Cara is 2!! Last monthly update

So remember the time I would blog Cara’s monthly updates in depth, with pictures, in a (semi-) timely manner? I was always planning to do that until she turned 2 and then not do it quite so frequently. But I didn’t do the last and most important one! With school starting back, her birthday party, being so busy in September, I just never got into my groove, and I abandoned it for so long that I almost forgot about it. But I want to be true from start to finish and complete the last monthly update from when she turned 2, so we’re going to go back in time a little bit and pull pictures from August/September to complete this goal.

Stats:

• At 2 years old, Cara weighed 30-9 lbs
• 35” tall—that’s almost 3 feet!
• 20” head
• That puts her into the 80/90%ile for height/weight. Her head is off the charts, but it always has been. :)

Milestones:

• 1 molar that took forever to cut and came with a blood blister under the surface—scary! She had a low-grade fever and a runny nose for about a week, which made me know this is what was causing it. Just 3 more to go!
• Speaking in full, compound sentences and giving directives to you or about what she is doing (“I get in Daddy’s truck and I go to school. You put that plate right there, Mommy. I do it myself.” We hear that one A LOT!)
• Extensive motor coordination (tremendous balance, moving while upside down—putting herself upside down for fun, climbing on tall things—scary!, running, pointing
• Dressing herself—she’s good at putting her shirt on her head and putting her hands through it, pulling up her pants, putting on some of her shoes. Getting undressed is harder, but she’s working on it. She really wants to do her hair like mommy does, but she puts her hands in her hair and grabs hair and tries to fiddle with it. It’s really funny.
• Moved to a new class at daycare—3A! She’s one of the youngest ones in the class, and there are even some kids who are 3 and a little older. I love it so much already, though. They have centers for activities, do more preschool-type stuff, have structured play, work on responsibilities, walk upstairs like little ducklings for breakfast and lunch, and they work hard on potty training so we can shore that up too. Cara gets to play “on a big playground” with a big slide and steps twice a day, and she loves it.
• Doing really well at potty training, but some days are misses. I think it comes from having to be in a pull-up in her old class because she was one of the only ones to go potty, but at school she’s a step back. She’s making big strides at school to use the potty all by herself, pull up/down her pants, wash her hands (“I use soap!”), etc. Some days we put her in a pull-up when we go out for a long time because she is a little afraid of the big potties in public. She’s used them a few times to great praise, but can get scared too. I think we could solidify her training if we would just put her in panties in public no matter what, but I’m so afraid of accidents. So part of it is my issue, but I keep thinking we’ll get there and it will click. I just keep reminding myself that it is what it is, and she’s 90% there.

Personality:

• Stubborn—like a typical 2-year-old. Lots of “I do it myself” and “No mama and daddy. You don’t do that.” Rationalizing can be hard when she is stubborn, but part of me is glad to see her determined to do things on her own. She also doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer, whether it’s wanting a pouch before dinner, wanting to read another book before bed, etc. She’s not very happy when she can’t get her way.
• Eager to please—she looks to us for approval, wants us to be happy (“You not be sad if I sing a song.”), gets very proud of herself when we praise her for being a good listener (They work on that at school, and she often says, “I listen!!”)
• Frustrated—when she can’t communicate enough for what she wants, when I do something wrong (like put Cinderella on the wrong side of the bed, heaven forbid), when she doesn’t get her way, there is much stomping of feet, fussing and gnashing of teeth. Again, it’s all typical, but this is part of 2 I do not care for much.
• Loving—she is so giving with kisses and hugs, loves to give bear hugs where she wraps her arms around your neck and squeezes, and she makes the “muah” sound when she gives kisses.
• Curious—she is interested in many things around her in the world. I hear “What’s that, mama?” a dozen times a day. She wants to explore every leaf and stick on the way to the mailbox, she asks questions about things (“What I do a-day?”=What are we doing today?)
• Noticer—she notices so many things from big to small, and she points them out all the time. (“I see a flag! Look, there’s a dog. You have a red neck-a-lace.”) Detail oriented is a very accurate descriptor. She also sometimes prefers to be alone. She will go home and get in her chair and read books to herself (literally talking about the pictures to herself) for a few minutes after school. Or on the playground, she goes off by herself to explore, sit, watch, etc. instead of jumping in 100% of the time. I think these are shades of her grown-up personality; she likes to observe before committing, figure things out on her own, not jockey for position, absorb things around her. Sounds a lot like mommy, and it sounds like a pretty cool little girl!
• Bossy—very demanding for what she wants, adamant about things she thinks, not hesitant to tell you what to do. “You sit there Po. Come on, Daddy. Get up, Mama.” This is a new development, and it’s really funny. The apple definitely does not fall far from the tree.

Sleep:

• Less and less as she grows up, and it makes my heart (and sleepy brain) sad. Her naps are just about 1.5 hours, sometimes a hair more or less.
• She sleeps from about 12-1:30 or 12:30-2.
• Bedtime is 7:45 p.m.-6:45 a.m. on school days. But even if she stays up later (like Friday and Saturday nights), she will usually wake up by 7:15 a.m. at the latest. Eaaaarrrrlllly weekend mornings are the norm.

Clothes:

• 2T pants
• 2T/3T shirts
• 6.5 shoe
• I just updated her closet and cleaned out all her 24m things (too short) and summer clothes. She’s still wearing a few warm-weather things, but I’m trying to transition to pants and tops for fall.

