2.5

I remember before I had kids that when someone would say their little one was two and a half, it just seemed so old.
Like not a baby anymore at all and pretty much into full on preschool age, bratty kid.

Somehow I am now the one answering "oh she's two and a half" and I still have no idea how we got here so fast.

While 2.5 still does feel a bit older, it's nowhere near as old as pre-Mama Megan thought. While BG is clearly 2.5, she is also still clearly my sweet, tiny baby. Though she tends to disagree and seems to think she is my eighteen year old.

Ahem.

I have to admit, while this stage is ridiculously hard (holy independent toddler battles) it is also such a blast. Because she's so entertaining and says the funniest things and has such a wide array of things that she does on any given day. She comes up with something new every single day and I love it.
She's changing so much. She picks out her own clothes a lot, picks her own shoes, and can even put on her own shoes, including on the right feet. She doesn't prefer to get her hair done, but will occasionally let me if I remind her she can see so much better with it out of her face. She still prefers dresses to pants and would wear her cheap flip flops every single day if I let her.

She loves to read and be read too. She picks the same books over and over and knows where all of her favorite parts are and gets so excited when those come up. She likes to draw a lot and play with her flashcards. She knows so many animal names and it still throws me off when she can recognize things like newts, elks, and howler monkeys.

She can recognize a lot of numbers and letters. She doesn't like to sit still and practice them though, and getting her to do an alphabet puzzle is akin to me getting a root canal. Not happening. She likes to randomly sing her ABC's though and has recently started counting things when she sees multiples. She can count to 20 and up to 10 in Spanish. She knows her basic colors in English and Spanish.
The Spanish is a newer thing but I sort of love it. She picked up most of it from Dora (hangs head in shame), but after I realized she was actually talking to us in Spanish (actually yelling in the car for us to drive faster in Spanish...) I decided to go with it and we've been working on it. She loves it. She calls it "Boots' language" (the Dora monkey).

She talks all day every day. It makes me laugh when she gets around people and they make the comment "wow, she really talks a lot". I'm like, told you. The words and phrases she comes up with are a riot. This week she figured out very as an adjective and has been saying things like "it's very, very cold Mommy" or "that's very, very yellow". She likes to ask us "why?" over and over and over. She'll ask you "what's that song about?" to every song that comes on, and while it is a tad annoying, I love how her mind works.
She loves her some Dora but Diego is her new go to. Bubble Guppies have made their way back into our home. She loves her Elmo toy now and can be found in her room singing with him if she ever goes missing. She is still a huge fan of dolls and loves dressing and undressing them over and over.

She is a little Mama. She loves babies. She is better with little babies than kids her own age. She's just good with them. She gets all giddy and giggly around them and starts rubbing their heads and talking sweet as can be. She's going to be an amazing Mama one day.
She also loves animals. She cannot for the life of her figure out why they don't care for her as much as she cares for them. We try to explain it's because she pulls their tails and randomly wacks them on the heads with wooden hotdogs, but she's not getting it so far. She adores Lacy and Cash. They are her little buddies and she constantly wants to walk them and feed them and basically do whatever they need.

She's my best little sidekick. She adores going to the store (only Target though because they serve Icee's), and she's always up for a car ride with Mom. She recently decided she likes the windows down so we've been known to just drive around for a bit to entertain her.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only two and a half. She can carry on a conversation like an adult most of the time and she's so independent that I worry that I ask too much of her. I worry that she isn't understanding. Usually she squashes that worry by doing exactly what I ask of her. Why is she so grown?!
She loves her wagon and being outside. She'll tell you if you're not being careful or if you're getting to close to the road. She is very, very cautious which is kind of insane because at the same time, she's a freaking monkey. But that cautiousness is why she doesn't climb out of her crib for which I am so glad.

She is a smart mouth and she knows it. She'll smart back in a second and we are in "act right" bootcamp most of the days these days. She's quick to tell me "you're making me crazy!" which she gets in trouble for and then I get in trouble for since she totally got that from me. She'll also tell you that you're "making her nuts". Also, from this girl. Nice.
She handles everything like a champ. She is so go with the flow it's ridiculous and I thank God that she is so resilient. She did not get that from me.

She did get a love of sports from me. She's my running partner though she has to be threatened to actually stay in the stroller and not actually run with me. She'll now tell you that "she has to sit and be quiet so Mommy can run because Mommy needs it". No one can say I'm not honest with my kid. ;) She loves to run and play outside. She gets so excited about the day she can play soccer (her words swear). I can't wait for that day either.
I could talk about her all day everyday because I think she is so awesome. 2.5 rocks. She is so, so cool and so much fun. I didn't think it was possible, but watching her grow everyday stretches my heart more and more. I swear I love her more now than I did the day I met her. It's crazy.

2.5 years. Wow. Such a short time really but so much has changed. Man I love this kid.