33 months old!

As of this past Saturday, there are only 2 months until our girl is THREE YEARS OLD!  Where does the time go?
She is now 3 feet 2 inches tall - 2 inches taller than she was in September at 2.5!
She weighs 33.5 pounds - a half pound less than at 30 months...I knew she was stretching out!

Look at my poor babe...she was soooo sick, can't you tell??
Seriously, though, despite her waiting room energy and her appearance, we took her to the doctor last Friday (01/17) because she'd had a cough all week that she just couldn't shake.  It was pretty intense and she'd have lengthy coughing fits in the night (though, miraculously, they rarely woke her up).  A couple of kids in her class had pneumonia the week before and with so much going around, we decided to take her in.  She basically got a clean bill of health - lungs clear, ears looked great, etc. but we were told the cough could linger for another week - which is has...and continues to do...so at least a call - if not another visit - to the doctor is probably in order.

Recently, Dave and I had a parent-teacher conference at Lucy's school (how cute is that?!) and Lucy had her own first while we attended...she saw her first "big movie" with GranJan and Uncle Jason!  They took her to see Frozen (and she's been talking about it ever since!  She keeps handing me the remote and asking me to find her "big movie" on our tv...)  They said she did great and only got antsy in the last 15 minutes or so...so without the 20 minutes of previews at the beginning, it would have been perfect!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Miss Megan???  We got sooo lucky having her as Lucy's first teacher...Lucy loves her, we love her, she's learning so much from her and Miss Megan loves her, too!  That's all I really want in a caretaker for my girl...someone who will take great care of her but also love her (but realize they are not her parent).  We talked about Lucy's faults but Miss Megan stressed that Lucy's good qualities far outweigh her bad and that she's perfectly normal...and she basically said Lucy's one of her favorites.  Dave tries to persuade her to switch to the 3 year old teacher once Lucy's ready to move on up but sadly, Megan didn't seem interested...
One of the reasons we started sending Lucy to school was to help with her socialization with other kids...she's never been great at playing with kids, though she's awesome at playing with adults and playing independently.  It seems this really hasn't changed (which we pretty much already knew).  Lucy has her favorite classmates and will play a bit with them but continues to prefer to play independently.  Sometimes she shares well but other times...not so much.  Like they have a bin of Little People (something Lucy has an abundance of at home) and Lucy will not let others play with them!  She could be playing with ONE of them and if another kid tries to take a different one, Lucy lets them have it...we have some work to do...
Speaking of letting them have it...she yelled at Sam pretty good (bad?) on New Year's Day so I brought that up - does she ever yell at her classmates?  Megan admitted that she has done that, but not regularly, and she isn't the only one...but it's another thing we need to work on...
But she has her good qualities, too!  She's very sweet, she loves to be teacher's helper and she is super smart.  Yay Lucy!

Opening her coat to show off her cute shirt 

She has gotten a little bit better about trying new foods - especially at school.  However, on Friday, she must not have been in the mood.  That morning, she said she wanted something to eat and Dave told her she'd be eating breakfast as soon as she got to school.  She whined, "I just want a little piece of bread!" so I ended up breaking off a half piece of bread and offering it to her...she refused it.  That's my girl. 
I put both halves in a baggie and brought it to school with us and put it in her snack bin.  At lunchtime, she refused her ravioli...she's previously eaten the ravioli there before so Megan tried hard to make it happen again but was only able to get the crazy girl to eat one bite.  Since she wouldn't eat it, Megan offered her the bread from her bin:

She seriously wouldn't eat the bread because it was ripped in half...insisted she only eats "big bread."  I swear, if this was someone else's kid, I would be cracking up at this story and pretending to feel sorry for the parents...but are you kidding me, Lucy?!?!  NOT funny...



But look how cute I am!

This stubborn girl of ours is making some serious potty strides, though!  In fact, I really feel like we're almost there!  I would act all proud of Dave and myself but I know it has nothing to do with us and anything we've done and everything to do with Lucy making a decision.  She has decided to be a big girl who goes on the potty...hooray!

