Daph Stats: Two Years and Six Months

*This was in my saved drafts from the start of December - obviously much changed from then until January!

Dear Daphne Marie,

Hi big girl! Another three months have flown by and it's time to write a snapshot of your growth since September.  These past three months have been golden.  We've been so happy as we've begun to settle into our new life in Cedar City.  Each week will find us on outings to the grocery store, the library, the park or long walks around our neighborhood with Roxy, but most of our time is still spent within the cozy walls of our home together doing puzzles, coloring pictures, reading stories, having tea parties, preparing meals or cleaning the house.  If I have ironing or other non-toddler chores to do, you can now play happily by yourself in the playroom, talking with your babies and stuffed animals contentedly until I can join you again.  However, you usually check up on me every few minutes and invite me to join you in the playroom with you.  It always makes me feel a little guilty when I have to put you off, but you are usually patient with my explanations.

Probably one of my favorite pictures of you!

Your increased independence is manifested in many other ways from going to the bathroom by yourself to putting your own clothes on.  You have turned into a horrible eater which results in meals spent bribing you to eat each bite.  If it didn't have repercussions, I wouldn't worry about the food issue so much, but lately you've been waking up at 2 AM starving, but too irrational to eat anything and bawling your eyes out for milk.  In November we weened you from your "guys" at long last (Daddy simply sat you down and told you the guys were making you sickie and said you couldn't sleep with them anymore - we were amazed at how well you took it!) and now we are working on weening you of your dependence on milk to sleep.  It's been a rough road so far.

Daphne's first non-abstract drawing

Your independence is helping you develop new skills, like drawing on your own.  Before you would always ask me to draw things for you, but now you scribble and doodle all by yourself, alternating between your left and right hand.  Daddy thinks you're going to be a "South Paw" just like him, but so far you seem pretty ambidextrous.  Watching you draw has been one of the cutest things I have seen you do.  The above picture was taken in October and it was the first time you ever drew something on your own.  If you can't tell, that is your very first simile face you ever drew (see the circle, two dots for eyes and straight line for mouth?).  You surprised Daddy and I in the car one day saying, "look Mom!" and then showed off your creation with pride.  Since then your drawings have taken on two stick legs attached straight to the head (no body) and often clustered with many other faces like the picture below.  You call them "a family" which I think is just precious.

Some of your favorite things to do at this age, besides drawing on your whiteboard, are playing with your kitchen set and "cooking" us all sorts of lovely concoctions, swinging (you generally avoid slides), chasing your cousins around, putting your Binky Bear and dollies down for naps in your bed, playing with your "friends" (3 stuffed bunnies and a panda - never to be called or confused with your "guys"), dancing to "ballet music", coloring in your giant Ninja Turtle coloring book (you hauled that thing around for weeks), reading stories and playing with the flannel board I made you.  

As evidenced by the video I posted in November, you have now learned all the the sounds that the letters of the alphabet make (just the short vowel sounds) and we are working on sounding out words.  You are great at sounding out the letters, but have a hard time putting them all together to make a word.  I'm not sure if you understand what I'm trying to teach you, but you are always eager to try.  A few times a week we do "Tot School" for 15-30 minutes depending on your attention span.  Inspired by your Auntie Chelsea, I choose a topic for the week which we introduce on Monday or Tuesday and then the rest of our "lessons" and crafts revolve around that topic.  Topics have ranged from dinosaurs to butterflies, manners to classical music, chores to trains.  I love the way you soak up new information.

You have to be bribed to let me even brush through your hair

The way you retain information and conversations reminds me to be very careful with what I say and do.  For example, we came home from church last week and you were whining and throwing a fit (obviously exhausted with no nap) so when I told you to calm down you explained, "I'm so sorry Mom, I just get so frustrated some times!"  Hmmm...wonder where you're heard that one before? Some of my favorite catchphrases you say lately are:

1) "Give me privacy please" (when going potty)

2) "Eyes" (a command to wipe away your tears if I've just wiped your nose)

3) "Give me space Mom!"

4) "Oh Woxy, you so cuuuuuuute!"

5) "I go nap, when I wake up I have a candy, ok?!" (Variations of this is when she tells me a plan very matter of factly and asks "ok?" at the end to get my approval)

6) If I call her a silly goose she'll respond, "I'm not a silly goose! I'm Daphne!"  

Here are a few other fun tidbits.  You love to pretend like we're getting chased around the house by elephants or dinosaurs.  You hate getting your hair done or even letting me brush through it which means you look like a rag muffin most days.  You love to race Daddy home if we're ever driving in 2 separate cars.  You pull the silliest faces when we try to take pictures.  You are learning how to sing "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserable.  When I play the piano, you often become upset and tell me to stop because it means I'm not paying attention to you.  You are still very silly and surprise us at your advanced sense of humor.  You love to eat bread dough and help us in the kitchen.  You adore babies, especially Zoey and your new cousin baby Collin and talk to them in a high voice while gently patting them on the head.  You are going to be such a great big sister some day.

You are definitely showing signs of the "terrible two's" and sometimes I loose my patience with your unreasonable fits.  We're managing pretty good still, but I have a feeling we're in for turbulent waters ahead.  Come what may, you must grow on my little one.

Love you forever and always,

Your Mama

This NEVER happens - I was so touched that my little lady would actually fall asleep in my arms since you have not done that since you were an infant.