THREE

So OBVIOUSLY this post is a million months overdue.  But I still feel the need to go on and publish it.  I wrote most of it when she actually turned three but I've added a few little things. It is really amazing how much she has changed just in the 2 and a half months since then.  A lot has happened but I want this in the book I print at the end of the year so here goes....


It is really hard to believe that my girl is three.  Although I have been feeling like she was three for a while because she's been counting down the days.  Each morning she will ask me, "How many days until my birthday party? How many days until my birthday?"  It's kind of a big deal to be three.  

This girl is sweet, smart, silly and oh so sassy.

The sweet:  She loves to say I love you and she loves to snuggle.  Most of the time in the evening she will ask me if it is time to snuggle in the big comfy chair yet.  If she is feeling bad she will ask me to come snuggle up with her.  She loves her big girl bed because Mommy and Daddy can snuggle in there with her.  She still tells me that that she "missed me sooooooooo much while I was in Denver".  

The smart:  She has an amazing memory and doesn't forget a thing.  I know she is mostly memorizing things but she amazes me at how fast she learns.  Just the other day I decided she needed to learn the sounds each letter makes (this came to me while we were driving in the car for some reason so I just went with it).  We started off with  a few easy ones...D, F and T.  I said F sounds like "fffff".  She piped right up and said, "like fish!"  Then she proceeded to spout off 5 or 6 words that started with F.  So far she really likes to learn and I hope that continues.  (We are hitting a stage now where she doesn't want to answer questions when we do learning time.  She will answer with an obvious wrong answer and just smile and say that she is being silly.  AH!)

The silly:  Oh lord.  One of her favorite things to say is "That's so silly!" or "You silly goose!".    Daddy taught her about wet willie's (thanks so much) and she will sneak up on us all the time.  She also loves to try and tickle us when we aren't expecting it.  Oh the giggles!  She likes to tell us elaborate stories that she thinks are totally hilarious.  I usually pick up on about half of what is going on in her little story but it always starts with "Once upon a time".  Ha!  Anytime I make her do something that she doesn't really want to do but does anyway she says "This is so ridic-uh-lus".  I had no idea where she got that and it makes me laugh every time because she says it with a big sigh.  Then the other day I found myself muttering, "this is so ridiculous" while cleaning up ALL THE THINGS IN THE HOUSE.  So I guess she comes by it naturally ;)

t-shirt creds to my lovely Bridget :)

The sassy:  Whew...the sassiness can drive me crazy sometimes.  I keep reminding myself that this is just a stage and she is learning her boundaries.  If I ask her to do something she will look at me and say "NO.  I am not going to do that.  I am going to keep playing."  I am learning to have more patience because that seems to work better than me getting frustrated. 

This is generally the look I get when I want to take her picture.  She thinks she's like 14 or something....

She is all of these things but if I had to pick out one word to describe her (which would be hard) it would be independent.  She wants/demands to do everything herself.  I generally try to let her do most things but there are just some things that she can't do.  Like, no, you can't use the scissors to cut the tag off your shirt without my help.  No, you can't take dinner out of the oven even if you do use the oven mitts.  People tell me all the time how independent she is and I guess I didn't really realize that not all 3 year olds are this way.  She gets frustrated if I try to help her do things (brush her teeth) so I really try to let her be but sometimes we are on a time crunch, ya know??  Someone told me the other day that the qualities that make a productive adult are the same qualities that make a difficult toddler.  When it comes to the independence thing...I totally agree!  

The number one thing she wants to do right now is play babies.  I hear 400 times a day, "want to play babies with me?".  She has about 10 of them and she feeds them, diapers them, bathes them and puts them down for naps.  They even get timeouts!  The one day a week that Juanet keeps her she also keeps her new granddaughter who is about 5 months old.  Blakely LOVES this.  She "helps" Juanet do everything with AK.  I think when AK started coming with Juanet is when the playing babies went into overdrive.  When she comes home from there she tells me all about AK crying or pooping or laughing.  So adorable and I can't wait for us to tell her we are going to be having a baby in our house!  (Obviously we've done this now and she talks a lot about picking the babies up if they cry and helping to change their diapers.)

She also loves tea parties, pretending to cook elaborate meals in her kitchen, reading her High Fi.ve magazine, playing chase, riding in the car with the windows down and doing crafts ("tafts").  I would love to get her an art table or something because she loves painting, coloring and drawing, gluing and cutting.  Maybe for Christmas!  

She knows all of our close family members full names.  When Lonnie tries to get my attention by saying Kelly she will laugh and say my full name.  She asks me all the time what someone's name is.  Then she will want to know their middle and last name.  Usually I don't know so I will make something up or tell her to make something up.  

