The Harriman Family: 2 1/2

What??? I cannot believe my baby is 2 1/2. Every time I think about Mary Ella turning 3, I want to throw up. Not really, but at the very least cry and hyperventilate. Why? Because it means I only have 2 years left with her at home. Literally. She will turn 5 on August 7th and probably start to school within a week...maybe even before she is 5. The Mississippi cut-off is September 1st. It makes me sad that she will be so young, but I can't imagine holding her back if she is ready. And I'm sure she will be, but I won't. Five short years will never be enough, but then 6 probably wouldn't be either. Ahhh...

So this post has been in the works for a while. I haven't been keeping up with monthly updates about her, but I have been keeping notes on my iphone of things I want to remember since the last one. It's a few months worth of stuff, so I'm sure nobody but the grandparents will be able to hang with this one, but here she is in all her glory at the busy and oh so fun age of 2 1/2...

Mary Ella,

Mommy and Daddy love you sooo much! You bring us joy and laughter every day. You are such a good big sister and the best daughter in the world! Here's what you've been up to:

You weigh about 34 pounds and are about 36 inches tall.
You are still a very picky eater. It makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes!
You are still a great sleeper, but you are trying to give up naptime. I know you still need one, but you don't think so. When you let yourself, you take a 2 hour nap. But some days you are determined to keep yourself awake. Atleast you stay in your bed and get some sort of rest until I tell you you can get up.
You love to read longer books now. You still enjoy your board books too, but we mostly read the picture books I kept out of my school stuff. Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious are favorites at the moment. You can read every word of Fancy Nancy. It is precious!
You are really into any kind of art activity: painting, coloring, drawing. You pretend to write your name and other objects. You are actually pretty good at drawing circles.
You know most of your shapes (even octagon and hexagon) and are creative with finding them in real life. Like your half eaten toast reminds you of a triangle or something like that. And then it becomes a boat and swims on your tray. You also make shapes with your fingers.
You have quite the imagination! Sometimes figuring out what you are talking about is like a puzzle. I love putting the pieces together of what you are saying or acting out and trying to figure out where you come up with this stuff!
You are definitely left-handed, but you still do a lot of things with both hands.
Your vocabulary is truly amazing! And I know it comes from reading so much. You actually use words from books, especially adjectives like sparkly, wonderful, beautiful, posh. I wish I could think of more.
You can count your 10 fingers and count objects on a page to atleast 12. You can basically count to 20, but you may miss 18.
You can say your ABCs and recognize M and E for Mary and Ella.
You can tap out syllables on the tambourine. We started with your name at storytime, but now you can do almost any word.
You know that you live in Madison, Mississippi and the rest of your family lives in Arkansas.
You LOVE going to church! You say you want to go to church even if it isn't the right day.
You say the sweetest prayers at night. Before meals you keep in simple and only thank God for the food, but at night time you add in all sorts of fun stuff like your bed, your room, tv, all your friends, your family. And I love it when you thank God for Jesus, the Bible, and church.
You also love story time. You enjoy going up and sitting in front of Ms. Lizzy for the story, going up to the felt board to knock Humpty Dumpty off the wall, dancing in the middle of the circle with the instruments, and really every single part of it. We also always go to the children's area, so you can see the fish.
You dance and sing ALL the time! I have to be the prince and dance with and spin you. You also ask for your dress-up stuff almost every day.
You are very fond of Chick-fil-A, but call it "chicken leg."
You are very interested in time and numbers. You say things like "just a second" or "in a minute" or "2 or 3 minutes." Then there's the reference to clocks because of Cinderella. "It's 80 o'clock. The clock struck midnight. It's 86 o'clock." I finally figured out when you say "I'm 2 olds," you mean, "I'm 2 years old." You also say things like "2 equals" or "3 equals." And you pretend to read recipes and say, "3 cups." When you pretend to take our order at restaurants you say "That will be 51, 52."
You REALLY enjoyed Christmas 2011! You loved all of the books and songs. You could read Who will Guide Santa's Sleigh Tonight and Who Will Help Santa This Year. You could sing Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Up on the Housetop, and more. You were so fun with the whole Elf on the Shelf and Santa thing. You said that you loved Santa and that he loved you, but you freaked out when we went to see him (except for the Bass Pro Santa). You talked about being naughty and nice and getting presents or "you be sad, you not get any presents, you not be nice."
We live in a Disney princess/fairytale/storybook/happily ever after world at our house. And alot of what you say is a reflection of what movies or shows you have watched, or what books you have read. Like you kept saying, "There's no business like show business," and I wonder where in the world you heard that. But I realized that there was a reference to "snow business" and "bow business" on Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins are still your favorite shows because that's about all I will let you watch. I had a strict limit of 1 of each per day, but I have to say that since Rhett has been here we sometimes watch more. You also like Jake and the Neverland Pirates. We don't watch Nick Jr., but I did record some Olivia episodes and they are cute too. I guess Mia let you watch Dora the Explorer too, and you call her "Dora Fast Forward." You have a Dora toothbrush and sometimes Dora comes on your pull-ups. But that's about all you know besides Mickey and Little Einsteins. I love that you are interested in the artsy-musicalness of Little Einsteins. You recognize the classical pieces you hear and are really into instruments. You can recognize and name drums, harmonica, tambourine, trumpet, violin, xylophone, piano, and more. You came up with using your tin plates as "cymbals." Daddy knew what he was doing when he got you that bucket of instruments. You also like to watch Planet Earth on Discovery channel with Daddy. You call it watching the animals.
