two and a half

Saturday was Beth's 1/2 birthday. I know I'm a huge dork for thinking about it so much, but there is already such a big difference between 2-yr-old Beth and 2.5-yr-old Beth, so I'll blog about it! And for my records, she was 29 pounds last week at the doctor when she had her post-hospital checkup.

1. Her fascination with Dora the Explorer/Franklin the turtle. I think she likes the consistency between the tv show and the books, not to mention all the toys! She's starting to repeat the Spanish words she here from the show, especially "Para!" which is a command to "Stop!" Ryan and I liked that she couldn't identify any licensed Disney character for the longest time, and that she still has no idea who Hannah Montana or Ronald McDonald or any Disney princesses are. But that if she sees a painting of a woman holding a baby, she usually says it's Jesus and Mary (and she's usually right!). We're just weird like that, but it makes me proud!

2. Hopping. She doesn't walk any more, she hops. She jumps. Constantly. In fact, I have a small video of it, I will add it here later.

3. Fantasy play. She carries on conversations between her toys, dolls or anything really. They talk back and forth about all sorts of thinks, recently I heard a conversation where one doll was telling the other to, "Shh! Be quiet, the baby is asleep!" Ha! What's really cool for me is that I've read in child development books that this would happen- that little girls incorporate what they experience in their daily life into their fantasy play. Supposedly it helps them gain control over the situation- instead of being told by mommy to keep quiet, she has control over the doll telling them to keep quiet. It has to do with defining her place in the world (or something like that).

4. Attitude. The girl has attitude, but I don't think she's a diva. When she doesn't get her way, she's starting to throw things or hit- nothing major yet, usually she's tinkering with a toy and if she can't make it do what she wants, she throws it. Or if I ask her to bring me something, she might throw it the other way. It's still at the point where I kind of want to laugh because her little temper is so cute, but I know not to reinfoce the behavior either. So I reiterate that we don't use our hands that way, and ask her to pick up the item and bring it back to me. She's started yelling at me too, again just occasionally, but it's a big fat reminder to me that I really shouldn't model behaviors I don't want to see her repeat...

5. Giggling. Everything is a joke! She says something and laughs, and puts her hand in front of her mouth as she giggles. She's so girly, it's so cute!

6. Fears. She's started to experience fear in the mildest way. Today she was playing with Ariel and Eric (her dolls) and quickly ran over to me and said, "Mommy, I need to get by you, the deers is going to get me!" She's never been a fan of the deer at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but apparently they've made a big impact on her! She explained to me that she liked baby deers and mommy deers, but not daddy dears. A couple of days ago, she was playing in our shower stall and pulled up the little drain. She hopped out pretty quickly and told me the crocodile was going to get her!!! Where on earth she picked that up, I have no idea, because we don't talk like that around here. In fact, we don't use the wordy "scary" because it paints an image we don't want her to experience yet. In the hospital, nurses kept telling her not to be afraid or scared- she totally wasn't at all but I wonder if the words somehow got to her.

Beth and Luke, playing and dancing