Last Wednesday, she only had one wet diaper!  Every other time, she told her teacher when she had to go and she went on the potty!  We've been switching to undies when we get home from school and she has not had an accident in a pair of undies yet!  We've had several outings where she's told me she has to go and she actually does (though she faked daddy out in church yesterday...).  Over the weekend, she actually got upset with me when I put a diaper back on her (like for nap time and when we went somewhere in the car).  We were on our way to Reese's 4th birthday party and she announced she had to go potty but we were still 10 minutes away.  I said, "I can take you to the bathroom when we get there if you can hold it but you have a diaper on in case you can't hold it and that's okay."
As we were getting out of the car, I asked her if she peed in her diaper or if she still had to go and she said, "I'm trying not to pee in my diaper!"  And she didn't...so proud!!

Watching the birthday girl open gifts at Reese's birthday party

Us girls played in the snow for a little bit on Saturday morning...the snow was so deep in some areas!  Lucy said, "Good thing I'm wearing a snow suit!"  She just cracks me up sometimes...later, once we were inside getting undressed, she couldn't quite remember the word and asked me to help her take her suitcase off!  I let her wear her undies instead of a diaper when we were out there and she did awesome!



She wanted to swing and I couldn't come up with a good enough reason to say no...
but the boots barely fit into the leg holes! 
In fact, when I was trying to get her out of there, both boots popped off. 
Lucygirl thought this was hilarious...





When we came in, I enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate while this silly girl snacked on a bowl of snow!



Lucy had a visitor on Sunday - Aunt Amy!  She was excited to show off her new purple room again!  She's so funny...she always likes to go up ahead of whomever is there to see the room and turn the lamp on - because she thinks she's cool for knowing how to turn it on.  Once she's got it on, she yells down that the visitor can come up the steps.

 

Playing on Lucy's "iPad"



Tims-miss break, a new room and Lucy's big news

First I will start with a few leftover Christmas photos I just found on Dave's phone...

In front of the tree at Donna's house on Christmas Eve

 

Our little family

  

Sam had Lucy's name in the gift exchange and he helped her open his gift to her



Loving her new robe from Sam!

  

Checking out the Christmas loot!

 

Dave asked her to make a "surprised face!"


Yes, Lucy had the best "Tims-miss" (how she pronounces Christmas) ever, but she also had a pretty great break!  In fact, due to the super-cold weather, it's the break that won't end!  She had school on Friday, December 20 and didn't go back until Thursday, January 2...and that day she still got to sleep in and go to school once she'd woken up on her own.  She had a "real," full day the following day but then it was the weekend again and on Monday she ditched since Daddy's school was called off.  Today Dad's school was closed again but Lucy went to her school, though I'm told she wasn't too happy about it...

But back to the break...We made the most of it with trips to the Aquarium and to Recreations Outlet (and a failed attempt to go to the Festival of Lights) and lots of playing with new toys!

I suggested she go down this slide on her belly...I had a feet-first trip in mind but this crazy cat had other ideas...we laughed so hard and made her do it over and over again!

She loves jumping on trampolines!!  The place was pretty busy and we had to wait in line each time she wanted to jump and we were so proud of her...she waited pretty patiently and didn't put up a fight when we told her she had to come out to let someone else have a turn.

We had fun and not surprisingly, she asked to go to Skyline for lunch afterward.  She even paid her own way!  At the Stallkamp Christmas celebration, we each bring a gift valued between $1 and $5 and Lucy ended up with a $5 Skyline gift card!  (I have yet to use the pocketknife I received...)



She had fun playing with Hannah and Rachel's toys at Stallkamp Christmas



We had a pass to the Newport Aquarium in 2013 but decided not to renew it for 2014.  Lucy enjoys it fine but she flies through the place and there are other things she enjoys just as much, if not more.

Our pass expired on New Year's Eve so we decided to go one last time...and Lucy had the time of her life!  Dave said, "You'd think this was her first time ever being here!"  She had such a good time, so we did, too.

She was most excited to see the white gators and they didn't disappoint

 

Dave held her up to see these tiny turtles and she said, "Hi little guys!"