A few stats for my girl at 3 years old.  She is 34 pounds and 39 1/2 inches tall.  She is very coordinated and I wonder if she will enjoy playing sports.  Right now she is in gymnastics and dance class.  I am hoping in the spring she can start tee ball because she really loves playing that at our house.  My girl is growing up so fast!  I can't believe we are already thinking about sports and stuff.  Crazy.  

Is this over yet??

A couple of random things she has said recently that made me laugh.  

We went to the accountant's office and as I was getting her out of the car I mumbled something to myself about being in the ghetto (seriously, always makes me nervous going there).   She started saying (really loudly) "What is a ghetto, Mommy?"  "Why are we in the ghetto?"  I was trying to shush her and she finally yelled, "Don't shush me!  Tell me what a ghetto is!".  I wanted to melt because there were people all around.  

GranDi and Jenni were talking to her about their recent trip to the beach.  Blakely loves talking about all things beach related.  Anyway, they told her that Grandmama ate flounder for dinner one night.  Blakely got big eyes and said, "Danna mama ate Flounder?".  She was about to cry when they realized she thought Grand ate Flounder from The Lit.tle Merm.aid.  They quickly changed and said oh no!  It wasn't flounder it was grouper!  Tears began to fall as Blakely said, "Danna mama ate Mr. Grouper?"  They were so confused and she told them Mr. Grouper was from Bu.bble Gu.ppies.  Finally they just said she ate fish.  LOL!  

Every time we leave the house and we get out of the subdivision she asks me if I forgot something.  It's funny because I usually do so she knows to ask me before we get too far from home.  

She has so many nicknames and we rarely call her Blakely.  Turkey, Turkey Lurkey, Turkey Noodle, Turkey Booger (I don't know how turkey got started but whatever), B, Boo, Bug, Buggy, B-girl, Boppy, Bop, B-bop just to name a few.  

I love being this girls Mommy.  She is perfect!  

I did a little survey like this a while ago and thought it was really fun.  Then I saw Shannon do it for Taylor on her third birthday so I am going for it and hope to continue it every year.  I put my comments in blue.    ;)  

Blakely: 3 years old

How old are you?  3
Favorite color?  Pink
Favorite toy?  Stickers
Favorite thing to play?  Babies
Favorite thing to do outside?  Blow bubbles
Favorite animal?  Cows
Favorite TV show?  Mickey
Favorite movie?  Ariel  (The Little Mermaid)
Favorite song?  Twinkle Twinkle
Favorite book?  Amos with the Animals  (A Sick Day for Amos McGee)
Favorite game?  Airplane one on the iPad
Favorite restaurant?  Greg's  (Our weekend breakfast haunt)
Favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Cinnamon toast
Favorite lunch?  Oranges
Favorite dinner?  Carrots
Favorite snack?  Cereal  (We never have cereal so not sure where this came from!)
Favorite drink?  Milk
Favorite treat?  Skittles
Favorite flavor of ice cream?  Chocolate 
Who is your best friend?  Collier and Syble
Favorite place to go?  School
Favorite holiday?  in October  (I'm assuming she means her birthday...)
Favorite sport?  Basketball
Favorite pair of shoes?  Tennis shoes  (She never wants to wear them so I have no idea why she said these)
Favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Play bandaids
Favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play babies
What makes you happy?  Hugs
What are your really good at?  Pedaling bikes
What do you wish for?  to watch a movie
What makes you sad?  Boo boo's
What is your favorite memory?  the babies at school (???)
Dislikes?  hot dogs  (loves them so I'm confused)
What do you want to be when you grow up?  Syble and Collier

Two and a half

I have been referring to Blakely as 2.5 for a month or so but I knew that technically she wasn't.  Until last Sunday.  EEP!  Since this is a pretty big milestone and I haven't done a Blakely lately post recently I thought I would jot down a few things she is doing now.  You know the drill.  Feel free to skim!  

EATING:  She goes through phases with eating.  Some times she wants to eat all day every day and then she will go a while just picking at her food.  I have no complaints because she is a good eater and always has been (thank you B).  She will try new things and she likes healthy food along with the not so healthy.  She has been getting more "treats" that I would like lately.  Occasionally at MDO they give the kids skittles if they help one of the teachers with something or for going to the potty.  She doesn't get them for pottying since she's been doing that for over 6 months but she does like to help them clean up or close the blinds or whatever.  I think it is okay since she is only there 2 days a week.  

Some of her favorite foods are

anything (and I mean anything) dipped in ranch dressing.  

cauliflower

peas

quesadillas

any kind of chip

eggs
corn
cashews
macaroni and cheese
yogurt

She loves all fruit but especially strawberries, raspberries and blueberries

(As I was writing this I asked her what her favorite thing to eat was and she said strawberries.  So there ya go...she could write this post herself.)  

