2 1/2 Years Old!

Yesterday was Zoe's official half birthday. I'm not sure when we'll stop celebrating these, but for now there is definitely a big difference between a little girl who just turned two and one that is two and a half. Personality wise, Zoe is pretty much the same. She has mellowed some about being a mommy's girl, although she still prefers mommy over anyone else. And she's less concerned with cleaning, except when it comes to her hands. Now, being halfway to three, Zoe is obsessed with doing things herself: getting dressed, going potty, getting in and out of the car, turning the lights on or off, putting the toothpaste on her toothbrush...you get the point. This isn't a problem except on those days when we have to be somewhere in a timely fashion. Fortunately, other than Friday mornings for school, we pretty much just stay home.

Here are some of Zoe's recent milestones: riding her tricycle (she couldn't reach the pedals before), riding the big girl balance bike, giving up diapers, using scissors, and "reading" books out loud that she has memorized. Her favorite color is still pink (and her favorite book is Pinkalicious). She is still a great eater, and recently she discovered she likes shrimp (it's pink of course, why wouldn't she like it??)! Zoe loves to play pretend with her big sister. They take turns pretending to be the mommy, the daddy or the baby. They also pretend doctor and school. Zoe loves music. She's just getting over her Taylor Swift phase and is now in Annie the musical mode. She can sing the whole "It's a Hard Knock Life" song, as well as several others. Occasionally I'll hear her yell out, "We love you Miss Hannigan!" Zoe is excited to be a big sister, and we think she's going to be a big help to mommy and daddy when the new baby comes. She's already been willing to move rooms and give over some of her furniture, so we're hoping that she'll remain good-natured during this big change!!

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed spending the day at Grandma Laura's house for Thanksgiving this year. The girls had lots of fun playing with cousin Elizabeth, and I enjoyed just relaxing and catching up with everyone. Zoe showed off her new dress from Grandma Ann (isn't it adorable??) and Sophie chose to wear one of her Christmas shirts. We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are so grateful for our family and friends, for our health and safety, and for our baby that we can't wait to meet! We're thinking about setting up a poll for everyone to vote on whether it's a boy or girl, and to try and guess the day that baby #3 will arrive (I've already got my prediction in)!

3 1/2 Years Old

I thought I'd let Sophie tell everyone about herself this time, so these are all her words: I can twirl. My favorite color is brown. I like to paint and do puzzles. My friends are Ava, Evelyn, Donovan and Quentin. I can turn the TV off all by myself. I can get dressed all by myself.

Other things to report...Sophie is now 41 inches tall but still 38.5 lbs. You can really see her body changing from toddler to big girl. She has legs that go on forever! Because she is taller than all of the kids in her class, she gets to be Mrs. Kathy's special helper, which means reaching things for the other kids. Sophie loves to help at home too, especially with cooking. She's also helpful to me without realizing it. She can open the car door herself now, climb in and buckle the top part of her carseat harness. She can pick out her clothes and get dressed all by herself, and she is very helpful with her sister. She is very excited about the new baby and loves to kiss mommy's tummy and talk about when the new baby gets here. Sophie has been perfecting the skills that she learned awhile back. For example, she can now write her name with upper and lower case letters, and she can cut out shapes and patterns with her scissors. She is very precise when coloring or painting, and she is very focused while doing her arts and crafts projects. She still loves TV, but teaching her to turn it off with the remote has been key in avoiding the tantrums that always occurred when the show was over! That's all I can think of for now. Next time Sophie takes her picture with Pooh she'll have a new baby brother or sister!!

Potty Power!

As you all know, our family has been facing some tough times, and so our prayers have been focused on meeting our financial needs. God is funny sometimes because he doesn't answer our prayers with the solutions we expect. For example, last week Zoe decided that she was done with her diapers. Not the obvious answer we were looking for, but it certainly does help us out financially. Someday when we tell Zoe about how she was potty trained, we'll get to tell her how she blessed us in more ways than one! On a side note - I can't exactly say that we've potty trained her. She decided to use the potty and that's pretty much been the end of it. She wants no help from us, she goes by herself when she needs to go without any reminding. She even stays dry during her naps. The Lord is good!!!