New Interests

Filed Under Big Sister, Books, Learning, Milestones, Names, Second Pregnancy, Siblings, This Rocks, Two and a half years old | 2 Comments

I know I have mentioned how Bailey is really into dressing up lately- not so much the actual princess dresses, but the tutu, wand, shoes, tiara, wings etc. The other night while I was out, Jonathon went in to check on her and she had taken her socks off and put on a pair of high heeled princess shoes to go to sleep. I scolded him for not getting a picture!

She is also really into “big girl books” with real pages. She looks at board books sometimes but has to be in the right mood. Her current favorite books are anything princess (Especially Cinderella!), Wocket in my Pocket, Where the Wild Things Are (she calls it “Wild Fings ARE”), Sneetches, Dora Visits the Dentist, and Berenstein Bears Big Honey Hunt. She used to like the Little Mermaid but we were at a friends house one day and the movie was on. She saw the part where Ursula turns back into the Sea Witch at the end and now all she says is, “I don’t like the bad lady!” and she won’t have anything to do with it anymore. We have to be really careful what she watches and what parts of the books we “edit” when we read because she has such a big imagination!

Another thing she loves is her new colored pencils. She likes to draw with them. She doesn’t like coloring books much anymore- she would rather draw her own pictures and have us draw/color with her on blank paper. I guess that’s a good thing because it gets her to be more creative. She also likes to pretend to wrap presents for us. Anytime she can find a piece of tissue paper or scrap paper she starts folding it around a small object and then brings us the present to open.

She has just started learning the “grownup names” of people in our family. I think it’s good that she knows what our real names are, including last names, in case she ever needs to get help or talk to another adult for some reason. We are also going to start working on a phone number soon. She can say her full name and we are starting to learn how to spell it. She really likes knowing what adults’ names are, and she knows not to use their names but for some reason thinks it’s fun just to know.

She loves talking about her baby brother, and talking to him while he’s inside me. She always tells him, “Hi, Baby _____ ______. I’m your big sister! I love you and I will take care of you.” She puts stickers on my tummy for him, and talks about how she will hold toys for him to look at and read books to him when he is too little to hold the toys by himself. I love to see her excitement about him.

Healthy Eating

Filed Under Food, Learning, Talking, Two and a half years old | Leave a Comment

We have been doing a lot to teach Bailey about healthy foods vs. junk foods. I would love for her to have better eating habits than me or Jonathon. We have also been more careful about what we eat (okay, at least in front of her!) since she has been noticing. She knows that she has to eat healthy food before she can have a “junk snack” and she only gets one junk snack per day. For her, a junk snack is something like fruit snacks, a cookie, chips etc.

I think it is starting to sink in with her. When she was playing with the pretend kitchen in one of her classes, I heard her say, “I’m playing with all these healfy foods!” Another time, she was eating lunch with a little girl at church. She looked at the other girls lunch and said, “You have lots of junk snacks. Those are not healfy foods. I eat healfy foods so my body can have energy!” And it was true- the other girl had a half sandwich, pudding, chips, cookies and a candy. I was proud of Bailey for recognizing that. Next we will work on being tactful…

She does get fun foods and snacks occasionally. We eat fast food about once a week. She loves pizza too. We are not crazy about what she is allowed to consume (I think parents who are too much this way almost encourage their kids to gorge on junk food when they have the chance). I have also seen some statistics about girls- even younger than you would think- with eating disorders or using dieting pills. I don’t want her to be obsessed but I want her to be able to make smart choices for herself.

We just make sure that we have healthy things to offer her and that she gets a balanced diet. I wish she would eat more vegetables but we’re working on it. The other day at her cooking class she announced, “I don’t like to eat betchtables. I only like cookies!” Nice and loud and clear for everyone to hear, of course.