She is pretty good about trying anything but she HATES tuna fish.  I have tried many times over the past year and she just isn't going to go for it.  I'm actually okay with that because Lonnie hates it too so it is the only thing that I can make and not have to share with anyone!  

This is random but it has been going on for a while so I thought I would document it.  For the most part Blakely wants to have her food separated on her plate.  She isn't really interested in any casserole that I make but if I put the exact same ingredients on her plate just separately then she will chow down.  This drives me nuts.    

SLEEPING:  Ehh.  Sleep has been hit or miss since she turned 2.  Around that time we went through a crazy phase where she would wake up at about midnight screaming her head off.   Like screaming before she even woke up or stood up in her crib.  I would go in and get in her queen size bed that is in her room with her.  I was being lazy because I was super tired.  I knew she would go right back to sleep with me.  After about month of this I knew I needed to break the cycle.  It was rough but I did.  Then her sleep was fine for a while.  Now we are back in a stage of waking up screaming bloody murder.  Thankfully I can calm her down after 10 minutes or so and she will fall back asleep in her crib.  The main problem with this is she won't let Lonnie calm her down.  She screams and screams for MOMMY!  Makes me sad but at least I can calm her down.  Also, crib. for. life.  I am so not ready to move her to a big girl bed.  I think part of this is because it is the last "baby" thing and I am hanging on to it for dear life.  

POTTY:  Blakely has been potty trained since last summer.  She has been napping in panties since the beginning of the year.  She was still in pull ups for naps at MDO but would always wake up dry.  I told them to start napping her in panties a few weeks ago and she has done fine.  I knew she would since she naps 4 out of seven days at home in panties with no problems.  For some reason I just never told them to stop using the pull ups.  Anyway, I don't have to buy pulls ups anymore.  She still sleeps in a diaper at night.  I am in no rush to change that.  She wakes up wet in the mornings but it is starting to get less and less wet.  Now she wants to immediately take off her wet diaper when, up until a month or so ago, she didn't mind leaving that wet diaper on for a while.  So we will see how that progresses but I am not pushing it.  Mainly because she is still in the crib so I would have to get her out to help her go in the middle of the night.  (Random but she woke up dry this morning and was so proud of herself and asked for a marshmallow?!)  

CLOTHING:  She wears mainly a 3T.  She can wear some 2T shorts but not pants because they are usually too short.  My girl is tall.  Sidenote...I am obsessed with toddler clothes.  I didn't really buy her much stuff for the winter because she could wear most of the stuff from the winter before.  (Since she was in cloth diapers then her clothes were a size or two up..so they still fit once we ditched the diapers).  Now that it is warming up outside I realized she had no spring/summer clothes.  She had a few shirts that barely fit but they were very worn and borderline crop tops!  So I went on a little shopping spree.  I've been getting about a package a day for 4-5 days and holy fun!  Unfortunately for Lonnie she seems to be as excited to try on her new clothes as I am buying them!  

When I was doing the online shopping with Blakely in my lap I came across some adorable leggings and said HOLY!  Blakely immediately chimed in with SMOKES!  Can we talk about how happy I was that she didn't say shit.  Because that is definitely what I thought was coming out of her mouth at first.  

TALKING:  I love listening to Blakely talk.  She is in the stage right now where she has conversations with her stuffed animals.  I love eavesdropping on that and seeing if I can figure out her little convos.  It usually consists of her asking Minnie if she wants some tea, giving her the tea and then asking her if she likes the tea.  Or a whole conversation about going "night night" and "time to wake up".  She asks soft bear if he wants dinner.  Then she says okay me make you dinner.  Yummy!  I love watching her imagination come to life.  

She is sort of obsessed with peoples names right now.  She asks me all the time "what's her name?" or "what's his name?"  She does this in public or she will point out every character in a book and ask me that.  If I know the name I will tell her and she never forgets.  If the character doesn't have a name then I tell her she can make one up.  Usually she names people Susie (shoo-dee) or Olivia (uh-wib-ee-uh).  

She still mostly refers to herself as "me".  Occasionally she will say "I" but mainly it is "me do this or me do that".  I correct her occasionally but I'am not crazy about it.  I will miss it when she corrects herself.   

On Sunday I told her it was her half birthday.  She said "What?  No, mom, it's my WHOLE birthday!"  Ha!  

SCHOOL:  She goes to MDO 2 days a week and she goes with Juanet 1 day a week.  I love this schedule and we are planning on keeping it next school year as well.  We won't have Juanet in the summer but MDO has just changed and they are going to be open just two days a week during the summer so we are going to still do that.  Blakely loves going to school and doesn't usually have a hard time when I drop her off.  I think it is a great place for her and she learns new stuff all of the time.  They say she is a little mama there.  Always checking on the babies (they have to be a year old to go so they aren't really babies) and rocking the stuffed animals all the time.  She tells me about all the other kids each day when I pick her up and she knows all of their moms too!  I don't even know that.  They also tell me that she likes things put in their place.  They've mention this a few times.  When they pick up their toys she has to make sure they are put up in the right spot.  Or when they stack the carpet mats up after learning circle she has to make sure they are stacked just right.  She is a little OCD like this at home too but I don't think as much as she is there.  Hey, at least she is cleaning up!  

