I LOVE YOU (32 MONTHS, 1 WK)

S has started saying one of the sweetest phrase to momma's and daddy's ears: "I love you." She does it with a big hug and a kiss.

FRIENDS (32 MONTHS, 1 WK)

Today, S told momma that she had alot of friends. She said, "Talia was her friend and said she liked Talia. Then she started listing them: Talia, Paul, Tess, Olivia. It's nice to hear her so happy. She's still acts shy when meeting them even though she sees them often.

P.S. Momma took S to the doctor due to S's complaint of ear pain today. It turns out her nose and sinuses are swollen and congested. No wonder she's so grumpy!

I DON'T NEED TO GO (32 MONTHS, 1 WK)

S has gotten better at using the potty. She often go three or four days without an accident, both day and night. But, it's become harder for momma to convince her to sit down after two or three hours.

S favorite response to potty time is "I don't need to go." Whenever momma does wrangle S down on the potty (often with a bride of some sort), she seems genuinely surprise that she peed. S has begun to request to go to the potty, too, at least once a day.

Momma is working on getting S to be more independent. She can pull down her panties and pants, sit down on the potty, occassionally wipes herself and dump the pee into the big potty. The later two are rarely done. She typically wanders off to play by then. Momma runs after her trying to get her to put back on panties and pants.

PFFT (32 MONTHS, 1 WK)

S shows all the signs of being an older toddler, i.e. picky eater. She doesn't want to try any new foods, like cauliflower today. When she doesn't like something, she starts spitting out of her mouth, going "pfft, pfft..." (which annoys momma and also amuses her).

Gone are the days that she's willing to eat anything and sit for a long time in her seat. Momma's lucky if she gets part of the meal down before S demands "OUT." Ironically today, S pointed to the green thing in her chicken noodle soup and said she liked it. It was celery, so there's a little bit of hope.

P.S. S helped momma put away the silverware yesterday. Momma opened up the draw and S laid lined them up correctly in their various compartments. This was a big task for S.

PRETEND (32 MONTHS)

S often plays pretend. She pretends to eat cake or cupcakes. One of her favorite things to do is to pretend to give you a gift. The gift is usually a kitty cat or bunny rabbit for you to pet. She also likes to give away pretend money and flowers. What a great imagination!

BLUE CLUES (32 MONTHS)

S has a new favorite television show: Blues Clues. She walkes around singing "A Clue, A Clue" and does the Steve/ Joe dance shuffle. It started because momma bought the Blue's Clue Alphabet Power video in November. Then, recently, momma started TIVOing Blue Clues off of Noggin.

Blue Clues is all she asks for now. (No more Curious George). It seems every episodes she watches she walks away with something new, like saying "Sorry" or counting. What's funny is that she actually prefers the Steve segments versus the Joe segments.

P.S. She pronounces Steve, "Steam."

STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES (31 MONTHS, 4 WKS)

Daddy and S made strawberry cupcakes on Saturday. S poured in the cake mix and turned on the mixer while daddy did everything else. S lined the cupcake pan and dad poured in the mix. Together, they made 22 strawberry-flavored cupcakes. S was so excited. She's been asking for a cupcake almost at every meal since Saturday morning. Luckily, momma thought of the idea of sharing the cupcakes with the neighbors. S and daddy has handed out several cupcakes now and the batch is now down to four cupcakes.

P.S. S is so excited about birthdays now. For her birthday, she asks for a white cake with strawberries on it and also Ernie (from Sesame Street). Sometimes, S asks for an Ernie white cake. Othertimes, she asks for a strawberry cake.

I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE (31 MONTHS, 4 WKS)

Momma drove up to the store and parked the car. When momma said, "let's go inside the store." S responded with "I don't want to be here. I don't want to get out (of the car)." When momma threatened to leave her inside the car, S responded with "yes." What is momma to do?!

SHIRT ON (31 MONTHS, 4 WKS)

S can now put on her own shirt. She lays it down on the ground and sticks her head in. When momma asked who taught her to put on her shirt, she responds with "Mimi."

She can also put on her socks but sometimes the sock is upside down. She still doesn't dress herself consistently but momma has started refusing to push down her shoe straps and ask her to put on her own panties and pants more often.

I WANT SOME PRIVACY (31 MONTHS, 4 WKS)

S has started requesting to go to the potty by herself. She says, "I want some privacy" and closes the bathroom door. Momma stands outside the bathroom door and waits for S to finish. S has also asked to go to the potty by herself a couple of times outside the house. Momma stands outside the stall and walks S through what she needs to do. Momma always cheers when S finishes.

Momma biggest fear is that S can't unlock the stall door, but so far that hasn't happened.

P.S. S has kept her self dry for most of the the last two week, minus one night. She has been waking up later to go potty, but momma wishes she would go back to sleep afterwards.

PUMPING TIRES (31 MONTHS, 2 WKS)

Daddy was looking at momma's flat tire last week. S tried to help him. S came and brought the bicycle air pump to him and said, "You can use this." He was surprised that she could put the two together and thought it was sweet that she wanted to help. Daddy's helper!

SPELL S NAME (31 MONTHS, 2 WKS)

Today sitting on the green chair, S spelled out her name. Previously, she could name the first letter of her name and say what the last letter of her name was. Sometimes, momma would prompt her for the letters in between. Momma's not sure if this was a fluke or not. Who knows?!

P.S. Bruno comes from Blue Clue's video.

P.S.S. Daddy says he's heard S spell her name before.

WRITING A MESSAGE (31 MONTHS, 2 WKS)

S was busy scribbling (from right to left) with her marker across a piece of paper today. When Momma looked and asked what she was doing, she said, "I'm writing a message for daddy." Momma responded with a "Wow" and wondered how can this be: is S a genius in the making?

At dinner time, S took out another piece of paper and was scribbling again. She told daddy that she was writing a message for him. As she wrote, she explained what she was writing, "Magenta go to the store and buy fish food." Daddy laughed. Daddy explains to momma that S got this from Blue's Clues video. "Oh, not a genius, but still a smart kiddo..." thinks momma.

P.S. Yesterday, momma had to adjust S tricycle seat up. No wonder S was going so slow, her knee kept hitting the handle bar. Thanks to daddy for this observation!

BAND AID (31 MONTHS, 2 WKS)

S seems to believe that bandaids will make any owie better. This week, when she stubbed her toe, she asked for a bandaid. She put a bandaid on daddy's back yesterday because he hurt it playing ball. She got a bandaid today from the nurse for the flu shot follow-up. She refuses to removed it because then it won't work. Momma's not sure where she got this idea from, but at least, she's not scared of bandaids anymore.

BRUNO THE DINOSAUR (31 MONTHS, 2 WKS)

S and daddy went to play at the park today. They were digging a big hole in the sand pit, a.k.a. sand volley ball court, when momma went to pick them up for dinner today. Daddy explained that they were digging for dinosaurs, per daddy's suggestion. S was so enthusiastic in the dig that she named the dinosaur "Bruno." Apparently, Bruno also lived in the sand castle. Daddy was taken by surprised by her imagative mind and the name Bruno. Where did "Bruno" come from?