All About Finley-- 31 Months

Finley is 31 months old... quickly approaching 32 months old and as always she is keeping me busy!  She is so fun to be around these days.  I find myself laughing more than I probably should.  Sometimes I just can't help it!  She is growing up right before my eyes, but as soon as I declare her a "big" girl, she melts into my lap and once again is my sweet little "baby".

Size Matters:  Finley is definitely at the point where her height and weight have stabilized.  She is basically the same size as last month-- 28 pounds and 37 inches.  She's wearing the same sizes in everything and it makes it so much easier to buy clothes and shoes knowing that she probably isn't going to outgrow them right away! 

Food Junkie: Her foods of the moment are yogurt and applesauce.  I'm not sure they ever really fall off the favorite food list, but they are back with a vengeance.  She will often want 2 yogurts at a meal or 2 applesauces at a meal.  I rarely indulge this request as I am trying to vary her diet, but this girl likes to eat one thing until she is completely full!  She still loves fruit and requests peanut butter on a spoon at night before bed.  She's such a nut!

Fun Facts To Know and Tell:  

• She is still completely in love with her brother and wants to hold his foot everywhere we go...  I know it's weird, but I guess because of her height that is the closest thing to hold on to when I am carrying him.
• She can identify the following letters: B, E, F, N, O, Q, and Z... there may be a few others, but those she usually always gets right.  
• She is slowly overcoming her fear of slides.  After she broke her wrist, she was a lot more cautious on slides and would always want me to catch her, but she is getting much better.
• She loves to feed the ducks at the park and now when we pass any body of water in the car, she looks for the ducks and will say "Momma, no ducks!" when there aren't any.  She is always clearly disappointed.
• She can pretty much buckle herself in the carseat now.
• She loves to be outside.
• She loves for me to warm her blanket up in the dryer.
• She still takes her shoes off in the car and it drives me bonkers.
• She is obsessed with toes.  It is beyond weird and a little freaky.
• She still gets HUGE welts when a mosquito bites her.
• She is allergic to certain types of sunscreen.
• She likes to pretend that we are asleep.
• She is not happy at all about being left these days.  She hates going into MDO or into the church nursery... however, when we go to pick her up, she always wants to stay and isn't ready to go home.
• She asks about Miss Pam and Miss Penny A LOT!  She really misses them.
• She loves to go to the mall.  Almost every morning she wakes up and says "Go to mall, get candy?"  I always give her a quarter when we go to the mall and if she hangs on to it, we get candy before we leave.  It keeps her quite occupied.
• She started swimming lessons!
• She likes to say "On your mark, get set, go!" and "Ready or not, here I come!" and "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"  (though this last one isn't quite right, you can tell that's what she is trying to say!)
• She requests both a big and a little prayer before nap and bedtime.
• She is starting to understand the game "Red Light, Green Light."
• She no longer runs around the kitchen island and dining room table like a maniac each night before bed and I kind of miss it.
• She is learning to take turns... kind of.  It's always "My turn!"
• She will point to electrical poles and say "Momma, I want to climb that!"
• She has started the "What's that?" phase of life!
• She also recently started saying "I want Momma!" or "I want Daddy!" and I just love hearing her want me when I am away!  =)

Toys R Us:  She loves to play on her swingset and in her little outside pool.  She also loves bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  She has been really into playdough and painting lately.  She also likes to play with her kitchen and bring us tea!  She has also started wanting to sit in Jude's bouncy chair, carseat, Bumbo, and under his playmat so we're working on understanding that some things are not hers.

Can’t Live Without’s: Lots of hugs and kisses after she gets a boo-boo... which seems to be ALL the time.  She isn't very coordinated yet and seems to constantly be running into stuff.  She is quite tough at times, but still always wants a kiss!  I am happy to oblige!  Of course, sometimes I don't get the EXACT spot and have to kiss and kiss until I get it.

Can’t Live Withs: She hates it when Devin and I sing or dance!  She gets so upset.  Terrible I know, but we continue to do it just to bug her sometimes.  I realized the other day that there is a Bible verse about not antagonizing your children and I thought "Uh-oh!" =)  She also isn't a big fan of getting her picture taken these days.  Sometimes she cooperates, but other times, she adamantly refuses.

Trick or Treat: One thing she has been doing for awhile that continues to get better and better is her sense of direction.  She can tell by which way we drive out of our neighborhood where we are usually going and if I turn out of the church lot, she will immediately tell me if we are going home or not.  She can also usually point which way we need to turn in order to get home.  I don't know if this is typical or not, but I find it completely amazing!  She is such a smart cookie!  

Little Miss Personality:  She is a typical two year old these days!  She is very particular, dramatic, bossy, funny, sassy, and completely loveable!  She has really started whining and I have been quick to redirect this behavior.  I try very hard not to ever give into her whining and have even begun ignoring it and she has absolutely caught on and gotten so much better!  I'm also trying to help teach her that she is only the boss of herself and that she can't boss anyone else around.  I have been catching her boss the animals around so I just know it's only a matter of time before she is bossing Jude around and that is one behavior that I absolutely can't stand!  One thing that has made me sad this past month is that she has started saying that things are scary or that she is scared.  I am thankful that she is learning her emotions and able to express them, but I hate when things scare her!  I am very, very, very careful about what she is exposed to on tv and in books because I do think that it is unfair for children to be exposed to things that their little minds can't comprehend.  There are so many things that aren't scary for us as adults that are just not appropriate for children!  

All in a Day’s Work:  She is starting to go to bed later.  We usually get her to bed by 8:00 p.m. instead of the 7:30 p.m. we used to shoot for.  She has been waking up around 7:15 a.m. these days and I miss when she would sleep until 8 or 8:30.  I think the light coming in her room wakes her up.  She takes a nap around 1 and depending on the day sleeps for at least 2 hours.

I’m Loving It:  

I continue to love how dramatic she can be one second and then immediately snap out of it.  I also love that she is can be such a big girl one moment and my little baby the next.  She continues to make me proud as a mom and I love seeing her learn something new or try something for the first time.  She may have her trying moments, but for the most part, I just can't get enough of her!  The older she gets the more we have real conversations and it is so crazy to know that one day we'll be talking about boys, college, and makeup instead of Mickey Mouse, ponytails, and piggybanks!  I love that she hangs onto my leg, acts out when I'm talking on the phone, makes a mess as soon as I clean something up, and talks way too loudly inside.  Though these things completely annoy me on one level they are the things I know I'll miss when I look back on her toddler years.  I adore my little girl and pray that these years are as meaningful to her as they are to me!