Toddler Days

So this probably isn't a real exciting post but I love to document these kinds of things to be able to look back on. I know I could do it in a baby book, but this little blog has become my favorite place to post. And now that we have Lilly its so easy to go back and compare stories... like reading Reaghan's 1 month post as I did Lilly's.

Reaghan is 2 1/2 today! We are in the thick of the toddler days with her and while she is a total sweetheart 90% of the time because of her more reserved, quiet, God-given disposition, she's still a toddler. She can whine and cry and sass with the best of them. She is more inclined to whine about things than to throw an all out temper tantrum {I honestly don't know what I would prefer} but the few times she's had a full on melt down have revolved around using the potty {randomly she'll decide she doesn't ever need to poop again} or when we've allowed her to have screen time with her little kindle that we got for road trips. {once it was because she had to stop using the Kindle while she was on the potty -- double whammy! -- and it happened right as a visitor walked through our door to bring us dinner after Lilly was born. It was a humbling moment.}

Some days I can't get enough of her sweetness and her hugs and kisses melt my heart.

Other days she seems to be right on my heels all. day. long. and I get more frustrated than I should and shoo her away. Or snap at her for whining again.

Some days I'm way too distracted by my own chores that need to get done, or errands that need to be run or even taking too many pictures to post on Facebook or send in a text instead of just enjoying the moment. I love for other people {mainly my family, but some friends too} to be able to enjoy her  adorable moments too, but I have to remind myself that that is the privilege I get for being her mama. {also, not everybody probably thinks she's as cute as I do!} and if I'm constantly caught up in sharing her singing a song, or reading a book, or dancing or just looking cute I'm the one that's going to miss out on the moment. And while I yes, I can still see her through the lens of a phone camera, when she looks at me all she see's is that I'm looking at the phone, not her. I get so frustrated with myself on those days and I'm working on them becoming less and less.

I know I mentioned it once, but we started taking a parenting class in January and we are really enjoying it. Because of babies being born we've only met 5 times, but the first 5 classes have been really good! All about laying the foundation for the practical parenting tips they'll present later in the study. We've talked about protecting your marriage, discovering your spouses and child's love language, creating treasures of the heart, and speaking words of life vs death. One of my favorite lessons so far has been what they call elevating virtue over vice when correcting your child. For example, instead of telling them what they did was mean, giving them only a negative word or action to focus on, you can tell them what they did was unkind, which gives them a virtue {kindness} to strive towards. So instead of leaving them in mud of their bad behavior, you point them towards the behavior you want them to have. We've started using this consistently with Reaghan and have already noticed a difference in her response to correction! Even down to something as little as not being scared of our dog. {Sometimes she gets nervous when we call Piper because Piper comes running and she'll unnecessarily whine and run to hide} Instead of telling her "You don't need to be so scared." to which she would always still cower behind something, we now tell her "Reaghan, you need to be brave and have courage." Even the first time I changed those words around I saw her eyes flicker with determination and watched her stand her ground. It was a fun parenting moment. We are learning a lot and look forward to gleaning more and more so we can be proactive in our parenting and not constantly chasing after our kiddos correcting them.

Okay, so now that I rambled on about trying to become a better mommy, let's move on to what I originally had planned for this post! What is Reaghan up to at 2 1/2 years old?!

• She weighs in around 24 pounds. She's a little skinny minny and sometimes has a hard time keeping up her pants now that she doesn't wear a diaper because she has no booty! She wears mostly 2t clothes but I recently bought her and Lilly a few matching outfits and she fit into the 18 month size!
• She is potty trained except for during nap times and night time. I feel like I could tackle that soon, but it's honestly not a big deal to me and I'd rather her just wear a pull up to bed then be up in the middle of the night changing bed sheets. I have started getting her up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night when I wake up to feed Lilly, but we're still keeping the pull ups on for now! She used to be afraid of going on the big potty or out in public or with anyone except mommy, but we've worked through all of those issues! 
• She currently loves getting to watch movies. We love movies too, so 1-2 nights a week we'll give her an early bath and have a movie night before bed. Her absolute favorite is Moana. She loves to listen and dance to all of the songs.
• She's still a very picky eater. She maybe has 10 things that she eats consistently. One of our family resolutions was to eat dinner at the dining room table every night and we've been doing a decent job of it! It helps me to make sure I at least put what we're having on her plate every night and she's become less wary of new food. She still doesn't eat it, but sometimes she'll touch it so I'm taking that as progress! haha This girl just took her first bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich 2 weeks ago! She didn't hate it, but she only took 2 bites. Still - I'm claiming a small victory. Another victory? She'll now eat Pizza on the regular. You guys, when I say picky, I mean she doesn't even eat regular kid food! She would live off of crackers and yogurt and eggs.
• She's very shy when we go out in public. We are seeing improvement but its taking a lot of consistent correcting and practicing. Every time we go out we talk about responding to people that say hi to her - like the cashier at the grocery store or an elderly lady at church. Sometimes she does better than others and if we forget to talk about it with her than she'll revert back to not even looking at people. We don't expect her to be super outgoing, just working on having polite manners.
• She loves to swing high, go on walks with mommy, and have dance parties where she jumps and spins until she gets dizzy. She loves having her nails painted and pretending to put on makeup. She loves doing crafts -- painting, glueing, cutting, coloring, stamping, you name it! 
• She's working on learning on how to draw lines and circles and smiley faces!
• She could read books for days -- she'll collect a pile of ten or more on the couch or her bed and "read" them to herself. She used to memorize and repeat the books but now she makes up her own stories based off the pictures. Her favorite right now are the Little Critter books.
• She can't pronounce the "K" or "C" sound. So Lilly's crib is a "frib" and cupcake is "tuptate" etc. And recently I've noticed a little stutter starting to happen.
• She can recognize almost all of her letters and colors and can count to 12. The teens start getting a little jumbled!
• She knows her full name, mommy and daddy's name, her address, her birthday and her age. 
• Her favorite shows are Daniel Tiger and Curious George.
• She loves search and find books. 
• She still uses a paci, but only at nap time and night time. Paci always stays in the bed.
• She loves playing outside but does not like bugs or being barefoot in the grass. And sometimes she gets nervous if the wind blows really hard haha she's slightly on the prissy side, but its okay with me.
• She loves her little scooter that she got for Christmas and likes to be pushed fast on it.
• She takes wonderful 2 1/2 hour naps in the afternoon!
• Her favorite toys are her baby dolls, doctor kit and kitchen. Also dress up clothes!
• She can sit through a whole church service like a champ. She has a little busy book to play with and sometimes a snack.
• She loves to hold Lilly and does great at giving her her paci and holding her for me while I make breakfast, etc. 
• She feeds Piper and her fish, cleans up her toys and can even put clothes from the washer to the dryer! She is my sweet, big girl helper.
• Our bedtime routine consists of book time (if we didn't watch a movie) prayers and singing a few songs. "Ni'Night Reaghan" is her favorite along with "mocking bird" (Hush Little Baby)

Gosh, I know this stuff is not as interesting to you guys as it is to me... but I don't want to forget all of the ins and outs of her toddler days. 

Some days its totally exhausting and bed time can't come soon enough.

But most days its fun, rewarding and a pure joy being her mama. 

And honestly... Most of the time... it just depends on my attitude and perspective and not necessarily on her behavior.