Two and a Half

Elsa is now two and a half years old, and she seems to have made the transition from toddler to little kid with ease. Here's what she's been up to:

Independence
It's amazing how self-sufficient Elsa has become in the last month or two (and what great timing, with the new baby arriving soon). She now climbs in and out of her booster seat at the kitchen table by herself. She also recently began getting out of bed on her own in the morning and after waking up from naps—and miraculously, this has not translated to getting out of bed at more inappropriate times (such as, for example, when she's supposed to be sleeping but isn't). Unfortunately, it has translated into getting up much earlier in the morning—she's been bouncing out of bed at 6:30 or 7 a.m. instead of her usual 8. But I guess I prefer that to her not taking a nap, and the switch to Daylight Savings Time has pushed back her wake-up time again, at least temporarily.

She's also gaining some "independence in the bathroom" (an important concept for us as we prepare for preschool in the fall). Depending on her mood, she will now go into the bathroom, pull down her pants, and sit down on the potty all by herself. In fact, sometimes I don't even realize she's in there until she calls for me to help her. So, this basically leaves wiping and pulling her pants back up as the two issues still needing work. For some reason she's been really stubborn about learning to tear the toilet paper off of the roll. I know she's capable of it, but she usually insists I do that part. And I dread the day she needs to wipe herself after she poops. : )

As far as playing by herself, she's doing MUCH better there. She still always wants to be in the same room as me—so unloading the dishwasher or doing laundry can be tricky, because she tends to get underfoot, literally. But for the most part, as long as I'm nearby, she's been pretty adept at entertaining herself.

Preschool
We learned a few weeks ago that Elsa was accepted at our local Audubon Center's Nature Preschool! We are so excited for her to start there in September. She was lucky to get in—it's an incredibly popular school, so only about half the kids who apply are accepted (chosen via random lottery). She'll be attending three mornings a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. The school has mixed-age classes, and she'll probably be one of the youngest kids there, so I'm a little nervous about that, but I'm confident she'll be able to keep up. As the name implies, the focus is on nature and the environment—they take the kids outside most days, regardless of weather. Click here for more information about it, in case you're interested.


Playing
Hands down, her favorite thing to do is play pretend with her animals. She's developing quite an imagination, and it's been keeping her well-entertained. Howl, Blackie, and their entourage star in elaborate scenarios that usually involve them going to bed, eating dinner, swinging on vines, or needing rescue after getting stuck in the mud (yes, she watches a lot of Dora and Diego). Here's some video of Elsa playing:

Also in the imaginative realm, we went through a major pie-making phase a month or two ago. Here's Elsa's recipe for the perfect pie:
- Remove all of Mommy's mixing bowls from the kitchen cabinets
- Select one mixing bowl to wear as a hat
- Put the toy basketball into another mixing bowl
- Bake for about 15 seconds under the coffee table
- Enjoy

Her other favorite activity is anything involving a ball. I really think she's going to grow up to be a total sports freak! She doesn't even need anybody else to play with her—she'll amuse herself for long periods of time by just throwing a ball into another room, running after it, throwing it again, running after it, and so on. She also recently learned to catch, and now can usually catch a ball thrown to her from about three feet away (especially her smaller bouncy balls that are about 6 inches in diameter). And she can dribble her giant Disney princess ball—in fact, at this very moment, she's running around just dribbling that ball and squealing with delight. I can't wait to get this kid into some organized sports like t-ball and tennis!

My Little People Person
Something we're noticing more often as Elsa gets older is how concerned she is that everybody around her is happy. Whenever she senses that Bob or I are even slightly irritated (at her or anything else), she often says, "Mommy's happy!" or "Daddy's happy!" in an optimistic attempt to make it so. She's no dummy—it's an excellent deflection when she's doing something we're not thrilled about. : ) But I also think she's sincerely concerned, and I'm impressed that that's her reaction instead of getting upset herself, which I think most little kids would do. Another favorite tactic of hers is to say to us, "You can raise your eyebrows and be happy." Back when she first learned to raise her eyebrows, it cracked us up so much that I think it's now her go-to solution whenever anybody seems upset. And I have to say, it usually works!

She really is so much fun to have around. We've got big changes coming, but I know she'll handle them with flying colors and that she'll be an amazing big sister.