And here she is enjoying her pudding snack! She gets a half a cup of pudding when we need to hide a pill or something in it crushed up. She does okay with liquid medicine, but unfortunately her allergy medicine only comes in chewables

2 1/2 Years Old

Filed Under Being a Mom, Food, Learning, Talking, Two and a half years old, classes | 3 Comments

Bailey Bug,

Happy “half birthday” little sweetie! You are the love of my life. You have a strong little personality (hmmm just like your mommy!) and you are so smart and funny. You are becoming more affectionate and even more independent! You love going to your classes at the early childhood center and at The Little Gym. You are very brave at gymnastics but you always want to do everything by yourself. You know now that we are getting a baby brother at our house. Sometimes you are excited about this, and sometimes you don’t want to talk about it. I am trying to follow your lead and not make too big of a deal about it.

Two weeks ago you had your first ambulance ride. You tripped and fell into the kitchen doorway. Your forehead split open and you ended up getting glued back together at the hospital. You still talk about it, and how you don’t want to bump your head. You say “I rided in the ambalance” and will tell anyone your hospital story. You still won’t let us peel what’s left of the bandage off. I keep telling you that I am cutting your hair and clipping little parts off since you don’t want anyone to touch it.

In the last few months we have started calling you “Bugle Bug” and you laugh at all your nicknames. If we ask “Where is Muffie?” You say “Right here, Mommy!” If I make a comment like “I’m cold” you say “You’re not cold, you’re Mommy!” and you laugh. You have also started interrupting when I am talking to Daddy, and saying “Mommy stop talking to Daddy!” and waving your hand at us. We are trying to correct your behavior and manners but sometimes it’s so hard not to smile. Today you had the biggest fit EVER when it was time to get dressed. You were saying “No take off my pants Mommy!” and kicking and it took everything I had to wrestle you into your clothes. Age two can be quite a challenge for both of us. Fortunately you have more sunshiney moments than difficult ones!

You still amaze us with your vocabulary and your counting and letter skills. You know the sound each letter makes, thanks to your Leapfrog Letter Factory video. You love to learn and figure out new concepts. You also- just like your Daddy- love to watch tv. Your current favorites are Franny’s Feet, SuperWhy, and Barney. You are kind of over Elmo (sad, but I don’t miss it… yet…) and you hate Dragon Tales- which for some reason you call Dinosaur Train. If it comes on you freak out and find me to change the channel. “No no I don’t like Dinosaur Train! Turn it off Mommy, I don’t like to watch it!” I have banned your father from watching the news when you are in the room because you are just way too observant and you also get scared easily.

Your new favorite food is crackers with peanut butter. You still love cottage cheese and fruit snacks, of course. We are learning about healthy foods vs. junk snacks at our house so that you can start making good food choices. With my help, of course. You can tell us “Junk snacks don’t give my body energy. I need energy!” You also have a love for orange juice, which definitely did NOT come from me. I still water it down a lot and you only get one glass a day.

I love having a “helper” when I deliver my Avon, put the laundry in the dryer, and clean up toys. You love to help me and you love to clean. I guess you didn’t get that from me, either. You have a very loving personality. You always want to share your snacks and treats. Just today you offered me your last fruit snack that you spent forever digging out of the package. You like to do “noses” at bedtime (Eskimo kisses, I think is what it’s called) and to pray before you go to sleep. Last night you thanked God for all your family and friends by name, and then for your lunch, your animal game, and your class. So sweet!

Speaking of class, here is a picture of you today at your music class. On your actual half birthday… You are now closer to three and I can’t believe you are growing up so fast! I love you so much. You are the baby who made me a mommy, you are the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen, and you hold my heart in your hand.

Love, Mommy

School Desk

Filed Under Learning, Talking, Two Years Old | 2 Comments

I have mentioned before how we have the old-school Fisher Price School Days chalkboard/desk with the magnetic letters. Now that Bailey knows her letters she is even more into it. She likes to “read” things everywhere she goes. At Petco, she said, “Look Mommy! P-E-T-C-O! And birds in the O!” Sure enough, there was a birds nest in the middle of the O. Yesterday at her OT visit, the word “Welcome” was written under the front desk at her eye level. I didn’t know that she recognized lower case letters but she spelled it out again. Only she read the lowercase L as an “i” instead. Close enough.