She absolutely loves going with Juanet and when she comes to get her in the morning she runs right out to her car and hops in.  They go over to Juanet's friend's house as she keeps her little boy too.  Blakely is in MDO with him one day and with him at his house one day.  They are great friends and pretty darn cute.  She missed a week when we were in Denver and he told Juanet that he missed Blakely.  Then he told her that he wanted Blakely to come be his cheerleader at his t-ball game!  How adorable is that?  Juanet is so so good with them and I just can't say enough how thankful I am that we have her.  She is just the best and I know she takes wonderful care of my baby girl.  

ATTITUDE:  Well I know I have said before that my girl is sassy.  She is.  There is just no getting around that.  She has a little attitude but for the most part we are able to keep that in check.  The good news is that she is not this way at MDO or with Juanet (for the most part).  She saves all of that up for me.  Ha!  She doesn't give them any trouble but I do know that she watches everything the kids that DO get in trouble do.  Then she breaks that crap out at home.  Thankful for that, at least.  At the point of this writing (because it changes every day) she will listen to me if I threaten to give her a timeout.  But I only threaten it if I am going to giver her one.  She knows that and that is why I think she listens a little better now.  She hates timeouts and cries so hard when she does get one but she will stay in the chair so that is good.  It seems to go in spurts where she will get a bunch of timeouts for a few days and then she will mind well for a few days.  

OTHER TIDBITS:

This girl loves her gymnastics.  I am so impressed with how well she minds there now.  It used to be me chasing around a crazy child.  Now she does what the coach (?) asks of them and she is patient in waiting her turn.  Awesome.  

She has pretty good manners!  She says "pees" and "shank you" all the time.  She is now saying "no shank you" when she doesn't want something she's been offered.  We are working on "ma'am" and "sir".  Don't get me wrong though, here are plenty of times where her manners are terrible (screaming that she is done with dinner and WANTS DOWN NOW)!

She still loves singing.  It is a new song or rhyme every week.  Last week I heard her singing something about a turtle.  Then she would mumble a few things and then yell POP.  I kept asking her to sing it again and again so I could figure out what it was.  Finally I realized she was singing Tiny Tim.  Once I figured it out she was so excited!  I had to google the words so I could sing it with her.  I asked her who taught her that song and she said JUANET!  So thankful for Juanet loving my baby girl so much.  

The other day I heard her say something about God.  So random.  Then I paid more attention as she was talking to her peeps at her table.  She was saying "God is great.  God is good.  Let us thank him for our food.  A man."  Ha!  I know she didn't learn that from me so I asked her where she learned that.  She said at school during lunch.  I was unaware of this but it is a church program so I'm not surprised.  I guess what surprises me is that I can ask her these things and she can tell me.  So grown up.  

Soft bear (in the pictures) is her main peep right now.  We have a big one and a little one.  I usually sleep with the big one and she sleeps with the little one.  He goes to MDO with her too and she talks about him all the time.  

They had Dr. Seuss week at MDO at the beginning of March.  Since then she loves to read those books.  We have 4-5 of them and she always wants to read "just one more" before going to bed.  I'd say her favorite is Go, Dog, Go.  She can practically "read" it to me.  Which basically means she has memorized it.  

Speaking of memory, I swear this girl doesn't forget anything.  It honestly amazes me and kind of freaks me out sometimes.  While driving she points out everything she recognizes.  If we go somewhere new she never forgets that place again when we drive by.  I guess I just didn't realize how much she would remember at this age.  She remembers stuff from many months ago.  She has quite a few of her books memorized so I will let her "read" them to me sometimes.  Pretty cool but it means Lonnie and I can't get anything past her.  If we tell her we may do something then she holds us to it.  The days are gone when I could bribe her to go down for a nap by telling her we can paint when she wakes up and then hoping she will forget it.  Oh no.  She wakes up yelling "Mommy!!!  Me paint!"  

We have moved on from Mick.ey!  I repeat...we have moved on.  This mama is so happy.  Now I love me some Dis.ney but I just felt like she had learned all that show could teach her.  And I was so annoyed by it too.  Anyway, now she is obsessed with Bubb.le Gup.pies.  I do like this show because it teaches her different things than MMCH and apparently my child likes dinosaurs.  Who knew?  She only gets to watch 2 episodes a day when she is home with me all day (before nap and before bed) and one a day on school days (before bed).  

