Dear Lola,

So I started this update 2 months ago when you were 28 months old and now you are officially 30 months old (2 and a half)!!

So this is all a bit outdated but here is your 28 month update mixed with your 30 month udate!

Let’s start with a bang shall we?

You went TEETEE in the POTTYat 28 months (on July 8th) for the first time!!!!

Oh Happy day!!

It was better than I expected and let me just tell you… I know we still have a ways to go but mommy was really dreading this whole potty training thing!

We had bought you a potty book, two little potty’s as well as a potty seat for the big potty and practiced several times but with very little “pressure”.

So I picked a week to keep your diaper off of  you in the morning and told you it was potty time every 2 hours. You would go and sit but nothing happened so far.

SO! Today as we finished lunch you moved the extra tea table chair next to your chair and got your potty book out yourself and asked me to read it.

I finished reading it as you finished lunch and you initiated us going to the potty!!

I will be damned.

You went potty!!

At first it was just a little and I FREAKED out. Then I told you to make a little more and it just flowed!!

We were SO excited!

(of course mommy’s phone started acting up and I couldn’t even get a video! )

You were so excited and proud and instantly started saying “Mommy I go potty”, “Mommy I tell daddy I go potty”!

We called daddy as soon as we got done and he was SO excited- we even saved the pee pee for him to see when he gets home!

I plan to post more about our potty training adventure after we’re on the other side of it- one day!

Until then- I have a really cute view and a very small chair.

S0 much and everything you say is SO cute I just can’t bear to wait any longer.

So here goes it my lovie.

Your nicknames continue to grow. Your welcome (and you can thank Poppy for that too).

We still call you Lo, Sister, The Sister and now we have added Sissy (our most used) to the list. Mr. Henry, our neighbor calls you Lolo and it’s really cute too!

Talking:

You are speaking in SUCH LONG sentences now!  You said your first 9 word sentence (yes, we were so excited we counted) when we picked daddy up from the airport. I can’t remember what it was but we both stopped and starred at each other because it seemed like it was going on forever!

I can’t remember a particular one but here’s one of your often phrases: “Mommy I not go ny-nite, I go downstairs”.

Of all your big new fancy sentences you are saying some of my favorite sayings aren’t long at all.

For example you say “Oh. [pause] my. gosh’. when you walk into a store and see something you like (just. like. mommy)! t’s a personal favorite!

You say “It’s okay, it’s just a little bit” anytime you spill anything, drop something etc. You also say “Oh Its okay, don’t worry about it” for the same scenarios…. (Thank you Lola as I clean it up…) lol So now you say this to us when we spill or drop something too! It’s so cute!

“Oh Brother”

You say “I sorry” ALL THE TIME…. even when we trip, make an accident, hurt ourselves or you… you always are the first to shout.. “I sorry mama”…. with your sweet little self!

You start talking the SECOND we open your bedroom door in the morning or after nap… the other day you jumped up and proudly informed me “The door isn’t opened, t’s closed”…. lol thank you Lola. (Most of the times it’s the way you say something that makes it so funny” lol

You told me the other day you needed to go”check on daddy to make sure he is ok”.

Everything that is Frozen related you call “let it go” including ANYONE who wears a braid in their hair!

The other day I told you good night I love you when I was getting out of your crib and you responded with “Mommy, I love you SO much”. I instantly said “awww that’s so sweet Lola”! Which is another thing you always say when you meet another baby or puppy.. “aww mommy he so cute” or “that’s so sweet”!

Your very complimentary!

When we get dressed to go somewhere you always come and tell Lou and I “you look so pretty” or “Mama I like your dress” or “daddy dats co coot”!

You love to look at “fishing shirts” like Poppy, Daddy or Mr. Henry and talk all about the animal on their shirt!

You also say “MMMMMhmmmmm” after you ask a question and I answer you…. it seems so grown up and sounds so funny when you do it!

The other day you were mopping and I kept telling you we needed to go get dressed… you told me “Mama, wait, I’m almoooooost done”.

