Sally Right Now (2.5 Years)

My Sal gal! I've been wanting to do a little post on her for a while now, and I'm squeezing it in while Johnny is on the phone. We have a ton to do tonight, but while he's distracted, I'm going to try to do a little update on Sally (and Winnie, hopefully!). I haven't done an update on Sally for six months! I guess that's the best I can do these days. But it's probably for the best since these last six months have been pretty challenging for parenting Sally. She is really making great progress in her behavior recently, though. I feel like things in the world are just starting to click more for her, which means she's less frustrated. And I feel like I've been able to give her better attention recently now that Wynn isn't quite as needy as she was as a newborn.

I think Sally's biggest development these past six months has been talking! She shocks us with the things she says now. She's way more articulate these days, but she's still working on pronunciation for a lot of words. It's so fun to see when she finally figures out how to say a word right. She has said "muck" for "milk" for months now, and then tonight she randomly said, "milk." I am surprised by how much joy I get out of watching her learn and grow, but it's really one of my favorite things about being a mom.

We are going to have to be super careful about what we say around Sally! She hears everything and soaks it all in! When we go for walks, Johnny and I will be talking about stuff, and she'll be sitting in her stroller, and then she'll randomly chime in on what we're saying. Or when we're home, I'll say something to Johnny like, "I'll put Wynn down for the night, if you can put Sally down." And Sally will say, "NO! I not want to go down!" And just recently, she's started saying phrases that are way too old for her! Some of it's cute, like "Yep!" and "It sure is!" But others, while soo cute, are not probably good, like "Gosh, man!" when she's frustrated with something. Or today when she couldn't get her cup to fit in the stroller, "Stupid cup!" Or tonight when she said, "I hate bugs!" We'll have to be extra careful what words we use around her! Johnny also said recently that she'll probably be one of those kids who tells strangers everything she hears at home, which I could totally see! So from here on out, we'll be trying to watch what we say around her!

Here are a few more updates/memories of Sal as of late:

• She calls her dad "Johnny" about 95% of the time. Today I tried to explain why she should call him "Daddy," but she's sticking with the former for now.
• Sally is still sleeping in her crib for now. I want to make the transition to a big girl bed soon so we can potty train her for nighttime, but we're enjoying the confinement of a crib for now :). 
• Sally has become so much more decisive in what she likes and doesn't like. "NO! I not want water. I want juice! Juice! Juice! Juice!"
• She loves singing and knows the lyrics to "I'm Yours" and "Let Me Go" as well as many songs from her favorite shows.
• Sally has recently started liking movies! She could never really understand them before, but it's fun to have her watching something that we kind of like, too! She really likes Home and Big Hero 6 this week. We never realized before we had kids, but many animated movies are pretty scary, but both of those are mild enough.
• Sally went through some ROUGH times with tantrums and pooping in her crib, but those days are long gone, thank goodness. She's also so much happier with Wynn than she was the first two months. I can't wait for them to be buddies.
• Sally says, "I love you," and I love hearing it! Also, we went to the park today, and Johnny went running while I watched the girls (and vice versa), and when he left, Sally said, "Good luck on your run!" She also says, "Be careful!" to us sometimes. She is a very caring little girl. And she tells her favorite stuffed animals, "I love you too much!"
• Speaking of stuffed animals, her favorites are monkeys right now. She has three favorites, which she's named Big George, Mommy George, and Baby George. She wants to take them EVERYWHERE. She has quite a hoarding problem with her toys right now, actually. She also loves Sven, which is a mini stuffed reindeer from Frozen that she got for filling up her sticker chart. Thanks to Johnny, we've started enforcing that she can only take one toy with her anywhere she goes. She has fought it so hard, crying, screaming, etc., but today she finally seemed to be getting better.
• Sally is so much less clingy than she was even six months ago. But she still struggles with being social with kids she doesn't know. I love seeing her try to be friendly at the playground, though. She'll let kids hold one of her toys to try to initiate interaction. With kids she does know, she plays great, but it definitely takes time for her to warm up. 
• Sally is still sleeping 12 hours at night and taking two-hour naps each day.
• As far as eating goes, the past six months have been the pickiest of her life! But we are starting to get her to eat new foods here and there. She mostly likes carbs, fruit, and cheese (and fruit snacks, of course). But recently, I've been able to get her to eat turkey (by calling it "turkey cheese"), yogurt, fried egg, and lettuce. We have a long way to go, but it's a start!
• Sally loves apple juice... it's a problem. We give it to her super diluted (like 1/3 juice to 2/3 water), but she asks for it ALL THE TIME! 
• Getting Sally to go to sleep at night requires so much negotiating! It's so funny how all toddlers are this way. We say it's time for bed, and then she tells us about five things she wants to do instead. "I want to watch a show! I want to eat bread! I go to the park!" We then chase her around the apartment and wrangle her onto the ground to put on a pull-up and PJs. Next, it's time for brushing her teeth. She runs away again. I give her her toothbrush, and she sucks all the toothpaste off and swallows it. Then she gives it back to me and says, "All done!" I say, "Oh, I think I see some food! Let me get it really quick." She usually lets me, and I scrub her teeth, telling her all the food I see along the way (a trick my mom used to use with me and that I remember loving as a kid). Then it's time to put her in bed. Usually, it's taken so long that we have to skip books. If she's been good, we'll let her "fly like Buzz" to bed. Otherwise, we just plop her in. We start singing songs, and she asks for another song over and over and over. We've had to limit it to three songs, and we let her know that, but she still asks for more every night. Then we say a prayer, turn on the sound machine, and lights out. Next, she asks for water. We give her her sippy cup with water in it. Right before we leave the room, she says, "Blanket on! Blanket on! Blanket on!" She wants us to take her blanket and drape it over her. We do it. Then she asks for another song. We tell her, "No more songs. We love you. Goodnight." And then we shut the door. Whew, I'm exhausted just retelling that!
• I feel really bad right now because Sally can't be a toddler in our apartment! She can't run or stomp or jump without getting in trouble because we don't want to disturb the neighbors. I'll be glad when that's no longer the case.

That's all I can think of for now. She's definitely trouble, but it's also so fun to hang out with her each day. I love how excited she gets about the little things. She'll ball her hands into fists and start shaking them with excitement. I love seeing her stomp her foot in frustration when she doesn't get her way. It's exhausting, but so fun to be her mom. And I especially love getting to do it all with Johnny. We share so many looks and laughs (and frustrations) with her behavior. Can't wait to see her grow and change even more.