Food:

• Favorites include: KETCHUP, chicken, strawberries, bananas, fish sticks, cheese cubes, hot dogs, blueberries, pouches (fruit/yogurt blends with Sesame Street characters—she likes the Cherry Apple and Peach Banana best, but she knows them by Big Bird and Elmo) :), smoothies that mommy makes, yogurt, French fries, ground beef, Gardenburgers, applesauce
• She’s a good eater with not very many dislikes yet. She’s mastered stabbing and scooping with her fork and is getting so much better at scooping a spoon without spilling something.
• At school, they’re learning to drink from a cup without a lid or straw, and it’s so cute to watch her carefully hold the cup and drink cautiously. I was so sad when her teacher told me I didn’t have to send a straw cup anymore, but I’m glad she’s learning a new skill.

Likes:

• Reading! Every single day after school, she finds a few books and sits down to read them. Such a sweet thing for me to watch her do. She still likes for us to read to her, but she’s increasingly content to do it herself.
• Playing dress up. She is a girly girl through and through. She loves to wear fancy shoes, put on a dress or skirt and prance around with her crown and wand. The princess effect is in full force!
• Frozen and Cinderella! Not a day goes by that I don’t hear an excited voice saying, “Watch Frozen!! Watch Cinderella on Mommy Daddy’s bed.” She asks every single day, but we don’t always let her. She will sit through every minute of both movies, but we usually skip a few chapters to get to the end sooner. She has started singing the songs with the characters, and she narrates what’s happening in a play-by-play fashion. “Elsa ran away. Anna go look for her. Cinderella crying. Here comes her Fairy Godmother. She say biDDibi boDDibi boo.” (backwards phrasing, but cute) We have the soundtrack and a playlist of Disney princess songs that she demands each time we’re in the car. It’s a bad addiction… but it will be fun to see her in her Cinderella costume for Halloween! (As if there was any other option…)
• Picnics. We take her booster seat and put it on the floor in the living room for some weekend meals and either watch Mickey, sit on the floor with her or talk. She thinks it’s such a treat to get to move away from the table. Sometimes she will sit on her mini white table and chair for a meal too.
• Sofia bath toys. Best $16 ever spent! She plays with the floatable Sofia characters at every bath time. (“Sofia, you get wet!” and then dumps water on Sofia’s head. James, you have black shoes.”)
• Animals. Po and Harleigh especially bring her glee. She’s gotten so delicate with Po; she pats his head softly and waves hi to him. And she loves Harleigh; she gets so excited when Harleigh licks her toes or bounces up and down.

Dislikes:

• Daddy, sad to say. Everything she wants, she wants mama to do it. Even though we tell her all the time that Daddy is perfectly capable to put her shirt on her, or filling her cup of milk, or pulling the strap on the carseat, etc., she still insists, “Mama do it!!!”
• Waiting for anything. Like I said before, she balls her hands up, shakes her hands, stomps her feet, yells. Patience is not a virtue of a 2-year-old.
• Waking up. We’re working on it, but she often wakes up from a nap crying or whimpering for me, and if I’m not there to get her, she melts down. (Remember the Daddy dislike?) Mama is the comforter and the hand-holder, so when she wakes up fussy, she wants me. She also will get out of sorts if our wake-up routine is off. We usually rock for a minute and sing while I pat her back, then get up to get changed/dressed. If she’s had an accident or needs to be changed immediately, we do that, but I can tell a difference in her demeanor (fussier, more frustrated) if we don’t stick to that pattern. Doesn't like change in routine…hmmmm… who could that be like????

Most challenging:

• Reasoning with her and teaching her patience. That’s a problem with every toddler, but since she is ultra-communicative and is not able to talk, it’s hard. I want to rationalize with her and teach her things, but when she is upset, there’s just no talking to her. I have to improvise a distraction or just pray that she’ll snap out of it quickly.
• The potty setback I referred to earlier. It’s frustrating for me, it makes me doubt myself and worry about the future. But then I remember that everything takes time, each kid is different and everything will work itself out in time.
• Teaching “order of operations”, if you will. She’s getting better at learning FIRST and NEXT, but immediacy is a big thing with her. She sees it, she wants it. “We’ll have a fruit snack AFTER dinner, Cara.” Meltdown ensues. “Before we go to bed, we have to go potty FIRST.” Resistance. “Mommy needs to take your old pants off BEFORE you put new ones on.” Struggle.

Looking forward to:

• Halloween! I can’t wait to see her in her Cinderella costume, shoes, crown and candy bag walking down the street. We’ve been practicing saying, “Trick or Treat!” and knocking. Hopefully she won’t be too afraid to give it a try. She will be beautiful.
• Holidays in general. Spending time with family, making memories, holidays are coming up and are always so much fun.
• Restful weekends! We just used up our last one until November, and it was glorious. We had 2 weekends of naps, laundry, college football, lazy afternoons, trips to HEB, dinners together, etc. Now we have jam-packed schedules and road trips coming up. It will all be fun, but it will be busy for a few weeks.
• Blogging more! I need to do another update about a girls’ trip, and then get back into weekend recaps and more regular posting. Now that this mega-long one is done, I can remind myself that it doesn’t take all day to blog! :)