This is a totally random story but it's funny so I want to mention it.  I have a huge pimple on my face right now.  Like haven't had one like this since high school.  Anyway, here is a conversation with Blakely about it.  
B:  You have a mole on your face mom.  
me:  No, babe, that is a pimple.  
B:  WHAT?  Mommy has three nipples! ONE, TWO (as she points to my actual nipples) and THREE (as she points to my pimple)!!

Then she ran proudly to Lonnie and told him about my three nipples.  

Let's hope she doesn't go to school saying that today.  :/

Happy 2 and a half sweet and sassy B!  

2 years

My baby girl is now 2 years old.  I want to be able to look back at all of the things that she is doing right now.  Feel free to skim this one or just skip it altogether because it is going to be long!   
  
FEEDING:  I guess I will say that Blakely is a good eater.  We are going through a phase right now where she just wants to snack all day long.  I have a very hard time getting her to sit down and eat a meal.  When we sit down and eat dinner she will eat a few bites and then want to get down.  Then 30 minutes later she is raiding the pantry.  She rarely wants to eat breakfast and only eats some of her lunch at school so I am assuming that is why she wants to snack all evening long.  At first I was just letting her snack because I figured she was hungry but I am going to try to cut down on that to get her to eat more "meals".  I was thinking I would try for dinner and then a heavy snack before she goes to bed.  We will see.  

Some of her favorite things are :
apple slices (still has trouble with the peel)
peanut butter (eats it by the spoonful)
Annie's cheddar bunnies (or cheddar squares)
chips (any kind.  I can't keep them in the house or she will find them.)
baby carrots (I think they feel good on her molars)
pasta (always have to dip it in something)
nuts (any kind really but her favorite are almonds an cashews)

she made dinner...

chip thief

SLEEPING:  Oh the sleeping.  I may have to write an entire post on what is going on in this department.  She has always been such a great sleeper and we have never had a hard time putting her to bed.  That all changed about 2 weeks ago.  A few different things are happening.  
1.  She doesn't want to go to bed.  She stalls and stalls.  We don't usually give in but she knows exactly what to say to make us think about giving in.  "More pee pee" and then if that doesn't work she tries "Blakely poop".  Smart girl that one.  Sometimes she goes to sleep after a few minutes of crying and then other nights it takes over an hour.  On the long nights one of us usually goes back in to calm her down which is why I am sure she keeps crying.  Sigh.  
2.  She is waking up in the middle of the night completely and totally hysterical.  I am not talking whining and crying.  I can handle that.  I am talking full blown screaming and crawling to get out of her bed.  Yelling so much she coughs and gags and gets choked and /or vomits.  She goes from sleeping to hysterics in like 5 seconds.  She sounds scared and that I can not take.  I go in there and she either a) immediately lays back down but freaks if I try to leave the room or b) stays hysterical until I pick her up.  This has led to me sleeping in her room for the past week or so.  
3.  She doesn't want to nap when she is home with me.  They tell me that she naps at school but it isn't always a long nap.  She naps for a good 1.5-2 hours when she is with Juanet.  I know part of the problem here is that one of her teachers lays with her until she falls asleep.  She wants me to do that at home and that just isn't happening.  I left her in her room for an hour on Saturday and she cried for the first 10 minutes and then she just whined and talked to her babies (which is why I let her stay down there for an hour).  So we have had no naps for 2 days.  She is with Juanet today so I am curious to see what happens there.

I know all of this is just a phase and it will get better soon.  I also know that I do not mind snuggling with her one single bit!  I watched her sleep for an hour last night before I fell asleep and it was so good.  She was holding my hand so tight and it made me wonder why I even try to get her to sleep by herself. 

Here is a list of the MUST HAVES in her crib at night.  I want to remember this because I slept with my soft bear until I met Lonnie.  Don't judge...  ;)
pillow
Minnie
Big soft bear
Little soft bear
Jaffy
Dotty
Baby Doll 

attached to mommy

TALKING:  This girl talks up a storm as I know I have said before.  She is definitely talking in sentences and it is pretty weird to hear that.  This morning she said to me "wash Blakely's hand pink soap please".  We can have full on conversations.  Well I guess you would call them that.  They usually go a little bit like this.  
Blakely: "Mommy sit pink chair"
Me:  Okay.  (I go sit in her pink chair.)
Blakely: "NO!  Mommy sit dis chair"  (points to her rocking chair)
Me:  Mommy's booty is too big to sit in that chair.  
Blakely:  "Mommy big booty.  Otay...Mommy sit down here" (points to the floor)
Me:  Okay.  Do you want to sit on the floor with Mommy?
Blakely: "No ma'am mommy.  Blakely sit pink chair."  (I know...ma'am.  must be from school)

Basically she bosses me around all day.  Ha!  

