26 MONTHS OLD

Lily is 26 months old today. The last few weeks have been full of questions. Lily asks, "What's this?" about everything! She's exploring everything around her and taking it all in. She is such an independent little girl. She's silly, sweet and smart. Here are some things she has been doing this month:

-She now knows the sounds for letter B and S and we are working on A.

-She knows all of her colors thanks to Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

-She loves to watch Wonder Pets and Dora the Explorer. It seems so weird to me because she

wouldn't watch TV until after she was 18 months old. Now she would watch it all day if I would let her!

-She has started making up her own songs to sing. Yesterday she was singing, "Yeah, cow, moo, moo!" Over and over in the car. She also sings songs to Luke if he is crying.

-She loves to count things, even if she can only count to 3.

-Lily has really been into taking baths lately. She tries to get in the tub all the time and gets so excited if she gets to take an extra one during the day if she gets really messy.

-Lily now goes to the big potty all by herself. She just uses the toilet holder and pulls herself up! I don't know how she hasn't fallen in yet, but it is so nice that she doesn't need help. She only wears a diaper at night, but is rarely wet.

-Today Lily went down for her nap without me! Yes, she took a nap ALL BY HERSELF!! Well, she wanted Toby to sleep with her and that's what he does best. I kept checking on her and she only got up once. I'm hoping tomorrow will be just as easy.

-Lily is now sleeping in a youth bed beside our bed. It's still a it of a struggle to get her to sleep at night because she wants me to hold her, but I just tell her I can't and let her hold my hand or put my hand on her back. I'm hoping to slower move her toward her room...

-The next big goal is to get rid of the paci. A.K.A. Lily's best friend. They have been together for 26 months and Lily truly loves it. She has gotten even more attached since Luke was born, but since he doesn't really like it, I am thinking of taking it away now. I'm starting to get her ready by telling her about the Paci Fairy who takes pacis to the new babies that need them and will leave her a present. I bought her some Dora panties and might have to get some more little gifts to get her through it. I'm not looking forward to it, but I don't want her going to Kindergarten with a paci!