We also had plenty of fun just hanging out at home:



She got to make her own "dirty pizza" with a new PlayDoh set she got for Christmas!



Now that's a cute kid!!!!!



On Saturday, December 28 we attempted to go to the Festival of Lights.  I never wanted to go on a Saturday (and now I will never try it again!) but we'd been trying unsuccessfully to line up schedules to go with some friends and we saw this as a final opportunity and seized it.  I'd hoped that everyone who wanted to go had already been but it was nearly 50 degrees that evening...and did I mention it was a Saturday?  We spent about 45 minutes on the highway and another near 30 on the exit ramp and decided to forget it.  GranJan and Grandpa were with us and we all decided to go to Applebee's for dinner...where we waited nearly an hour for our food.  Lucy got a little loud at dinner but all in all, she was a very good and patient girl and everyone was impressed with how she handled the long drive to nowhere and the long wait for cold dinner.  How could we refuse her when she wanted to go inside GranJan's house for "a few whiles"?

Potty training is improving with this little lady.  Because she's showing signs of moving forward in the process, I decided to reward her with an ice cream treat...and obviously I wasn't going to let her eat it alone!

Notice how she seems to have two different ice cream cones?  She chose vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and I chose chocolate chip ice cream.  She took one look at mine and asked to try a bite...then asked me to trade her...

"Thanks, mama!"

Lucy has actually gone potty at school a few times!  This is a big deal because while she has "tried" at school (sat on the potty for a few minutes) in the past (which also took some building up to), she had never gone until just before Christmas.  She's gone many times at home but with no real consistency.
But lately?  Lately she has been telling us when she needs to go (instead of waiting to be prompted)!  She's even gone at friend's houses - Grandma's, GranJan's...and Donna's!  That one was particularly noteworthy because it was on Christmas Eve (so it was in the midst of much excitement) and because there was no potty seat!  We know we're getting so close and Dave and I are ridiculously excited about the prospect of no more diapers...at least for this kid...

Which brings us to Lucy's big news...in May she'll be a: (read her shirt!)

And because she's going to be a big sister, we also spent the break moving Lucy out of the Baby Suite and into Big Girl headquarters!  She has a new room...and luckily, she's very excited about it (and her new room has become my favorite spot in our house!).

I found the perfect bedding online and received it as a Christmas gift from my parents.  Lucy and I took one of her new pillow cases to Lowe's and she picked out the perfect paint color (this paint is from Lucy's Grandma and Grandpa!  Thanks for the Lowe's gift card!) - I knew it was a winner when I saw the name of the color - Purple Popsicle!  She loved helping Daddy paint her new room:

And she was quite pleased with the result!

I was a little nervous about transitioning her over...just because it was the unknown and a change for her and I wasn't sure how it would go...but she has been awesome!  She has loved everything about the switch - even the new garbage can!

We started her out in there at nap time and she did well, though she's generally very good about nap time (going right to sleep).  She did two days of naps in there successfully so that second night, we asked if she wanted to sleep in there and she said yes and she's been there ever since.
So another milestone - big girl room and bed (full size) at 2 years, 9 months.

 

She always wants to sleep with her "tiny baby" and with "Giraffey"



Looking pretty small in a giant bed...



As we were putting a few more finishing touches in her room last night, she asked,
"Is that baby ready to come out of your belly now?"
I keep telling her it won't be until after her birthday so I am sure on March 26
she's gonna expect the baby to be out!


Recent Lucy funnies:
"When I get big, I can drive.  And when you get little, I can drive you!"
I asked her what her favorite thing she did at school was one day last week and she said, "Play play play and nap nap nap!"
She frequently asks us (and the answer is always NO), "Do you like to eat dirty snow?"
Lately she's been burping a lot...but she always remembers to say "Sooms me!" (her version of "excuse me").
She's very into being a superhero lately and she usually needs a sidekick...I get to be Super Mama but Dave is usually Super Goof (Goofy's superhero name on Mickey Mouse).  Out little lady calls herself Super Luce!

We're in love with this little Super Luce...baby #2 has a lot to live up to!