She talks so fast sometimes and I have to tell her to slow down and say her words correctly.  Instead of saying "baby doll" she will say "bay doll".  Or when she is saying Blakely (which sounds like Boppy) she will shorten it to just "BA".  She gets frustrated sometimes when I don't know what she is saying but if I can get her to slow down and "say her words" then I can understand her.  Now if I ask her to say something again she will look at me and say each word slower.  It is pretty cute.  

A few of the phrases I hear the most often are:
more eat please
more pee pee
up mommy up
Boppy go outside
hold mommy hand
play mommy hair
ME DO IT!

Some of the funny things she says...or things that sound funny the way she says them.  
Sit still sounds like shit.  
Princess sounds like penis.  This one if fun.  She will say "Mommy play princess!"  oh dear.  
She has started saying OH NO!  which is way cute.  "OH NO Minnie fall.  Kiss Minnie boo boo"
Football is still shitball.  

POTTY:  I am sure she will love that I put this section out on the internets but oh well.  She is fully potty trained except for sleeping.  All of her naps at school she wakes up dry (wears a pull up for nap there) and most of the time here too.  She isn't scared to use public bathrooms anymore so this is very helpful.  She is even to the point that she will hold it if I tell her too.  LIke if we are almost home or we are about to be finished with lunch somewhere.  We have had very few accidents throughout this entire process.  The only one I can even remember in the last month or so was when we were outside and she just refused to come in.  I  knew she needed to go but I wanted her to understand what would happen if she didn't go when she felt like she needed to.  So we stayed outside.  10 minutes later she looked at me with big eyes and said UH OH PEE PEE and bolted to our front door.  She had just gone a little bit in her panties but she didn't like it one bit.  I am very proud of her for doing so well with the potty.  And I am LOVING not having to wash and fold diapers!  

Ok.  Surely I am not the only mama who thinks this but when she poops she is so freaking adorable!  She will work so hard and then when she has success she will say "YAY!  Boppy BIG poopy".  I mean seriously.  It makes me laugh every single time.  I know she gets this because once we started potty training we would always do big cheers for #2's.  I had heard that some kids would pee on the potty but had a hard time with the other.  So when she would go we would basically throw a party.  Now she throws her own little party and entertains the heck out of us!  

TEETHING:  I know she is getting one of her 2 year molars.  It is about halfway in.  But I am pretty sure she is getting one or two more.  The amount of drool has increased dramatically and I catch her with her fingers in the back of her mouth often.  She has also started putting things in her mouth again.  Stresses me out.  I had to talk with them at school about it because she was putting little things in her mouth here and she hasn't done that in like a year!  She choked the other day on a little toy we had here and I freaked out.  I saw her putting it in her mouth and immediately said NO! and ran over to her to get it out.  Being the 2 year old that she is that just made her shove it further in her mouth.  Her eyes immediately got wide because she knew she couldn't get it out (she had it folded over and when she let go it unfolded and lodged).  Long story short, I reached in there and swiped it out.  It was very scary and we both cried after it was over.  She hasn't done anything like this since because I know it scared the heck out of her but I am still worried about when she is away from me.  

CLOTHING:  She wears a mix of 2T and 3T.  2T would fit her better except that the sleeves are starting to be too short and the pants aren't quite long enough.  My long and lanky girl.  Summer 2T stuff is perfect but for winter stuff she definitely needs a 3T.  She wear a 7-8 shoe depending on the brand. 

HAIR:  Her hair is a light brown and is fine.  I have no clue how she has fine hair with the coarse, thick mane I've got and the sheer volume of hair Lonnie has.  But fine it is.  She is getting more and more hair though and it does have a little bit of curl on the ends in the back.  

EYES:  Big blue eyes.  Just like Lonnie and I.  

WEIGHT:  I am guessing about 27 pounds.  I'll update this when I take her to her 2 year check up.  ****She weighed almost 29 pounds at her checkup and jumped up to the 75th percentile***

HEIGHT:  35 inches?  36?  I am guessing.  ****She measured 36.5 inches.  I think that is not quite accurate as she was squirming and didn't want to stand up against the wall.  I'd guess closer to 36 but either way she is a tall girl!  99th percentile!***

BLAKELY'S FAVORITE THINGS:
Minnie nightgown
Snow White doll
bubble baths

getting in the shower with mommy
pushing her babies down the slide

Mick.ey Mou.se Clu.bhouse (seriously trying to get her on to a new show)
letters (singing them, pointing them out, etc)
speed bumps
strapping herself in to things (grocery cart, car seat, booster seat)
hiding
playing chase (she prefers this with daddy)
playing "night night"...kisses each doll, lays them down and puts a blanket over them.  

being naked.  She says "BOPPY NAKEY!"
eating off daddy's plate
playing with mommy's hair
Wheels on the bus
seek and find books

A FEW OTHER THINGS....