My favorite is the other night when I told you “goodnight, I love you” you said “Mama I love you SO much”… I proceeded to say “aww Lola, your so sweet… I took your pony tail out of your hair so you could get nice and comfortable…” You said “Ohhh Okay, thank you mama”. Now why was this simple interaction SO sweet… it just was, your just the sweetest thing and hearing you say things for the first time and process them let’s m into that little fascinating mind of yours where I could live forever and ever… your amazing baby girl!

You have now started the phase of “WHY”… dear Lord… I usually can go on past 4 or 5 of them and after that I say.. “I don’t know baby ask your daddy”!

You also use double negatives a lot and it’s so cute! “Daddy you not not do that.”

Your daddy often sends me and other family members video chats of you saying goodnight to them when he watches you while I am a work… SO now you love to grab my camera case (only when I take it apart to clean for some reason?) and hold it up to your eye and tell me “Mama, go nite nite, now say good night Uncle B”! lol the list goes on and on!

Not only do you say things just like me you annunciate in the same places and it’s literally like having a walking, talking shadow walking around!

 

Personality:

Let’s just say you have LOTS of it!

You have  also started to initiate socialization with other kids (you prefer older kids) but when you want to play you run up to the kids and say “can’t get me” and then run off! AKA you love to play chase. You also mimic other kids sometimes… you take a minute to take in what they are doing and then you model what they did with me (mommy is still you preferred and forever playmate- which I gladly take as long as you give it to me!)

Although you LOVE to talk, alllllllllllllllll day and alllllllllllll night you are initially shy to be “formal” with introductions… if someone says “what’s you name” or “how old are you”… you may hide behind my leg, but if someone just starts playing with you your all in!

You LOVE to give and receive SURPRISES!!! You always cover your eyes or ask others to cover their eyes and count to 3 and then say SURPRISE!

It can be something we just got at the grocery store or something we found on the ground and brought home.. you REALLY just LOVE surprises!

You LOVE working out in the garage with daddy and helping him do anything and everything. You LOVE to do ANYTHING technical he is doing… I swear you have like a screwdriver radar… he pulls it out and you stop what your doing, jump on the ground with him to start taking something apart or fixing something up!

On the other hand, you are SO a little social worker these days!

You are constantly asking me where others kids mommies are, where their sister is and what they are doing. I am your ride or die side chick for all of life’s questions and lord help me thankfully I got Poppy’s creativity with stories because you should see the stuff I pull out when you ask me random things!

I also tell you though, Lola your not going to make it very far as a social worker the way you handle tricky difficult situations (like not having a parking spot which sends you in to a tissy!)

You are so sweet, you always get down on Milly’s level and look her right in the face to give her a kiss and talk to her face saying “Bye, bye Mimi, we love you and we be right back” (just like mama)!

When we ride in the car you are SUPER observant and smart… No really it scares me and I would PAY MONEY to just chat with another mom of someone your age o ask “is this normal”? (without it sounding like I’m bragging because I seriously think this is weird..) You would think you have just tuned out back there in the car but you know where lots of thing are! Just  the other day we passed REI and you yelled “mommy I go to daddy’s store!” and when we pass Cafe 33 you beg to go “have lunch”!

Ok so even that seems normal to me at this point (I wrote the above 2 months ago when you were 28 months). At 30 weeks you ask if were going to certain places as soon as we turn onto the road for the place… it’s crazy. When we drive home from Canton road, I always go one way and your daddy goes another… you ask daddy why we aren’t turning on Sandy Plains every time he doesn’t go my way!

Today we were house hunting and as soon as we got on Church Street you said “Mama we going to Park?”…. The park is down Church Street…

This has happened a bazillion times on a bazillion different roads where I will tell her we’re going to a certain place and if I go an unusual route, chance my mind or stop somewhere else first the second I pass the road that would have taken us where I initially said, you say “Mama I thought we were going ---“.

If I am in the car on the phone you ALWAYS predict who I am talking to (before they even answer) and did it 3 times with 3 different people back to back this past week and I almost lost my mind….

