Sweetie at Two and a Half

Sweetie's personality is becoming more apparent. She is more even keeled than Baby Dragon, so I can depend on her to be fairly agreeable as long as she is fed and napped. The nice thing is that she likes to sleep and she likes to eat. She has recently discovered that she enjoys a good peanut butter and honey sandwich. I'm SOOO excited that one of my children likes sandwiches!!! It's been such a pain to come up with lunches when sandwiches aren't an option (feeding people is NOT one of my fortes). When she is hungry she will search the pantry and grab something that looks good or ask for help in getting what she wants. Her current favorite snack is Ritz crackers. She often requests juice, but when I suggest water she is just as happy to drink that. She almost always comes to me with a little grin on her face asking for "pop," meaning a lollipop. She'll cock her head to the side and try to charm one out of me. I try to be firm about my no candy before lunch rule. Most of the time if I say no she'll drop it and move on to something else, but if she's tired or hungry a 'no' may elicit a little tantrum. The nice thing about her tantrums is if I put her in a different room to tantrum, she stops very quickly and gets over it.

When Sweetie is tired she often asks for bed time. I'll tell her to get her blanket and baby and most of the time she cheerfully says, "OK." She is so pleasant. Other times when I suggest a nap she might say, "No, I no wike it." Then if I suggest that we go and read a book she might change her mind. She often says she wants a hug, meaning she wants to be carried upstairs. I try to remember what it's like to carry her in my arms because she won't be so small for very long. Here she fell asleep among her books. It's pretty normal for her to flip through a massive pile of books like the one behind her.

Sweetie is patient for the most part. She bides her time and waits until the toy she wants becomes available and then she snatches it up. She has started to become more particular about toys and isn't as willing to accept a substitute toy that I offer to her. Sometimes she'll want a toy that Baby Dragon has and I'll try to give her something similar and she'll thrust it away, but if I try to put it away she'll start crying for it. She doesn't know what she wants. Sometimes I wonder if Sweetie handles things better because of her personality or because Handsome Husband and I have actually learned a thing or two about parenting. It's probably a little of both.

In the mornings she comes into my room and sometimes brings a book (or 5) to read with me. She'll crawl up in bed with me to read. Then she'll tell me to wake up. Or sometimes she'll pull on my hand and say, "Come on." She says it in a sweet voice and is pretty irresistable. She still gets

excited to see me in the mornings when I come downstairs or if I'm up before she is. Normally, Handsome Husband lets her out of her room in the mornings while I'm still in bed. She reads her books, eats breakfast with Daddy or she watches a movie. Sweetie likes to be independent. When I try to buckle her in her carseat, stroller or booster chair she will push my hands away and say, "I try it."

At nights she does NOT sit still for scripture reading and I often wonder if she gets anything out of it, but I think she is a pretty auditory learner. So even though she isn't fully participating, I believe she is listening and soaking it in. She loves to say our dragon scripture, Psalms 148:7, which she learned by hearing Baby Dragon recite it. I never tried to teach it to her. She does fold her arms for prayer and she will say prayer when I guide her, but she always whispers it. She loves singing action songs. She loves to sit on my lap while I play the piano and sing. She quietly listens and watches my fingers. I think she'll be a musical one. At nights she always requests "Temple" so I sing "I Love to See the Temple" to her before she goes to sleep.

Sweetie is a girly girl. She has recently started screaming. She will let out a shrill one and say proudly, "I sceam!" If she sees a bug she will point to it and say "Spider! Ahhh!" and while pointing and screaming she'll hop from one foot to the other. It's pretty hilarious. One of Sweetie's favorite phrases is "Oh, dear." It's so cute to hear; she can either use it to show excitement or to express that something is wrong. Sweetie isn't very interested in helping me cook. She just likes to scribble in her coloring books or flip through books while I cook. When she wants to color she'll say "Cowors." She tends to be fairly quiet, but it's so cute when she gets into a jabber mode. I'm loving her baby talk.

She loves to pull faces.

She also does not so girly things. She likes to pretend to be a dinosaur by raising both her hands above her head and saying "rawr!" She likes to chase people with a dragon toy while saying "rawr." She loves to throw balls. She is not fazed by walking on grass bare foot like Baby Dragon. She loves being outside. But, she is also a home body. She will request "home" when we've been out for a while. Mainly if she's tired. Sweetie loves to wrestle with Baby Dragon and she normally wins. We used to call her a velcro baby and she can still cling to you like velcro.

Recently, I was struck with the realization that there is a possibility that Sweetie will be my last girl. We are only planning on one more baby after Cpt Adorable and it could end up being a boy. I also realized that while dresses are cute on Baby Dragon, they aren't nearly as charming now that she has lost her toddler shaped body. So I went out and bought a couple of sundresses for Sweetie. This will be the summer of the dress for Sweetie, it's a good thing she likes dresses!

When Sweetie gets excited she does a happy dance which involves stomping or hopping on her feet. Her hair bounces and she looks absolutely adorable. Her hair grows faster than Baby Dragon's, so it is longer than Baby Dragon's was at this age. It also has a slight curl when it is damp and I just love it. Here Sweetie is doing her happy dance because Daddy just got home from work:

Sweetie is a little flirt. When we have people over for dinner we snicker about who will be lucky enough to sit next to Sweetie. She will gently touch that person's arm and rest her head on his arm. She tries to offer food to them and she jabbers in the most engaging way. Many tilts of her little head and batting of eyelashes ensue.