not to be bold enough to send her to school the next day in panties or run errands, but she never looked back.  Girl loves her princesses.

We went to Disney on Ice recently and Zadie's life was made.  She LOVED seeing Minnie, Mickey, and "alllllll da princesses".  Before we went, she said she was most excited about seeing Cinderella and Baby Cinderella.  Not sure where that came from.  She's still asking me when we are going to see all the princesses again.  She's also learned through this, that she lives in "Char-wit" and has to wait for the princesses to come back to "Char-wit".

We watch a lot of "Fwozen", sings the songs, and apparently thinks that she sings quite well because she told me today not to sing Let it Go because SHE was singing.  We also watch a lot of Mickey Mouse and she knows all those songs and characters too.  She kills me when she calls each character out in the intro song.  She's been successfully marketed to by yo-kids and asks specifically for "Elsa yogurt" as opposed to the yogurts without pictures on them (hey Costco).

She is into counting, "pwaying sapes" (shapes), and colors.  She skips 4 though, almost always, and told me that I could NOT help her count.  "I do myself" is another of her favorite phrases.  She does really well with her shapes, and even knows pentagon and octagon ("pent-a-don" and "ot-a-don").  She does NOT think that I know my shapes, and likes to ask me what they are.

She's in ballet and LOVES it.  She loves her outfit and her teacher.  I can't watch class, but she tells me that she dances on her tippy toes (big hit) and that she skips (sorta, maybe...).  I think she really likes that there's lots of big girls in there.

She's excited about her baby brother or sister and tells me that it's a baby sister.  We shall see!  She thinks that the nursery is specifically for her to take care of her babies and the carseat is her favorite.  She also likes to point out the baby moving in my belly.

A favorite car game right now is asking what you are.  We'll say "are you a cow?" and she'll say "no!  I'm not a cow!  Are you a....".  Zadie's animals that she asks about are super random.  Goat, octopus...what???  Other than that little game, she's a tough rider.  She throws things and then cries that she can't reach it.

So those are a few things about my girl now.  She's my little busy buddy and I'm loving spending time with her in our last few weeks alone.  I can't wait to see her bond with her new baby brother or sister :)

22 Months

Zadie is 22 months old...what??  I tell myself I'll never forget the little things she does and says, but I know I will.  She runs everywhere she goes.  She tries to "jump"..bending her knees and saying "bun...doo...free!" and then with everything in her, she tries to leap up, but can't even get her feet off the ground (yet).  She talks all. the. time.  A lot of it, I can't understand, but she's so chatty nonetheless.  She LOVES applesauce (ass-auce) and is constantly asking for a "sack.  ass-sauce."  She loves Mickey Mouse ("mouse") and recently Elmo.  She likes to tell me that I'm "all done" with what I'm watching and it's time for Sesame Street by saying "all done!  Elmo!" and grabs the remote. She's so sweet and loves to share and to help, especially helping me clean, vacuuming and sweeping specifically.  She's really interested in her cats and likes to ask where each of them are.  Tabs, Navi, and Mini are "Taz, Nami, and Meeeee".  Also of note, she knows that Tabs is a cat, but she thinks that tigers are "Taz"'s.  An ego boost for tabs I guess.  At bedtime she gets only child syndrome BAD.  She asks for hugs, squeezes, and kisses from me and Sean multiple times.  It goes something like this: "mommy tiss, daddy SEEZE, mommy tug!, daddy tiss!, mommy tug!  daddy SEEZE!" and goes on like that.  It's sweet, so we indulge her.  Girl LOVES an Easter Egg hunt and assumed after our first hunt of the season that we do it every day now.  She also loves her baby and coloring.  She's also a little sassy, if you define "a little sassy" as laying down- flailing back- screaming and yelling, kicking your feet over say- not being able to rip the toilet paper "paypa".

Some of my favorite Zadie-isms:
Water = Wasin
All birds = ducks...just recently we've added "gooooooooose", bats, and birds.  A month ago, even an ostrich was a "guck" who says "cack cack!!"
Small 4 legged animals including squirrels and pigs = doggies...this is funny because Zadie loves animals and can identify most by pointing to what I ask for, but in public, they're doggies
Large 4-legged animals are "moos", unless it's a "gee-ga" (Zebra) or a horse.  A month ago, horses were also "moos".  Audrey has corrected her a number of times with "Zadie!  I already told you!  That's a horse!!!"

What is she up to?  What is our schedule like?  Well we didn't observe daylight savings, so we went from a 7-7 schedule to an 8-8.  She naps 1-4.  That transition was HARD.  She didn't totally drop 2 naps until 18 months.  She dropped it every other day from 15-18.  She goes to school 9-1 on Tuesday and Thursday and loves it.  She really likes art and they do a lot of that!  She swims on Wednesdays and is doing great.  She finishes "transitional tot" this week and I am totally out of the water.  She dives (her party trick), jumps, and makes some forward progression.  I've been a proud mom.  It was tough for her to get used to being without me in the water, but I think we've made it.  This summer she's taking a break and going to 2 3-day camps at her school.  My hope is that that will keep her from being too surprised when she goes back in the fall.  We're planning to fill our days with the pool, Carowinds, nature preserve activities, and maybe some gym or art classes.  Love this age with my girl- trying to enjoy each day with her, I know it won't last long!