Cinderella quotes: "I wash the windows and dust the drapes (you do this in the tub), Oh no, the clock struck midnight, it's 86 o'clock, the glass slipper ball, her foot was much to big, the evil stepmother, I marry a prince and I live happily ever after (I always say I sure hope so baby), dreams come true, bippity boppity boo"
You also pretends to read the story of Cinderella. You start with, "Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella." You can pretty much tell the whole story in order. I ask you, "What happened next?" And now you ask me that during the day. "What do we do next?" It amazes me how good you are at sequencing!
You can sing all of "I know you" from Sleeping Beauty and parts of songs from Tangled (I will go running and racing and..., and mother knows best, listen to your mama), The Princess and the Frog (I'm almost there), Cinderella (bippity boppity boo, a dream is a wish your heart makes), Snow White (some day my prince will come), Beauty and the Beast (be our guest, beauty and the beast), and Mary Poppins (medicine go down).
Sweet quotes: "I'm glad to see you, I live happily ever after, I miss you, I love you sooo much, thank you sooo much, you make me sooo happy, I so excited"
Things you have been known to say to Rhett: "Baby Rhett, hoo hoo (you have said this in his face since the day he got home, have no idea where it came from), shhh be quiet, stop crying, you're okay, there you go, I've got you baby Rhett"
Quotes about food: "I need a big treat, I not eat my breakfast, I spit it out, I never ever eat that, I not eat anything"
Sassy quotes (I would say half of these came along when brother did): "stop it, you stay right here, don't move, I NOT, I didn't mean to, it was an accident, get me up now mama (from the high chair), do you hear me, I said now, you make me sad mama"
Funny quotes: "hold on you feel better go doctor, see you next time, see you real soon, a surprise for me?, I go to work and count money (as you were wearing your daddy's tie around your neck and carrying your laptop), I kiss a frog (you said this alot when you were wearing your flower girl dress, and I was always the frog), hold on everybody (when you are dizzy...you even went to make sure your gingerbread house hadn't fallen over one time), the whole world (you add this to lots of things you say to make them more dramatic), with all my friends and family (to add more drama), it's my favorite (about just about anything), bye Gina I will miss you (when Julie left our house because you love to play that game on her iphone), where did Mary Ella go, evah, evah, evah"
You also randomly quote lines from books. It especially makes me smile when you say nursery rhymes, sing songs, and start spouting out lines from Fancy Nancy when you are supposed to be sleeping during nap time.
You favorite color is pink. You say, "I love pink!" and point out all the pink in your room. You seem to be really proud of your big girl bed and room. And you say, "Baby Rhett's favorite color is blue. Mommy's favorite color is brown (I guess because of our brown and cream bedspread). And Daddy's favorite color is green." You take this into account when choosing our seats at your table in your room and choosing cups and plates for tea parties. ;)
Anytime you spot football on tv you think it is the Razorbacks and start calling the Hogs. You follow it by trying to sing the fight song. And one day after football season I put on your "Woo Pig" shirt and you asked if there was a football game. I mean the shirt doesn't even have a Razorback on it?
You finally say, "What's his/her name?" instead of "who dat?" And you finally get the boy/girl thing, not the real difference, but I don't think you thought about any of it until after Rhett got here. You say he is a "buoy."
I love that when you get dressed you want to run and show Daddy how pretty you look!
Anytime we ask you why, you say, "because I said so." Oops!
When we were in Arkansas for the wedding week, Mia asked you if you were ready to go back to Mississippi. You said, "No, it's yucky. There is poo poo everywhere." Geez! We laughed of course, and you did want to come home with us, but I have to admit there have been times that phrase has crossed my mind as I have had you and Rhett going potty at the same time! That's what my life feels like sometimes! Ha!
There are 2 comments that I hear alot about you that I love.

"She is so happy. Is she this happy all the time?" Yes, you are most of the time. I love that this comes across to strangers and anyone that you come in contact with.
"She is so outgoing. Does she go to daycare?" No, but this one makes me so proud for a number of reasons. First, I have to give the credit to God for giving you a heavier dose of your daddy than mommy in the personality department. My mom says all the time, "she is just like you when you were little." But I KNOW I was not that outgoing. I was a shy, little introvert..still am unless you get to know me well. But you are talkative and friendly with everyone you meet. You get up and dance more than anyone else at storytime, talk more in Bible class, and you shine during playdates with your friends. Secondly, I beam with pride on this one because you are so well-adjusted to be a stay at home with mommy kid. Yes, we need to work on sharing. And no, we don't have "class" everyday, but you are just as smart and social and well-behaved as any kid your age that is in school. I'm just so thankful you're not clingy and insecure because you stay home with me. I hope you will always have the self-esteem and self-confidence that you have now. Shine on, little girl!