Blakely can count to ten.  She gets to ten and then starts back at seven and repeats "Sheh-sheh, eight, nine, TEN" over and over and over.  It is pretty adorable.  

She is sort of obsessed with school buses.  I take her out to the school a few days a week and we watch them go by.  When we are driving down the road she can spot one from so far away.  She gets super excited and yells "Shoo Bus!"  Then she asks for a pink school bus...

She can sing the ABC's up to the letter V.  I am not sure what the deal is with W, X, Y, and Z because she knows them just won't add them to the song!   

Any time she sees words on a sign or something she points and yells ABCD!  ABCD!  This girl loves some letters.  

She is finally starting to get her colors on a consistent basis.  Lonnie was seriously thinking she was color blind.  (He also thought she was allergic to the sun when she was 2 days old....ha!)  I try to remind him that SHE IS ONLY TWO.  When she points things out to me she will say the color first.  (Pink shirt, orange balloon, red cup, etc)  

She loves going to school and going with Juanet.  We have no trouble at all when Juanet comes to get her or when I drop her off at school.  I am thankful for this and hopefully it will stay this way!  

She loves stairs, any stairs.  The child can find them anywhere but ours are definitely her fave.  

When watching MMCH she will gets very distressed if Minnie seems to be sad, hurt, or upset.  She will start whining and saying uh oh Minnie or oh no Minnie.  We can't watch the Wiz.ard of D.iz or the one where Minnie, Daisy and Pluto get carried away by the balloons (meltdown!).  Our girl is pretty sensitive to others being in danger or hurt.  Especially Minnie...don't be messing with Minnie.  

She loves to jump off of things.  She always jumps off of the last step wherever we are.  She jumps off of her pink chair, our ottoman, the big mats at gymnastics and is working on jumping off the couch.  This is scary for a mama.  She is good at it, I can't lie, but it gives me a stroke.  

Speaking of gymnastics, she is doing really well there.  Not that I care about her doing actual "gymnastics" because, let's be honest, I am paying to use their space to let her run around.  I don't give a flip about her becoming a gymnast!  In the beginning B wouldn't sit down to warm up and she didn't follow any instructions...she just wanted to run and play.  I don't blame her.  But now she loves singing the warm up songs and doing all the stretches. She lets the teacher show her new things and really does well most of the time.  I remember when we first started going thinking that there was no way my child would sit in a circle for 10 minutes and "stretch"...now she does.  Big girl. 

She is very independent.  She wants to do everything herself, from tying her shoes to climbing into the car herself.  She will get frustrated if she can't do it (ME DO IT!) and I always try to let her do it herself before I "help" her.  I hear "no help" a lot too.  

She loves going to GranDi's house every Sunday.  She knows that GranDi, Jenni (which sounds like GiGi) and Grandmama (GEEE-mama) are all going to be there and will basically do whatever she wants to do.  She also knows that we stop and get GranDi "ICE T!" on the way over.  

Jenni snuggles

NICKNAMES:

B

Blake

Blakey

Boppy

Buggy

Bug

B-bug

boo bear

Bop

B-bop

bopper

bugger

boo boo chicken

Dear sweet Blakely Ann,
     I can't believe you are two years old.  You are the most amazing little girl and I am so proud to be your mommy.  You make me laugh until I cry and not a day goes by that you don't show me how much you love me.  I am thankful for that.  Your kisses are sweet and your hugs are gigantic.  I hope you always give them to me freely.  I hope you know how much your daddy and I love you.  You are the best Blakely.  You are silly, sweet, smart, and sassy.  You are just everything.  There is no other way to put it.  Everything.  I am not sure how we got so lucky to have you as our daughter but I can tell you that we are thankful every single day to be your parents.  We love you buggy!  

23 months...quite late

I am way late on writing this because I forgot!  Can you believe that after 2 years of writing these monthly posts that this one just got away from me?  Oops.   

Basically, the only thing B turning 23 months means is that she will be 2 IN A MONTH.  That is all. 

Here are a few little things about her and a photo dump.  Enjoy!

She loves to be tickled.  We call them her tickle spots (under her arms, on her neck, etc).  She will say "Mommy tickle spot" and point to one of them.  When we tickle her she just laughs and laughs.  The best sound in the world.  