So the point of this story. Last night she was looking at her Fisher Price desk. She said, “S-C-H-O-O-L D-E-S-K spells Bailey!” She knows her letter sounds so we might have to start working on sounding out words. Otherwise she will just always think that everything spells Bailey!

She is spelling things everywhere she goes. She will name the letters anywhere she can find them. Oh, I really hope she loves to read when she gets older.

Beelay’s Match

Filed Under Gifts, Learning, Travel, Twenty-three Months | 1 Comment

Thank you to Casey and Addison for the fun matching game! Bailey is obsessed with it. We spent at least a full half hour matching the cards this afternoon before nap… then more time after nap… then when Jonathon got home I was like “Hey honey, check out Bailey’s new game! Come play it with her!” (Moms always know how to make an escape, right? LOL

Finally Jonathon got tired of playing it too. Bailey kept walking around the house asking us both… “Match? Please? Beelay’s Match!” Then if I said, “Do you want to play your new game?” She’d nod really enthusiastically and smile and say “Yaaaaahhhh.” Really, how can you say no to that? She also convinced Teddy and Pinky (her stuffed guys) to play “Beelay’s Match” with her when a sub was needed. Honestly, I am glad she loves it so much. She was in need of something new and fun. And it’s even educational. Check out the look of concentration-

Animal ABC’s and other brain things

Filed Under Learning, Talking, Twenty-One Months | 2 Comments

On Tuesday, I got Bailey this Barney Animal ABC’s video from the library. On Wednesday, I caught her saying, “A B C D F G H I Six, six, six, A B six…” She can say bits and pieces of the rest of the alphabet too. She skips “E” every time, and she just likes to interject “Six” whenever possible.

She also counts, “One, two, three, six, six, six” or “Seven, eight, nine, six.” Apparently she doesn’t know what comes between three and seven because she always skips that part or just starts at seven. She can also count up to three objects (like if you ask her how many bears are on a page of her book) by pointing to them and counting.

She knows the letter B and can tell you what letter it is, or point to it in a group of letters. However, she will tell you that it is the “Barney letter” and not that it’s for Bailey. Most of these things, she has honestly learned from those stupid Barney videos that she loves. I mean, I kind of work on the stuff with her if it comes up while we are playing. But she just really picks up things after seeing them once or twice on video. We are trying to be really careful what she sees because of how fast she catches on and remembers!

She knows lots of different animals now- more uncommon ones like flamingo, koala, seal, zebra, dolphin, hippo, owl and she enjoys learning what sound they make. Her pig noise is pretty darn funny.

She makes up her own words. Like the other day, I was getting her undressed for her bath. I asked her what we were doing. I expected her to say something like “bath” or “off clothes” but she said “Naking!” I was like, what??? She said, “Naking! Naked Beelay!” So I guess she just verbed naked. At the park today, she picked up a stick and started scratching it against the landscaping rocks. She said, “Drawring. PREtend.” I love to see her figure out more ways to communicate as her language skills grow.

Oh and one more thing, she knows ALL her colors now. I have finally determined through a few different games and tricks that she really does know them. She can name or point to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, white, and black.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Filed Under Learning, Nineteen Months | 9 Comments

Bailey has always been pretty good at puzzles. She has been putting together the regular wooden puzzles for a long time. Her Parents As Teachers lady was actually surprised how young she was to be able to put together puzzles that she hadn’t seen before. I think it was her 15 or 16 month visit when she showed off those skills. She is bored with the puzzles that we have at our house now and has moved on to some more difficult ones like the alphabet and numbers. My mom got her an Elmo jigsaw puzzle on a whim. It has borders but the whole inside is empty and doesn’t have any pictures under where the pieces go. She can totally put it together by herself. These pictures are from a few weeks ago but I had been meaning to post about it.