two and a half

Recently Madeline overheard me telling another mom at the library that she's "two and a half" and since then she's been quick to inform others of her age. I'm not sure she knows exactly what it means, but she does know she's going to be three soon. We frequently sing 'happy birthday' and she's practicing holding up three fingers. What a tricky thing to do! Getting that pinky to stay down and the ring finger to stay up. Good thing she has a few more months to practice ;) 

This little girl, who really doesn't feel like much of a toddler any more, is such a joy to have around. As much as her unkempt hair drives me crazy, she loves it down and she feels beautiful. The headband she puts on herself is just so her I don't even want to fix it (except maybe on Sundays). She's 110% girl down to her very core. Fancy Nancy, Tinkerbell, Frozen, all things pink and princess. Necklaces, rings, 'makeup', gloves (daddy's socks). I love that too :)

Madeline is such a good big sister. You saw that first picture of her feeding Luke, right? She absolutely adores her baby brother. Usually she'll introduce him to strangers before introducing herself. She builds forts out of couch cushions for him and asks him questions (usually gets mad when he doesn't answer ;) ) But she really is great with him.

She's great with other people, too. Loves playing with friends and says "hello" to almost everyone we meet on the street or in the store. She can bring a smile to anyone's face. 

I'm amazed by some of the conversations we have. She's incredibly observant, asking me about the billboards and people she sees from her seat in the car. She recognizes when we're driving past places like daddy's school and informs me when the light is green. 

Lately she's been very into her emotions. If Luke knocks down her tower she'll come to me with the saddest face and say,"Mom.... I'm just so sad..." I'll ask her why and we'll talk about how she could solve her problem and be happy again. She's independent but not to proud to ask for help when she needs it. At least once a day she still needs me to hold her and I hope that never changes. 

Her yearning to learn is contagious. I'm amazed by her steady interest in learning the alphabet. She asks for help writing letters and points letters out on signs and packaging. She definitely doesn't recognize all of them but is often asking for more.  I made a dashed line-letter for her to trace and she did amazingly well and keeps asking for more. She assembled a 46 piece jigsaw puzzle with me twice, back to back. I'm convinced she would have done it a third time but I was losing interest ;) She enjoys anything creative: scissors, glue, crayons, paper, paint, stickers, you name it, she'll do it. 

While she's still VERY busy, I find that all of her "messes" are purposeful. The couch cushions all over the floor? Oh that's just her castle. The plates, cups and bowls scattered across the kitchen? She was making a rainbow. Her imagination knows no limits, and oh that makes me happy. 

I think Jeremy and I would agree that the thing we're loving most about this spunky, curious, beautiful little girl at two and a half is the things she says. I realize this is getting to be quite lengthy, but bear with me. Or stop reading. Actually I'll be impressed if you're still reading ;)

While licking a spoon covered in chocolate muffin batter,"I think I loooooove muffins.... Muffins are my favorite."

"Attention everybody!" *dramatic pause* "Tinkerbell fixes things!"

As we're getting ready to read scriptures,"So what's Lehi up to?"  to which we responded, "Actually, Lehi died a few chapters ago...."

While in the bath, "Daddy, I have a bottom and Luke has a peanut. He's a boy with a beautiful peanut."

Another night while in the bath,"Mommy, why does Luke have a 'peanut butter' ?" (Perhaps we need to work on annunciating "penis" better?)

Pulling onto north Avenue (if you're not from Baltimore, it's known for blue lights, boarded up buildings and loitering  - sketchy, sketch),"ME-OW! This is a classy neighborhood!" She'd recently watch the 'Aristocats'.

Often she'll pull us all into a bear hug and say,"Aw..... I love you guys SO MUCH!!!"

When she's forgotten to say 'please' when asking for something I'll put my hand to my ear and then I usually say 'yes'. One time while I was debating about whatever it was she wanted, she said,"Put your hand by your ear so you can say 'YES!' ". 

"IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER TO JUMP!!!!!" 

"While 'serving me food' one day I mentioned that she was a very good waitress. She thought about it, whipped her skirt off, and said,"Now I'm a waitress!!!" 

Madeline - "I want to take a bath!"
Mom - "Talk to daddy about it I bathed you last night" (leaves room)
Madeline - "Dad, can I take a bath?! Please..... Mommy said, 'YES!' and you didn't say ,'NO!' "

During her prayer one night,"And thank you we could go to the library today, and two parks, and lots of stores, and three libraries, and church, and all the parks and the library..."  (We had stayed home that entire day.... guilt trip?)

Upon hearing the toiled flush from the living room while Jeremy was in the bathroom, "*gasp* Daddy pooped!! Daddy pooped in the toilet!!!!! Yay daddy!!!!" (Can you tell we're coming out of potty training? ;) )

She was looking in the mirror and i asked her what she was doing. She replied,"Oh just looking at myself because I am BEAUTIFUL!"

Changing the preset radio stations in the car while I was nursing Luke she finally settled on one and said,"Ooooo excellent."

As I'm tucking her down for quiet time,"Thank you mister mom!" 

"Goodbye, have a good luck!"

Madeline we love you! Thanks for making this parenting journey such a joy :)