2.5-yr Milestones... She's "Doin' Like That"

So, we're a bit late with the 2.5-yr milestones, but we thought we'd do a little stats catch-up and share some of our favorite "Reese-isms" at the moment.

Height: 36.25" (50th percentile)
Weight: 32 pounds (65th percentile)
Teeth: 10 bottom teeth, 8 top teeth (only two more molars to go!)
Sleep Routine: Afternoon nap from 12:30 until around 2:15. At night we start cleaning up toys around 7:00, brush teeth, and then bath. After bath, she gets dressed and then we read three stories as a family on the couch. She is usually in bed by 7:45 with all thirty of her "friends" (stuffed animals and her baby doll). Wakes in the morning around 7:00.

Favorite Phrases:

• Doin' like that - she'll show you something or imitate something and say "I'm doin' like that" or "you're doin' like that"
• This is...., is it? - she'll follow-up an observation/statement with ", is it?"
  
• Kee-cue (thank you)
• I love you back - enough said
• I need a nuggle (a.k.a. snuggle/hug)
  
• At times she has a mini-Boston accent. Words like shorts or Curious George sound more like schwartz or Curious Gwarge.

Favorite Moments:

• Slow Dancing with Momma - just like the Black Eyed Peas' Meet Me Halfway song triggers her to find Gabby so that they can dance, Cyndi Lauper's True Colors or Beyonce's If I Were a Boy triggers her to want to slow dance with Momma. We've slow danced together to some of my favorite songs on Slacker since she was a baby (I can't help that I love popular music!!) but it's very sweet that she now asks me to dance when she hears some of those familiar songs. Granted, it's getting harder to hold a 30 lb toddler with over 20 lbs of baby brother/momma-reserves and then sway back and forth, cheek-to-cheek, for several minutes but I'm happy to do it.
• After Dinner Bike Rides with Dada - lately, when she finishes dinner she asks, "Ride bikes, Dada?" She isn't just asking whether she can ride her bike, she now wants Dada to ride along side her. It started off just riding down to our neighbor's house at the end of the street, but now we go on much longer rides. Most of the time we ride down one side of the street, around the neighborhood behind our house, and then back the other side of the sidewalk all the way back home. Usually, we have to make a pit stop at the neighbor's house to see, "baby Ethan" who is actually a 15-month old toddler.

• Morning Wake-Up - When she wakes up in the morning, she stumbles out into the hallway and says, "all done my nap."
  
• Sunday Brunch - Every Sunday, we usually have a special brunch of banana pancakes and "cheesy eggs" (omelets). When we first started having brunch, she saw Dada putting Frank's Red Hot cayenne pepper sauce on his cheesy eggs. Now, she has to have some on her eggs too. After every bite she says, "WHEW, SPICY!!!" and takes a drink of milk.
  
• Hugs for Baby Brother - After her evening bath, we read books before going to bed. Once we've finished our three books, we give each other hugs and kisses. Sometimes she'll snuggle up close to Momma, put her hand on Momma's belly and say, "Goodnight Baby Brother."

School Days:

• I've always wished I could be a fly on the wall to observe her interaction with the other kids and teachers on a daily basis. But, over the past 6 months, her speech/language has developed so much that it's been fun to hear some of the stories from her perspective on our drive home and over dinner. Usually, we ask her what she did during the day and her response is, "play babies and dress-up." One of her friends at school, Andrea, also loves to play dress-up. On the days that Andrea beats us to school, I can tell that she's equally excited to see Reese. By the time Reese has taken her shoes and jacket off, Andrea has piled up a baby doll, a blanket, a pair of dress-up shoes, and a purse in front of Reese. Very, very sweet.
• When I ask Reese how her day went, one of the most frequent responses is, "Sophia took Fiona's baby, and Fiona cried." I've heard this several times with various name combinations. She's also mastered the phrase, "give back please," so I can only assume it's the outcome of the very important life lesson she's learned observing other children stealing other kids' babies. I'm sure Reese has never committed such a crime herself....
• Reese has learned lots of new songs (as have Mom and Dad) at school. I've asked her teachers for clarification on a few songs, but her speech is becoming clearer and clearer everyday. Her favorite songs from school are, Miss Mary Mack-Mack-Mack(!), and something about, "Ruby (or other kid's name), please come out where we can see you, take a bow, take a bow..... yeah for Ruby!" I can only assume this is some sort of circle-time ritual. Just this last week she mentioned that they sang the Shimmy, Shimmy song at school but that it was "different." I can't imagine there is another version of this song than the Tom Hanks version from the movie Big, but we look forward to learning it over the next couple weeks.
  
• Reese loves to go to school on Tues/Thurs. Last summer, I was hard-pressed to get a good-bye from her in the morning and many times she was not ready to go home with me in the evenings. However, in the last month or so she's been ultra-lovey and wants me to stay for a bit in the morning to snuggle and when I pick her up she eagerly yells, "Momma!" and happily comes running and jumps into my arms. Her teacher, Shana, said that it's typical for toddlers to go through a second phase of separation anxiety - something I've noticed in two of the other 2.5-3 yr olds. However, all three of these kiddos have, or are anticipating, new siblings. So, I wonder how much of it has to do with the age and how much has to do with anxiety/anticipation of younger siblings...
  
• A couple weeks ago I discovered, by accident, that Reese can count to 10 in Spanish. Who knows what else she's learned? However, despite all the wonderful things she's learned at school, she's also picked up a few not-so-positive skills such as spitting, (occasional) hitting, and a couple annoying dinner-time habits. She's referred to Ivan and Gust while spitting and being a goof-ball at the dinner table so I think it's safe to say we can blame the male gender for all the annoying habits. ;) To think that it's only a matter of weeks before we enter the world of raising a boy. All three of us can't wait!