Mary Grace,
Now that you’re two and a half (plus a month… don’t hate), I thought I should document a bit about life with you these days. Because here in the Allison household, we gave up baby books long ago.
Mary Grace, you are so fun! You’re a chatterbox and surprise us every day with what comes out of your mouth. You will talk to anything and anyone. Recently, you’ve been getting angry with your poor baby dolls for not responding to your many questions and demands. “Mommmmy!! Baby Deluga not talk back to me! She not say hi!” you will say. (Yes, you have named your favorite baby doll “Baby Deluga”. Kinda like Baby Beluga… but not.) Anyway, I’m pretty sure your mouth will get you in trouble one day. But when you’re as freakin’ cute as you are, something tells me that you’re likely to get away with murder.
You are non.stop.action. Very, very busy. You are a little worker, always at some task. You love to wipe and clean and pour and mix and scribble and just do. You’re tough. You flip and fall with little, if any, tears. And you’re a risk taker. I am praying already for your teenage years.
Speaking of prayers for your adolescence, you just love little boys. You talk incessantly about one particular little boy in your class at school. Don’t worry, we’re locking you up once you hit 15 (13? 10?). As much as you might like to play with little boys, you love girly things. You love princesses, jewelry, and dolls. You’re obsessed with pink. Your feisty little self got in trouble at school recently for throwing playdoh back at your teacher because it wasn’t pink.
I hit a rough patch with you a few weeks ago… but then again, who doesn’t hit a rough patch with a two year old every now and then? I found myself digging in every parenting book I had around and begging the Lord for wisdom on what to do with your behavior. And then, practically overnight, things improved. Actually, let’s back up for a second… after we started working for real on your refusal to sleep, things improved. You were sleeping. You were happy. We were sleeping. We were happy. THANK YOU JESUS.
You’re a good, but sometimes weird, eater. This morning for instance, you asked for (and ate) carrots and hummus for breakfast. You still dip everything in ketchup or ranch. You love fruit snacks but won’t touch donuts, cake, or cinnamon buns. Girl, you are obsessed with chocolate milk… I blame your daddy for that. It’s funny- when you are in the throes of a tantrum, you will often randomly scream “I want chocolate miiiiilk!”.
Some funny little quirks- you stomp your foot when you have to poop. You bang your head when you’re trying to go to sleep. And you prefer to sleep on the floor. Naked. (ha, that entire paragraph will totally be used for blackmail someday.)
I’m so excited to see you grow up, baby girl. You, with your strong will and independent nature, are going to be a real mover and shaker one day, and I pray that you will use all of that inexhaustible energy you somehow generate for the Lord.
Love you, Mary Grace.
