Taylor Update

Taylor is now 2 years, seven months. She's a teeny tiny little girl but she's feisty! She calls the shots, at least the ones for people under 3 feet. :) She's the please and thank you police at our house. She is always reminding Chloe and Jake and I to say please and thank you. If I ask her to clean up her toys she'll say "Mommy not right, you say PLEASE Taylor pick up your toys, okay?" In the last few months her language has really developed. She now speaks full sentences and is very good at expressing herself. She'll say things like "Mommy I'm not feeling well, my ear hurts." It's amazing how far she's come in the last few months. She's like a regular kid now!

Taylor knows all of her ABC's, and has recently learned the sound each letter makes. She has an incredible memory. I let her watch a leap frog video that introduced each letter and its sound and after watching that 2x she had them all down. She is starting to sound out small words and my mom is convinced that she will be reading by the end of the summer. If you give her a letter she will tell you several words off the top of her head that start with that letter. She won't just give you nouns she'll give you adjectives, and verbs. She'll walk around the house saying things like "Y, hmmm what starts with y? hmmm oh I know yogurt starts with y so does yo-yo, yes, yarn, yummy and yipeee!" She is amazing! And she can do it with every letter.

Taylor says the funniest things, and she never misses a beat. The other day I asked Chloe if she wanted to sleep in her room or Taylor's room that night. Chloe said "hmmm how bout Chloe's room, no T-t's room, no I think Chloe's room, no T-t's room." And Taylor looked up at me, rolled her eyes and said "Typical."
Yesterday my dad came over to help us do some yard work (he's the best!). He was wearing his nice shoes and he didn't want to get them dirty so he put plastic bags over his shoes then went outside to mow the lawn. Taylor came up to me a few minutes later holding a plastic bag. She said in very serious voice, "Mom this is a plastic bag. It is NOT a shoe. Papa thinks it's a shoe, and it's NOT a shoe, it's a plastic bag." Then she stated laughing and said "Papa is just too funny!"

She's a great eater as far as eating a wide variety of foods, but she doesn't eat a lot. It's a constant battle to try and get her to take in enough calories each day. I still have her drinking whole milk and try to give her high calorie foods. She's barely over 20lbs . Even though she's tiny she's very strong and athletic. She has great balance and rarely falls, even though she's constantly climbing and jumping off of everything. She's also become a very good sleeper. She sleeps at least 12 hours at night and takes 2-3 hour naps every day. And if she wakes up early from a nap she'll play quietly in her room until nap time is over.

Taylor is pretty much a potty trainers worst nightmare. She's been training off and on for a few months now. We try and if she has no interest then we take a break and try again in a few weeks. We've been sticking with it the last few weeks. (She needs to be fully trained by the time she starts preschool in Sept). She'll have a few days where she tells you she has to go and has no accidents. Then the following day she'll pee her pants 4 times before Noon! If I ask if she has to go she says "No mommy and my underpants are nice and dry!"

Taylor's always been a pretty quiet, serious child, but in the last few months she's really started to come out of her shell. She now giggles constantly with Chloe, she smiles a lot and she's very nurturing and sweet. She's still pretty quiet when I take her out of the house. She would never even think of throwing a tantrum in public, ar crying or doing anything naughty. I can totally count on her to behave when we are out which is nice because it's always a crap shoot with the other two. Taylor understands almost everything that goes on around her and she'll ask questions if she doesn't get something. She'll say things like "Mommy what does 'in a minute' mean?" She can be naughty at times, but she has such a big heart and she's so extremely empathetic and sweet. She'll say things like "Mommy what's wrong? Are you okay? Let me feel your forehead, oh it's warm. Do you have a fever?" She is not your typical two year-old. It's amazing to watch her grow and learn each day. Everything she has learned she's just picked up by watching things around her. I wish I had more time to teach her things because she learns so quickly and she's so incredibly smart. I'm excited for her to start preschool in the fall. She's such a special little girl. Jake and I feel so honored to have been picked to be her parents. She brings so much joy to our lives and we can't imagine living life without her in it. We love you T-t!






P.S. If anyone has any photo tips for me I'd appreciate it. I think some settings may have gotten messed up on my camera. Notice all of these photos are a bit grainy? Even the ones taken outside are grainy, not nice and crisp like they should be. Thanks!