It’s crazy.. then you follow it with.. “Oh, What they say” after I hang up lol

You do things like this ALL the time- I swear and have sworn since you were born that you had a sixth sense!

(You do.)

You are SUCH a teaser. If you can can tell which way we are leaning towards for you to answer a question you instantly start laughing and say the opposite. Today I said Lola do you want to go to the grocery and have lunch with baby J? You had the biggest smile on your face but looked at me, stopped yourself and said “No”!

You have started going UP the stairs inside and outside of the house without wanting to hold hands. In your defense you do appear do be very cautious and typically ALWAYS reach for my hand otherwise (except when you want to show off).

Coincidently besides challenging yourself by climbing stairs on your own etc. you typically LOVE holding hands which just melts my heart. I can’t tell you how many times I have played it cool when my heart is melting because you s casually reach for my hand at ALL times when we walk places- If I have to pull away for  second to do anything you just leave your arm in the air waiting for me to re-connect. I don’t know why that is sweeter than what  you would assume holding ads would be but it SO is.

You are SO sweet, like motherly sweet. You always want to wrap your babies up and you say “Shhhh sh sh sh sh” which I never noticed until you did it but it’s the EXACT same shhshing I do to babies/you/baby dolls etc lol

You still LOVE to swim and your such a dare devil!

You always want someone to sit with you when you eat… like a little mom-mom… The other morning you wanted me to eat breakfast with you so you went and got the tea table chair out the bathroom( its new home while potty training is in session). Although it’s little, it’s as big as you are and you were grunting and struggling to get it out the bathroom and to the table but t didn’t seem to bother you, you just kept on going and then said “mommy I got you chair to sit right here”.

The other day at Henry’s I asked you to get my phone from the top of his hill, bless you heart you came down with your hands full with everything of yours, mine and daddy’s so proud to bring it all to me.

One last thing I just have to note because it happened AGAIN toniht at dinner and in case it EVER (doubt it) makes since one day we must remember it…. almost every night at dinner when we sit at the dinner table (your chair faces the outside window) you point out the window, into the woods and say very confidently,”Look abu” (the monkey from Aladdin). We have tried over and over to make since of this, see something relevant and we come up with NOTHING! Maybe one day we will get it but for now it’s one more silly, weird thing you do!

We still (all 3) take FOREVER putting you to bed at night and it’s still one of your favorite times to have both of our full attention (you take full advantage of it)! More importantly, yes… we STILL craw into your crib every night EVERY night.

No judgement, it works and as long as I can hold you off from going into your big girl bed the better!

Speaking of which, you are a REALLY good sleeper at night and ALWAYS have been since about 4 months (12 hours at night) religiously BUT you went through your first little spell a few weeks ago that sent us into a panic.You were fighting sleep like crazy and RFUSED for us to leave you, like screaming bloody murder. I decided to make it fun again so we bought you some glow in the dark stars to decorate your ceiling and IT WORKD!

Good news, it worked!

Oh Lola, we just simply adore everything about you.

It flatters me and terrifies me the way you look up to me. You watch me, you talk like me, you love things like me and you always want to sit by me. You LOVE making us proud and you love being helpful. We love you for it, your such a happy girl.

I honestly can’t say whether you are a mama’s girl or a daddy’s girl… You LOVE being with us both and get alone time with me during the day and date nights with daddy when I work at night.

He always takes you to do fun dates and loves having his time with only you. He craves having that time where he get’s to hear “daddy” to everything instead of mama. Your daddy said a few weeks ago,  you are one little girl who will certainly NOT have “daddy issues”.

Amen to that.

You and him are obsessed with each other and he will literally do anything for you at anytime and is ALWAYS flattered to do it.

A lot of little girl’s don’t have what you have Lola. I think you were born to do big things with all the love you are surrounded with and flourished by.

I can’t believe we have had you for officially 2 and a half years. Forever can never be long enough and this is why I will always promise to make cherish every grocery run, errand, lunch date, couch cuddle and bath time with you!

We love you so much and thank you for being ours.

Love you so, so much baby girl.

Happy 2 and a half years!

Mama and Daddy