In case you haven't noticed....Elizabeth is really growing up! Yes, I know it's cliche, but the time is passing so fast, and remnants of babyhood/toddlerhood are really fading right before my eyes. It makes me so proud and excited on one hand to see all the new things she can do and has learned, and so,
so sad on the other! I just want to keep her my little baby... but she is determined to keep growing! :(
The other day we went out to dinner, and it suddenly hit me that for the past four or five months or so, eating out with Elizabeth has been really,
really easy! There was a period of time from about 8 months to, well, up to about 4 or 5 months ago, that eating out w/her was
very difficult--lots of tantrums when we put her in a highchair (she has always hated being constrained) and when she outgrew high chairs, lots of wanting to get up and down from the booth and lots of tantrums when she didn't get her way! Ugh! Exhausting and sometimes down right embarrassing. But, suddenly, I realized, we really haven't had any problems in months! She sits, she eats, she is mostly pleasant, it's great! So I guess while I hate how quickly she is growing up, there are some perks... maturity! That is not to say we don't still have our moments, because BOY oh BOY do we still have our moments... but it does seem like things are getting better in certain areas!
I'm also loving the potty training success we've had! She only had a few accidents the first few days of potty training... and ever since, she's done AWESOME! This is also a perk of getting older... no more diapers to change! I love it! She's VERY proud of herself, too! At a dinner party at our house, the second one of our guests arrived, she yelled as loud as she possibly could, "I weeeeear biiiiiiig girrrrrrl paaaaaanties!!!!" and then to the next group of guests who arrived, she ran to the bathroom, picked up the little potty, and came to show them before they'd even stepped through the door! Lol! Anyway, I'm really glad I waited until she was older--what is it they say, "you can potty train at 2 and train for twelve months... or you can potty train at 3, and train in a day!" Lol! Anyway, hopefully we won't have too many setbacks, because I'm really loving only having one bum to change!
Along w/potty training, we have also converted the crib to the toddler bed--this means taking down the rails in the front, but leaving the side rails--it looks a lot like a daybed this way. We also have one of those under-the-bed guard rails to keep her from falling out. I've gotta say, this, transition, was a little bit more difficult. The first few nights she cried
SO desperately! She was very afraid and kept asking to keep the light on, or for me to stay with her, or to sleep in our bed. She also kept saying there were "creatures" and "monsters" in her room. So going to a big-girl bed was pretty rough the first few nights. Fortunately, by night three I decided to see what would happen if I left the door open. I had shut it the first 2 nights, thinking if I left it open she'd get up a million times in the night. Well, that apparently solved the problem, because she goes right to bed each night, never gets up, and is a very happy little girl, just so long as the door is open! Anyway, I don't know how long this will last before she decides to "test" us. But for now, we are very happy that she is sleeping in her big girl bed!
She has also started to really mimic things we say. Lately, she calls everyone "honey" and "sweetie" when she really wants something. "Daddy? Honey? Sweetie? Would you like a cookie?" Or to me, "Sweetie, wait right there I'll be right back." Lol! Also just today while playing w/a friend of hers (they were putting a towel on a chair after drying off from the kiddie pool): "Thank you very much, Lucy Boone! You are SUCH a good helper! You are a big girl now! Thank you for helping me put the towel on the chair!" I can just SO hear myself in those words! LOL! She also knows the names of all the grown up we know, and even calls them by their name. We were meeting friends at the park one day, and when they arrived, she hollered across the park, "Ms. Candace... there you are!" It was so sweet! She's also REALLY big on making grocery lists. "Mommy, what do we need today?" I'll tell her something and she'll write down a few squiggles and then ask for something else. When I ask her to read it back to me it usually goes something like, "Milk, bread, peas, crackers, chicken bones." I love that last one! It just cracks me up and she says it so much that I've even started calling chicken legs, chicken "bones." lol!
Another new development is the fact that when she "helps" us these days... it actually helps us! She loves to rinse dishes (which is great, because I hate doing that and have a bad habit of throwing in dirty dishes to the dishwasher). She's great at helping water plants and dig holes. And she can even put laundry on hangers! OH, and she can feed her baby brother his baby food!!! And she does a GREAT job, too!!!! Time for the chore list to begin, dontcha think? Vassil is excited for when she can start getting an allowance... and teaching her how to tithe, and save, etc. He recently opened both kiddos a college savings account.
Of course, for every two steps forward, there is always one step back... and this is definitely the case w/some regression we've been noticing the past few weeks. She has started speaking in baby talk at times... often to the point where I don't know what she's saying (which is rare, because she's a very verbal little girl), and also lots of pretending to be a baby... crawling, sucking on her toy baby bottles, sucking on her thumb. In fact, every time she gets upset, now, she sucks her thumb... just like baby brother. So even though we are moving forward on so many grounds, there are still little challenges. We've also had some problems w/being a little too rough when she plays with others. If you take one look at the first picture I posted in this entry, you can plainly see that my girl is no dainty little flower... she is a wild, energetic, independent, amazing little thing!
Well, as I write this, I'm still not loving the fact that my precious little baby is growing up. In fact, it just kills me each day :( But at the same time, I am definitely enjoying some of the perks... and I can't wait to see how the next few months play out! While the twos have been trying on us, they've also been a lot of fun, and I just want to enjoy the rest of this age as best I can over the next few months!
