little black journal

This is it…one last update on our two year old, as she turns a whopping THREE tomorrow at 9:03 am.  The latest and greatest:

 

She’s a regular comedian these days, making us laugh whether she means to or not.  A few recent gems:

Said first thing in the morning (with a chuckle), as I walked into her room:  “Mommy?  Daddy doesn’t have any boooooobies!”

Said when I asked her if she had room in her belly for dessert, since she’d just eaten a bunch of chicken:  “I have room for dessert!  The chicken is in my bottom!”

Said when I asked her if she had any dreams the night before:  “Yeah!  I had a purple dream, and a pink dream, and a black dream, and a blue dream!  And there was a brown lion and he said ROARRRRRR!”

Said when we were out on a walk and a short white guy passed us on his bike:  “Mommy, what’s his name?”  I don’t know, hon.  “I think that was Johnny Cueto!”  (Johnny Cueto is a (tall, black) pitcher for the Giants, who we hadn’t talked about for weeks.)

Said with the utmost enthusiasm whenever she’s about to ask for something she knows I might say no to:  “Hey!  I have an idea!”

And then said when I invariably cave and tell her she can watch a show or have a snack:  “Yeah!  It’s going to be great!”

 

Speaking of the fact that I’m putty in her hands, Shane likes to play the hardass and “set firm limits”, but who are we kidding?  If I remember correctly, this was going on about 30 minutes after we’d told her it was time to get in bed…

 

While she seems to derive a certain amount of satisfaction from making her dad and me crazy, she’s surprisingly uncomfortable when Shane and I turn our frustration on one another.  If I get the least bit snippy with Shane, Jules is quick to ask, “Mommy?  Why are you being mean to Daddy?  Daddy, are you sad?”  The other night at dinner, when Shane and I got into what I would call a “friendly debate”, Juliette put both hands up in the air and shouted, “Hey guys!  RELAX!”  Looks like we’ve got a little peace-maker on our hands…I never would have guessed.

 

She’s fascinated with spiders and slimy creatures and all things creepy-crawly – snail and slug hunts are a new favorite pastime.

Furry guys are cool, too, if they don’t bark or jump or outweigh her.

 

She continues to be frustratingly independent, insisting on shutting her own car door and buckling her own car seat and pouring her own milk.  But she’s also acquired some fun new skills along the way, like learning how to draw faces:

And how to nibble her foods into letters (“It’s an M for Mommy!!!):

 

We pull out the Magna-Tiles every couple of weeks, and puzzles will hold her interest for 15 minutes at a time, but Purple Baby continues to be the tried and true favorite.

 

She loves playing restaurant and will take our order at anything resembling a pickup window.  This is from our camping trip back in July – so nice to have my “morning coffee” served to me while still in my sleeping bag!

 

Favorite real foods include pistachios, watermelon, and tacos.  That’s our girl!

 

Perhaps most significantly, we said good-bye last month to the teachers and classmates that Juliette has come to love over the past year and a half.  An opportunity presented itself at a great new preschool a little closer to home and we decided after much heartache to expand Juliette’s horizons a bit.  I second-guessed our decision on her last day at her old school, as Jules gave the biggest, warmest hugs to her teary-eyed teachers.  This place was so good to her!

She started at the new place last week, and it’s been…a little rocky.  Some dramatic drop-offs, some reports that she’s had a tough time eating or napping, but she’s always smiling when we pick her up at the end of the day and when we ask her if she likes her new teachers and playground, she responds in the affirmative.

Plus, she loves the new commute!  Morning train ride with Mama, evening bike ride home with Daddy!

 

Finally a random smattering of pictures I haven’t known what to do with…

A family stroll through Schmitz Park:

The face she made when her Dad asked her if she wanted to go look for Pokemons:

A post-market blackberry binge:

Seward Park shenanigans with her best bud:

The requisite wink shot…

 

Happy two years and 364 days, Juliette.  It hurts my heart a little to watch you grow so quickly.   Hot dang, though, kiddo – you’ve become an exceptional cohort.