BIG

I don't think I have to tell you that peanut is getting big. What is hard to capture is how big her personality is getting. She is turning into a little person. She is very concerned with how others feel and wants them to feel better. If she has a snack and one of her friends doesn't, she shares with them. The other side of that is if she sees something I have, she wants it. When papa missed christmas or grandma missed her trip down her, she was very concerned. She wants to know if people are sick and repeats it like it is the most serious thing ever. One time, I thought she was going to burst into tears because Daisy had an owie on her nose. "Fix it mama. I don't want Daisy to have an owie. Oh Daisy"

Along with being concerned with others, she is also really into her friends. I could see some of it late last year with her obsession with Michael and Fisher, but since then she has really developed strong ties to a few girls. She often asks about Quinn, Fasu, Fisher, and Tayler. There are also little kids on the playground like Fiona and Steel that she enjoys spending time with. It is funny because all of those children are so very different, but Peanut still has a lot of love for all of them. Not to point out favorites, but she daily asks about Quinn. Peanut threw herself on the floor the other day not wanting to go to the park because Quinn wasn't going to be there.

She is constantly asking me what I am doing, what the man is doing, what daddy is doing, what that lady is doing, and even what she is doing. Her desire to learn about the world around her is insatiable. When were at the zoo yesterday, we accidentally stumbled upon a snake exhibit. I HATE snakes. There used to be monitor in one of the exhibits, but they changed it to snakes. (did I mention i really hate snakes. Like can't stand to look at them because I feel it in the stomach) So she wanted to watch the snakes for about 3 or 4 minutes. Not wanting to transfer my fear to her, I held her so she could see them. Do you know how long 3 or 4 minutes is when you hate what you are looking at! But she was curious, she wanted to know all about them and what they were doing and where they lived and if she could cuddle them.

Along with being curious, she also have very strong opinions about her place in the world. These opinions are a lot easier to deal with when I am not stressed out about taking tests. She has distinct opinions about what she is going to wear including what diaper, panties or pullup. She also has opinions about just about everything that she does in the day. We can ask her to do something and the immediate response is NO, even if she doesn't really mean no. This is a problem because you never really know what she does and doesn't want, which leads to a second problem of a complete melt down. Today at the zoo, I asked her if she wanted to drink out of a bike bottle or a cup. She said no. So i put them both out. She started to get upset and was pulling on the cup. I told her not to pull it over but she could drink out of it. The whole ordeal ended up with her on the floor of the cafe kicking her feet and screaming "No" before I realized that she thought I was forcing her to drink out of the bike bottle. I hid the bottle and she was all better.

She is also turning into quite the little entertainer. If one of her friends or mom and dad think something is funny, you can expect that she will do it over and over again. Unfortunately some kids think things are funny that I don't particularly want her doing, like poking or playing rough. There is a little girl at the playground that peanut likes to rough house with. It is fine, but sometimes they pull each others hair and push each other down. They are both laughing, but it is hard to know when to step in. Not all kids are going to think this is funny. She also likes to put on her "bubble bra", raise her eyebrows really high, or do any number of things that make us laugh.

It isn't all new though. Some things we have been trying to teach her for the last year are sinking in. She says thank you and please on a regular basis. She is also learning to take care of babies and learn how to play with them. She is learning to clean up her spills and messes and put her toys away. She tries to helpful, and as her parents, we have to remember to let her be helpful. It is nice to see all the corrections we try to make come together.

So we are on to potty training. She is peeing on the potty consistently at school, but not so much at home. i need to remember to take her. It is the first steps, but after having a really nasty yeast rash last week, I figured now was as good a time as any. Hopefully that will all come together soon.