She is doing great in school and talks about her teachers all of the time.  Since starting school she has become a little (okay, a lot) more attached to me.  She loves going and there is never any problem dropping her off.  But on days when she is with me she wants my undivided attention...which I give to her.  But when someone else is around she whines and just wants me to hold her and not talk to anyone else.  Even Lonnie.  When he gets home from work she whines and yells if he and I try to have a conversation.  It is a little difficult but I understand why she is doing it.  She misses me.  And boy do I miss her when she is gone.  To me this is one of the best things about school.  She can go there and play and learn while I get things done.  Then when she is home with me I can completely focus on her.  When she was with me all day everyday I felt like I was constantly trying to get things done and give her attention at the same time and I was failing at both.  We just need to work out this whining when others are around.  It is the worst after she has been in school for 2 days.  Then it gets better over the next few days.  Then it is time to go back to school!  I can't lie though, I love being her person ;)

She still loves daddy even though she is a big time mommy's girl right now...

Actually she loves school so much it is hard to get her to leave.  I have resorted to bribing her with frozen yogurt to get her to come with me without a freak out!  Probably not a good idea but it sure is yummy and fun!  

She loves her Sno.w W.hite.  She calls her "doh doh white".  We usually can't leave the house without her, Baby Doll and Daisy.  I have learned that even if Blakely says she doesn't want to take them with us that I should bring them anyway.  Because it never fails she will ask for them when we get about 10 minutes down the road.  :)

Razorback football started this month and we dress up in our gear to call the HOGS every Saturday!  

I love this baby girl so much and I can't believe she is about to be two years old.  I am feeling very emotional that my baby is so not a baby anymore.  She is a funny, sweet, strong, determined little toddler and I can't wait to see how she continues to grow into her own little personality!

22 months!

On August 13th (her first day of "school") our little (not little) Blakely turned 22 months!  

This was the month of the language boom.  The day she hit 22 months she started stringing 2, 3 and 4 words together regularly.  As I am writing this she said to me, "Mommy tie shoe please".  It blows me away how fast this happened.  One day she was just saying single words and now that.  Awesome.  She also repeats everything we say.  I can tell she is able to make more sounds now that she could a month ago.  She never could really say the "c" sound, like in cat.  Now she can.  And we all know how well she says football ;)

This was also the month of the potty training.  I've said this before but I want to mention it in this monthly post as well.  She is doing very well.  I don't know when you say your child is "potty trained" but she is well on her way.  I can't remember the last time she had an accident at home.  I don't ask her when we are at the house, I just wait for her to tell me.  When she and I go out during the day she wears panties and does well.  She FINALLY went in a public restroom and that has helped tremendously.  Now we don't spend a ton of time in the car on the Min.nie potty.  Score one for Mommy.  As much as I hate public restrooms it is so much easier to take her to the bathroom when we are out for lunch than to stand outside of my car in the 100 degree weather for 20 minutes while she holds it and plays games on my phone.  I am hoping this week at MDO she will start using their potty.  Last week her teacher told me she seemed scared of it but finally went when she saw another girl go.  When I take her in this week I am going to go with her and maybe that will make her not scared of it!  Also, I am sure after writing this paragraph I am going to eat my words and she will totally regress.  Let's hope not.  

This is what happens when you potty train your cloth diaper wearing toddler.  No pants fit!  Gangsta ;)

A super fun thing she started doing this month is hiding.  And she is really good at it.  When I had my little day to myself and she was with Lonnie all day, he called me and told me that he lost her for like 5 minutes!  She was hiding in the laundry basket.  I lost her one day and found her in the princess castle {picture below} being as quiet as a mouse and completely still.  It is really amazing.  Now we have to hide from daddy when he gets home everyday.  It is cute but I am sure I am going to hate this talent of hers.  

She calls herself Boppy.  She thinks she is saying Blakely but Boppy it is.  I don't want to ever forget that because it is so cute and I know it won't last long.  

She is a total bottomless pit this month.  I guess she is having a major growth spurt but she wants to eat all the time.  She doesn't really eat breakfast well but starting at about 10 am she wants to eat constantly.  Some favorites are pasta with sauce to dip, carrot sticks, and apple slices with peanut butter.  

{always eating}

She has loved Mic.key Mouse Clu.bhouse for a while.  But now, all of the sudden, she is super attached to her Min.nie.  She has to go everywhere with us.  Even if Blakely says she doesn't I always bring her because if she asks fo her when we are out and we don't have her?  Oh dear....

We have had some super fun pool days this month.  I think most weekends were spent at the pool.  Of course I don't have many pictures because I spend my time chasing her around and making sure she doesn't dive head first into the water.  But here is one from last weekend.  We spent most of the day there with Jenni and GranDi.  Blakely loooooves her Jenni {it sounds like Gigi and that just might stick!}.  

She is liking the water more and more each time we go.  This specific time she jumped into the water {with me catching her} at least 50 times.  She will kick when I tell her and will actually let me takes my hands off of her and she will swim around a little bit.  She doesn't quite have the arm paddle down yet but we are working on it.  I really wish I could get her in to swim lessons but all the places here want them to be 2.  Maybe someone has fall lessons or something.  I am going to look into that.  


Happy 22 months sweet girl!  We love you so much!