2 1/2 years

Half birthdays seem to be more of a milestone to me than real birthdays. Maybe because now I think of her as being closer to three than two, so by the time she turns three I am used to the idea.

So in an attempt to shorten the amount of time it takes me to get her to bed I had been telling Selena that two and a half year old's go to sleep by themselves. We started talking about this about two months ago and she seemed fine with it. But when it was bedtime on her half birthday, and I was going to leave her in her room by herself, she started saying that two-and-a-half year old big girls were scared and that when she grew bigger and bigger and bigger and was three, THEN she could go to sleep by herself. She was getting a little panicky, and she was very convincing. So I still lie next to her at night. She has pretty much stopped napping. Maybe once a week she'll take a nap, so she is falling asleep a bit quicker. Half an hour after the lights go out, versus an hour or more. She still has some days that she takes an hour to fall asleep and it drives me nuts especially because she has started biting her nails.

We went to the Mariner's game a couple weeks ago which was quite an adventure with the two girls. We had fancy seats in a restricted area, but we didn't use them much as we were out and about with the girls. We took Selena to the playground and she got so excited. We were walking there and Selena was saying, "There is a playground at the Mariner's game? Dad, there is a playground at the Mariner's game! The playground is my favorite." When we got there it was very crowded and lots of the kids were a bit older and pretty rowdy, but Selena jumped right in and started climbing around. When she finally came out she seemed a bit overwhelmed, so she sat with me for a while. When it seemed like a bunch of kids left I asked if she wanted to try again. She is pretty small so she had a hard time climbing up one of the parts to the slide, so we would have to reach in and help her. Then she would slide down the slide and then run back to the entrance yelling "Go away big kids, go away!"

So another question I have is, can Selena read my mind? I came across a thread on a mommy message board about two year old's seemingly reading there parent's minds. There have been a few times when I have thought this might have happened but I dismissed it as coincidence. So I decided to pay more attention next time it happened. So I was putting Selena to bed and she was playing with a stuffed pelican but was calling it a duck. She asked me what it ate, but because she was supposed to be going to sleep I didn't answer, but in my head I was thinking fish. All of a sudden she says, "Fred eats fish." So I was kind of weirded out because she thought he was a duck and I don't think ducks eat fish. The next morning I realized that Fred has fish embroidered on the inside of his mouth. :) So there was a rational explanation. But tonight I was putting her to bed and thinking how she was growing up and looking more like me and how cute it was that she was getting freckles. She had been jabbering about something and all of a sudden she said, "I have freckles and I'm going to scrub them and scrub them. When I get bigger and bigger I get freckles. " Kinda weird.

Another cute story is we were headed to the playground and I had her and Allie loaded in the stroller when I realized I forgot my keys. So I buckle Selena in so she won't run away and run into the house to get my keys, but I could't find them. I remembered that Selena had been playing with them the night before. So I go outside and before I even said a word she says, "They are in my closet." She knew as soon as I left to go inside to get them that I wouldn't find them because she had left them in the toy closet the night before. Allie had also been fussy when I put her in the stroller and she was holding her hand and had comforted her. So cute!

She loves to ride in the stroller. I have been trying to walk to places that are within walking distance rather than drive. Selena has been very good at helping me keep this goal. She now insists that we walk to the library and the farmer's market instead of drive. She even uses the argument that Allie doesn't like the car to convince me, but sometimes she is less cute and whines and cries.

Potty training is also going really well at the moment. In the last four days she has only had one accident and she was sick yesterday (she had a fever and threw up, so sad) so she had a pretty good excuse.