Joy at 2.5

Joy is 2.5 and I thought I should do a little blog update on her cuteness. She still lives up to her name and is a very happy smiling little girl. She gets excited about things and wonders at the beauty of creation. She has very strong opinions and wants to do everything herself (she will actually redo things so she can say she did it herself!). We love you more and more everyday Joy bean.

What Joy is doing

• Can retell stories
• Pretend plays with her toy animals and dolls 
• Is mastering dressing herself. She always wants to "do it herself" but gets a little frustrated with shirts and usually ends up with both legs in the same underpants or pants leg. 
• Usually she is happy with me choosing her clothing, although she is particular about what shirts and pants feel good. 
• Staying at Sunday School and Mom's Group without a parent. We bribe her with chocolate chips. Today she had to go to Sunday School without crying to earn the chocolate chips. As soon as she sees me after the service she yells "Chocolate chips!" 
•  Thanks me almost every night for making "a delicious dinner"

Funny things Joy is saying 

* I'll do it myself...you'll see
* Don't I look coo (cool)

*My baby needs a nap because she is really fussy. 

* Simon is fussy and needs a nap......so I can watch my show (she gets to watch a peppa pig or Franklin show while I shower). 

*Why?????....about everything 

* I'm not going to be a mommy. I'm going to be a dinosaur (her response to brad when he told her she would one day grow up and be a mommy). 

Teeth: Finally has two 2 year old molars (bottom) 

Eats:

• Loves: sausage/hot dogs, eggs with spinach, fried rice, BIG apples (ie not cut up) and all fruit, mac and cheese with broccoli  
• Verdict is still out on: beans of any kind
• Favorite restaurants: Cocos Japanese Curry, Genki sushi 

Sleeps:    

Bedtime routine involves daddy reading about 25 minutes of books to her, them "mommy will put me to bed" is the request. She gets three songs (Jesus loves me, Jesus loves the little children and Twinkle Twinkle) prayers and a pillow placed against one ear and her stuff dog "Sam" on the other. 

Bedtime is 7pm, although she doesn't usually fall asleep until 7:30/7:45. During that time we have to go in a few times and reassure her that the "sounds" will stop (she claims she hears dogs barking and noises....we have a white noise machine going so we aren't sure what she hears). 

She still naps (praise God) from 12:30-3pm.

Weighs: 

Likes:

* Going on walks...and wants to bring her tricycle and then NOT ride it for very long. 

* Playing with play doh, painting and coloring. She loves kinetic sand (which she plays with at Elena's house). 

*Reading is still a favorite past time. We go to the library once or twice a week and get 8 books from each library (daddy's library at work and then the public library). Her favorite books right now are: Franklin, Arthur, Bernstein Bears, anything by Jan Brett and Rikki Tikki Tavi

*Keeping track of where Simon is...sometimes cute and sometimes very bossy

* Playing with her friends Elena and Abigail. 

*Mothering anything around her. She has four baby dolls: Mommy Joy (the biggest), Plastic Joy (made of all plastic), baby Joy, soft Joy (mostly fabric). She also is continually carting around her plastic animals and dinosaurs in her stroller, feeding them and giving them baths. 

*When daddy comes home and they play "sleep over" in her room (which daddy loves because it involves him laying down) 

Dislikes: 

*Timeouts: which she gets frequently, mainly for causing intentional bodily harm to little brother 

*Leaving a place without a 2 minute warning (we use the timer on our phone to give her a warning and it works like magic).