I getting nursery ready for baby!
Katherine definitely knows that the baby is on her way! Here are some of her funny moments:
- “Want baby out of momma’s tummy now” – putting a sticker or stamping my stomach
- “I getting nursery ready for baby” – while dropping 2 bulb droppers down the stairs after investigating the nursery
- “Lambey my baby…Good job, Dada!” – after Steve smiled and said “Yes, Lambey’s your baby”
- “I have baby in my tummy too!”
She’s actively investigated all of her old baby stuff. Lambey regularly gets her diaper changed in the Pack and Play changing area, gets buckled into the swing and has checked out all the bassinets in the house. For a couple weeks, Katherine would climb into her old crib (bumpers and all), turn on the mobiles and music and then tell us “Get Me Down!”
The Joy of a 2.5 Year Old
Katherine is challenging us a bit more these days, and it seems to have coincided with her hitting 2.5 years old. It now can take up to 15-20 minutes to get dressed in the morning because she has definite opinions as to what she wants to wear…not always matching of course. And, getting her out the door can be a exercise in negotiation and distraction. Although, when motivated, Katherine can move very quickly. This morning it only took 2 minutes to get dressed because she was so excited to go to gymnastics class and change into her little purple/pink heart leotard for class!
She’s learning that crying doesn’t always get her what she wants. Case in point, she cried for 5 minutes this morning demanding a juice box instead of her one daily cup of apple juice. Steve and I held firm and after 10 minutes she went back to her apple juice.
Katherine is also starting to demand that we play certain games like “me chase Daddy and Bisco upstairs” or “me want Daddy to throw ball outside” or “me play with sand box and shovel.” While she can entertain herself for small stretches without imminent disaster, she looks for caregivers to participate in her imaginary tea and birthday parties. Often this involves directing who sits where, who eats with which plates & utensils and what happens during the parties.
One of her latest quirks is an obsession with her “stuff.” Stuff includes her red vest, 2 pairs of blue Nemo underwear, 2 plastic spoons, an Easter purse, and a Minnie t-shirt. She carries all this stuff around in a little red Stanford backpack in the house and whenever we leave the house. We accidentally left the backpack at home last Saturday and had to go home to get it – she was so bent out of shape and kept saying “I want my stuff. Please go home and get backpack!” I’m hoping this phase doesn’t last too long!
Reading Books Before Bed
We’ve established a set routine before bedtime, which consists of reading on our bed and then reading 2 books in Katherine’s room. She gets to select the books. More and more, she insists that “I read book” and “I hold book” and she will take a crack at reading her books. For some, like her Fire Engine, Biscuit and Little Critter books (say about 8-10 that we more frequently), Katherine has memorized almost complete sentences. She tries to imitate us by licking her finger to help turn the pages so that she doesn’t miss any pages. For a couple choice Audrey Wood books like Sweet Dream Pie and Napping House, she’s memorized the entire books and even knows where she may have ripped and taped the pages together. Napping House is a current favorite with its repetition and amusing story line. As part of the routine, she will say “me help read napping house” and then ask “why is everyone not sleeping?” at the end of the book. Sometimes, if we miss or slip up on any key words, she will correct us. ๐
Burgeoning Vocabulary
When Katherine was 18 months or so, I started tracking her vocabulary using Excel. I gave up several months later when the spreadsheet exceeded 300 words. We figure she’s got a full-blown vocabulary now – where non-primary caregivers understand her ~60% of the time, her sentence structure is more grammatical and she pronounces words more accurately.
- For a good half year, she called our dog “Britcher.” Now she calls him “Bisco” and loves to sing the Bingo song with “BISCO” instead.
- She now calls herself “Katherine” and rarely “Tata.” We’ve discussed nicknames and she will use it as a joke now and then.
- She uses “I” not just “me” anymore. ex. “I hold book”
- She uses phrases everyday that we often use like “Come here!” or “It doesn’t matter” (no idea where she got that!) or “Good Boy Bisco!”
- She’s learned “he vs. she” and “his vs. her.”
- She picks up rarely used words and will blurt them out at the oddest times like “bebes” (for diabetes). “Doctor said mama not eat chocolate pancakes because of bebes” (we keep assuring her that mom does not have diabetes, but this is just stuck in her head!)
We are also starting to teach her about words that start with certain letters. “What words start with B?” or “What letter does Bisco start with?” For some words that we ask a lot, she’ll answer correctly over half the time. Other times, it’s a guessing game, but she’s trying hard and having a fun time with the alphabet.
New Experiences & More Developments
Katherine’s other skills are progressing at various paces. We started taking her to a nearby gym for Mighty Mites classes in February. This was an activity that I would take her to, but it became increasingly difficult for me to help her with some physically demanding activities. One of her favorite activities is jumping into a pit filled with foam blocks – used to provide a soft landing for gymnasts learning rings.
After 4 weeks of back breaking work, I moved her to another weekly class that Patty takes her to every Friday. This is perhaps her favorite class now, largely because they bought a little leotard at Target that Katherine thinks is really cool. In pre-leotard classes, she would participate in some activities. Post-leotard she tried everything the coach suggested and can’t wait to march off to class in the morning. This class has also highlighted how one set of skills can develop more quickly than others. Her gross motor skills are not nearly as developed as her verbal skills as evidenced by the fact that she is the only child in her class who can’t jump yet! We’ve all tried to coach her but to no avail. So for now, she rolls around the family room carpet doing somersaults and tries to do a crab walk.
