- Sleeping: Lily has slept in her own "big girl" bed since we moved in. Our nighttime routine has stayed the same though: we read books and then I lay with her until she goes to sleep. The biggest change is that she used to settle in very quickly and go to sleep right away. Now she comes up with every excuse in the book to get up. She's hungry, needs daddy, wants to go to the store to buy something, needs to bring something from downstairs into bed... I have not given into these excuses yet, and it seems to be working so far. She may whine for a bit, but she eventually settles down and goes to sleep. Naps, on the other hand, are a disaster. What used to be incredibly easy is now impossible. She will only nap if we are driving in the car in the afternoon. I actually think that she is outgrowing them altogether. (sigh) But she's in the in-between phase so she is getting tired at 6:00 because she just can't make it that long. On those days, we have to devise ways to keep her up until her bedtime, making for a grumpy couple of hours. I sure do miss those two hours of peace in the afternoon, but it is also nice not to have to always plan around her nap schedule. I'm not giving up on the naps entirely yet; we'll just have to see how it goes.
- Potty-training: Weirdest thing. Yesterday she woke up and was done with diapers. She said that she wanted her underwear, immediately went on the potty (pee and then poop a little later), and continued on through the day without one accident. So for those following the saga, here's a recap of our potty-training journey: At around 17 months, Lily becomes aware of peeing/pooping, and we buy a potty chair to introduce the idea (but no "training" going on). Lots of playing with and on the chair follows. At around 20 months, Lily poops on the potty for the first time. One month later, she pees on the potty for the first time. At around 27 months, Lily has an intense interest to sit on the potty chair and big potty with lots of trees killed and water wasted from toilet paper use and flushing. Also, many hours logged on the bathroom floor by me, reading books to Lily while she's on the potty. At around 29 months, Lily becomes aware of the urge to pee/poop. This is followed by a month of refusing to sit on the potty entirely. About a month ago, Lily decides that she wants to wear underwear all the time and will sit on the potty very frequently and say, "I peed!" with nothing actually happening. Yesterday (at 31 months), she's in underwear all day, tells us when she needs to go, and actually goes every time. I truly hope this is the end of our potty-training journey, but it's just too soon to tell.
- Eating: Lily continues to eat a very wide variety of foods. She loves beans, "shrimpies", edamame, and most fruits & veggies along with gummies, donuts, fries, and an intense love of ice cream. She definitely derives pleasure from eating, both a blessing and a curse.
- "Academics": Lily recognizes about 80% of the alphabet. We haven't made huge strides in this area recently due to our recent upheaval, but we are back on track now. She recognizes some words consistently, including Lily, dog, and cat, and many other words somewhat inconsistently. Rote counting, one to one correspondence, colors, shapes, opposites, same/different, associations (hammer to nails, screwdriver to screws) etc are all very much on track.
- Language: This category is really tied to personality. The girl has some at-ti-tude! She has recently taken to exclaiming, "Oh my god!" - very, very loudly. Very embarrassing. She got a new "big girl" bike a couple of days ago, and we discussed how we need to get a helmet as well. She agreed, and then before bed, she went back to Carl and said, "You understand I need a pink helmet? Do you understand?" Her storytelling is absolutely the best though. She likes to recount past experiences and does so with much emotion and emphasis. She quite often cracks herself up in the process. But the very best is when she is talking about an experience that involved her being upset. She reenacts the crying, and it truly is hilarious.
- Personality: I had to add in a separate category for personality to relate how headstrong she is. Oh my. As has been the case for some time, she has to do everything herself. However, if she can't get it immediately and correctly on the first try, she gets so frustrated. She won't accept any help either, no matter how desperate she becomes. Beyond the independence factor, she really is a very good-natured and generally very happy child. She is very observant, inquisitive, and has an amazing memory which can work to our disadvantage, especially when trying redirect or distract her from something we don't want her to do.
- Dramatic play: In this area, as expected, she has been acting out things she has seen recently. She is quite frequently a "workerman" these days. About a week ago, we had a gas leak in our basement and after an initial check from one of the gas company's technicians, we instantly had 3 vans outside our door. (Luckily the problem was fixed immediately.) Lily snuck a couple of peeks while they were finishing up with their work and then proceeded to use various instruments and scan large objects in our house, clearly looking for a "leaks" over the next few days. She has also seen us put together quite a few things recently and so needs her "screwdriver" frequently as well. (I won't say what new words she has learned from watching those experiences!)
- Toy interests: Lily has suddenly developed a love for things that go, namely trains and trucks. She loves Thomas the Train, though I really don't even know where she learned that there is such a thing as Thomas the Train. As always, dolls are also at the top of the list, but they now have many accessories that need to go with us wherever we go. So we not only have to tote her things around, but now her dolls' things have to come as well.
- Outdoor activities: Her love for the outdoors has not waned in the slightest. She loves to be wet, either in her pools, in the sprinkler, or by playing with her sand/water table. We visited Grandma's community pool the other day, and she had the time of her life. Unfortunately, it has been so hot here recently that on most days, we have to restrict outdoor time to the morning and evening.
- Indoor activities: Aside from Dramatic Play, she likes arts/crafts, listening to music and playing with instruments, reading, singing songs/chanting rhymes, and playing with My Little Ponies, Little People and their animals. Blocks and puzzles don't seem to be high on the list right now.
- TV: She still likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but has added Blues Clues to the line-up. We tried Dora one day, and she became so upset that Swiper was swiping that we had to turn it off 3 minutes into it. Too funny.
So that's Lily right now - a girl who loves to be on the go! I feel like I've really gotten to know her better since we've been home together, as weird as that sounds. Although I know that she thoroughly loves school, and that school is so good for her, I've enjoyed being home with her so much and knowing the ins and outs of her entire day. I know when Carl goes back to work, it is going to be much more difficult, but I'm going to try to enjoy this time while I have it!
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