Two and a HALF!

Annie turned 2.5 the day after Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe little Annie is TWO and a HALF! These past 6 months have flown by. When I look back at her pictures and post at 2 years old compared to now, I realize just how much she's grown and changed!! She is still our spunky, funny girl though! Below are a few details about her past 6 months. She is very difficult to photograph right now. I always feel like she's so cute in real life but her pics don't ever turn out very well-mostly because of the crazy, cheesy smiles she gives me. They look FAR from natural!

Our sweet two and a half year old girl!

-Probably the biggest change is that Annie is now a big sister! She has really done well with this transition. She is a very sweet sister, and after a few rough days at the very beginning, Annie has adjusted beautifully. I was honestly a little worried about her, but she has exceeded my expectations. She wants to be a helper to me and make Ruby comfortable. She is always wanting to give her toys, blankies, etc. She talks baby talk to her and comforts her. She does not like for her sister to cry, and as soon as Ruby starts the slightest fussing, she says, "Mommy, Ruby's sad. Feed her. (OR) Hold her. (OR) Get her." Annie and Ruby are together everyday in the  nursery room at school, and I see no jealousy there or at home. She was "mommy needy" at the beginning, and she still goes through this now, but I think this is part of being 2 more than that there's a baby around. Henry went through the same thing!

-Another big change is that she's potty trained! Well, I say she is. She still is having issues with going #2 on the potty. I won't go into details here, but we are working on it:) She wears a diaper at night and a pull-up at nap. She isn't always aware enough to tell us when she needs to go, but if we are diligent to take her regularly and watch for her cues, then she is successful! She also loves to dress herself and can do most of it by herself if I lay it all out correctly. She even puts her socks and slip on type shoes on herself.

-Some of her favorite toys are chalk, bubbles, and her baby dolls and doll push toys. She loves to wrap them in a little blankie and walk around with them and put them in the stroller/grocery cart and push them all over. She LOVES her own blankie and is currently kind of obsessed with it...it goes with her outside, to the potty, to dinner, on car rides, and to sleep with her...everywhere, really! There is wailing and gnashing of teeth when it has to be taken and washed. We do not allow her to take it to different places like school/church/stores, and so she lays her current baby or stuffed animal of choice in her car seat and lays her blankie on top of it. Then she is so excited to see it when she returns! When she wakes up from nap she loves to cuddle in my lap with her blankie and watch a show (recent faves are Daniel Tiger, Super Why, Minnie/Mickey Mouse, Doc McStuffins). She also loves "dance parties" in our living room and runs around crazy and dances to loud music. She is hilarious and I have several very entertaining videos of her (Hey, yo! Is one she sings a lot thanks to Uncle Jimmy). She also loves to clean and I can give her a wipe anytime and she will work and work on cleaning the house. It's actually pretty nice! 

I asked her to put her hands on her hips and this is what she did:)

-Annie learned to swim this summer. She went from basically nothing in May to fully swimming by the end of the summer. She can swim the length of the pool. She can put her head under and swim more correctly, but she mostly she kind of likes to bob around and peddle her feed to get where she wants to go. She can lean back onto her back and float, and she really likes to turn around in circles-ie "twirl". We are always watching her closely as she isn't THAT proficient yet, but she loves it and is pretty darn good for a 2 year old. She can only get better from here, and that is encouraging, esp since we have a pool in the backyard! She is a strong/sturdy girl, so I expect her to progress quickly as she does not tire easily in the water and has strong kicks/arm motions.

This one ended up being my favorite picture because she looks like a baby in it to me-something about her little cheeks. :)

-She can be very loving, and is always volunteering, "I love you SO much, mom." (or sometimes dad). She calls me "mom" a lot which I think is funny. It just sounds so grown rather than her calling me "mommy". As a matter of fact, she shortens a lot of things: diap for diaper, peep for peepee, pot for potty, nap for napkin, etc, etc, etc. She also makes a lot of words plural-moms, pops, makeups, etc. Anyway, when we put her to bed at night, we will say something like, "Night, night. I love you sweet girl." and she will respond with, "I love you, sweet mom". When we say-"you're a sweet girl, Annie" she will always tell us we are sweet, too. Steven will put her to bed and say night night, princess Annie. She will respond, night night princess Daddy.  :)

Working on showing me "2"

-She can also be sassy and has certain things we work on all the time like not using the words "bad" (ie-You're bad, Bubba) and "poopy". We have also had a piece of cardboard between her car seat and her brother's because she has a very hard time keeping her hands to herself and likes to poke, hit, etc. It is pretty funny looking, but it really has worked! We get SO many comments on people who see this.-people get a kick out of it! Annie has a very loud voice AND cry, so we work on controlling that, too. It will be a blessing to her later on in life I am sure:)

Silly girl making a silly face

-Annie is a morning person. She wakes up happy and alert right away. She comes out of her room "hot" we say....talking a mile a minute (loud) and ready for the day. She generally sleeps about a 12 hour night plus about a 2-3 hour nap (1 to 3 or 4) each day. She loves her bed and never resists sleep, especially since her blankie and lovie are involved.

-She's a good little eater when she wants to be. She loves salad (with ranch) and broccoli, yogurt, cheese,

and milk. She isn't a big meat eater besides chicken, but she loves all fruit and of course any type of carb like crackers, etc. She likes to dip things....ketchup, ranch, etc. There are times when she doesn't eat that great, but I don't really worry because she generally does, and I know she won't starve. She sometimes can be bribed by a treat after eating, but not always. Sometimes her stubborness wins out:) She has recently discovered gummies, and loves them along with anything sweet, really. She is her momma's girl after all!

-Random reminders we will remember:
Faif a be here? I wike faif!
so upset by boo boos-hurt for days and can't do things, dramatic about most things like that-hates characters like the chick-fil-a cow or any mascot. Shys away from dressed up princesses although acts intrigued. Hated the thought of getting her face painted at harvest parties or playing many of the games. Threw HUGE fit about getting in the ambulance for a tour. Traumatic.
asks-where it is? says little phrases like-"there we go!" and "now!" like I do
loves pink and purple
says "every guys" all the time! she means everybody:) she also says chicken for kitchen, check up for ketchup, kay-rowns for crayons, runny babbit for bunny rabbit...
Seven and I snuck ice cream in the car one time, and she saw and asked over and over if she could have some. When we told her no (she'd had plenty of sweets already), we could hear her in the back of the car say, "I don't like you so much". Haha!
colors intentionally-colors little scribble marks, knows her ABC's, counts to 10 or more.

We sure do love our sweet, spunky girl!! Can't believe she's two and a half!!!