Two and a Half

It's hard to believe that Caroline is 2 1/2.  Even though I have since had another baby, she still seems like a baby in my mind.  Time needs to slow down.

Caroline has turned into such a big girl lately.  She is not potty trained yet, but we are working on it.  My goal is to have her completely potty trained by the end of the year.  She speaks in complete sentences most of the time and most of what she says is too funny.  Here are some funny/cute things she says:

• Put you my down (put me down)
• Happy birthday to me.  Happy birthday Jesus.  (She seems to be confused about the whole Christmas idea)
• I can't find it anywhere.  Where could it be?  (She says this when you ask her where something is)
• On Thanksgiving night, we went to a movie and C was staying with my mom.  I went to say bye before I left.  She started getting a little upset that we were leaving so we told her that she was going to have so much fun with Grammy and she would get to eat pie and ice cream.  She said: "Pie?  Ice cream?  See you later!!"  It was so funny!!
• You're welcome baby.  (She says this everytime she walks by AP)
• I'm gonna need help.
• Ladies and gents.  (then she'll sing a song - usually Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) Thank you much!
• I'm gonna catch me! (When she wants you to chase her)

She is such a little ham!!  She loves to be the center of attention and loves making people laugh.  She is certainly not lacking in the personality department. She loves playing with her friends and gets along with most kids.  At school, she mostly plays with three little boys.  She talks about them all the time.  She is also obsessed with her friend Sydney.  And I seriously mean obsessed.  She'll wake up asking where S is or ask to go to her house all day long.

She loves Mickey, Little Einsteins, Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, and Backyardigans.  I try to limit how much she watches to 2 shows a day since she gets in a trance!!  She loves to play outside, paint, play musical instruments, playdoh, puzzles, dress up, tea parties, and blocks.  She loves running and playing tag.  She is so full of energy that we have a hard time keeping up with her.  She watched her first full length movie this month and LOVED it.  We let her stay up and watch Brave with us.  We popped popcorn and snuggled up on the couch.  She stayed interested the whole time.

Caroline has a short temper, like her momma.  She gets frustrated very easily and will often throw or kick whatever has made her mad.  She can throw a pretty nice tantrum.  She is very independent and this leads to lots of tantrums.  She wants to open all doors, push all buttons, etc. and if you try to do them (like pushing the elevator button in a very crowded building) she will kick and scream and cause everyone in the very crowded building to watch the tantrum.  Luckily, she has only done that a few times.  I am certainly eating my own words now...I remember seeing kids throwing tantrums and thought to myself, "My kids will never act like that."  Ha!! 

Behavior wise, C really is a good girl.  She says please, thank you, and your welcome all the time.  Our biggest problem is that she doesn't always want to listen.  When we say stop or no, she will often keep doing what we don't want her to do.  We are finding that time out isn't really working so I am reading about other methods of discipline.  She's not a bad kid by any stretch, but she sure can act like it sometimes!!

She is still not a great sleeper, but she is getting better.  We try to put her down at 8:30.  Sometimes she is in bed by 7:45 and sometimes she is still up at 10:30.  Most days she doesn't take a nap.  That makes for very long days, but she goes to bed easier so I'm okay with that.

Caroline is such a good eater!!  Her favorite things are chips and queso, steak, strawberries, broccoli and pancakes.  She loves any and all desserts...like me. 

We are so in love with this little girl.  She keeps us laughing all day long.  Even on the most trying days, I still love every second that I get to spend with her.  What a wonderful blessing she is!! 

Photos taken by Simple Color Photography.