Goodbye, Summer

As the season changes I thought I’d provide a little Lucy update.
In early June she had her 2-year check-up and weighed 33.5 pounds and was 35.5 inches tall, both 97th percentile. Over the summer she seems to have stretched out a bit, and gotten a little thinner (except the belly, she still has that!) When people see her, the most often remarks are “she’s really tall!” and “what a great smile!” She still has those great dimples, and her smile lights up her whole face. Her hair is really blonde, but underneath you can definitely see some dirty blonde/light brown. It will be interesting to see what happens when all those sun-soaked blonde locks fade over the winter.

 We’ve definitely seen some growth in her brainpower over the summer. One thing we have noticed in particular is her ability to recall/remember events. A few weeks after our vacation she randomly started talking about going to the Mississippi, feeding deer, and how funny the llama was. If you’re looking for something, she can usually tell you where she put it. She remembers names or words even if you’ve only mentioned it once (which makes watch what we say very carefully!) When we get to a certain intersection she knows which way to turn to go to Nathan’s house (her former daycare). She is also getting better at memorizing and can say a good portion of the alphabet, numbers 1-10 and all the words to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and has been singing some other songs since she’s been at her new school. She's a little shy at first, but once she's comfortable, she'll talk your ear off!

With all of this fun stuff comes some pretty nasty attitude at times. We work hard on getting her to use a “nice voice” and saying please, not just demanding things. She definitely does not like to be told NO, but has no problem saying it to others. She’ll go into fits of crying for no apparent reason (complete with throwing herself on the floor), which lately has been managed by timeouts in her room. It’s hard to stay mad at her for long because she can be such an incredible sweetheart with her free-will hugs and kisses, putting a hand on the side of your face, or saying “I love you.” She’s very cute, but she knows it , too. She definitely knows how to manipulate and if throwing a fit doesn’t work, she will do her best to negotiate. “Just one more, OK?”

Lucy still takes an afternoon nap, and at night she is actually very good - we still count our lucky stars that we have such a good sleeper. She goes to bed around 8PM and usually needs a book or two to be read, then she climbs into her bed with a menagerie of dolls, stuffed animals and blankets. She started using a toddler bed with a rail a couple of months ago, and very rarely does she climb out once she's in for the night. She is pretty good in the mornings but likes to putz, so getting out the door can be pretty frustrating.

We are working on potty-training, although probably haven’t pressed it as much as we could. With the daycare transition I didn’t want to push it too hard. Now that we seem to be settling in I think we’ll work on it a little more. She has peed in her potty many times and gets 2 M&Ms as a treat if she does. On some occasions she has also told us when she needs to go, and wakes up dry from some naps. A couple of mornings last week she woke up pretty dry and then had a really big pee in the potty. Progress!

Lucy is still a pretty good eater, and she LOVES her milk. I'd say we've taken a step back on vegetables, but she hasn't met a fruit she doesn't like. Her favorite things to play with are: dolls, stuffed animals, BOOKS, her kitchen and play food, her “bike,” and anything that makes music. Her TV is still pretty limited to a few minutes in the morning or just before bed, but sometimes on the weekends we lay a blanket and pillows on the floor and watch a "princess" movie. She also likes to putz around outside and "help" with whatever we're doing, and she's fearless on a playground.



So that's our little Lu. Spunky, sassy, and smiley!