Allyson is 2!

Today is Ally's 2nd birthday. Hard to believe but its true, the terrible two's have arrived. She has turned into an adorable little girl with a huge personality all her own. Watching her develop has been so amazing. Frustrating at times but sometimes you just can't help but laugh at her. Her motor and verbal skills are very advanced and her memory is honestly amazing. She can recall a lot of details and can have full conversations about her day. She remembers people and very small details, both good and not so good things. Sometimes when she gets really tired at night or when she is riding in the car, she will recount her entire day out loud complete with songs and directions she hears at school.

Ally is at the stage where she knows right from wrong but hasn't figured out how to lie yet. She always tells me what each friend did at school and always talks about who was naughty, who had timeouts and exactly what they did to get the timeout. She absolutely knows when she has done something she isn't supposed to do and will follow it up with "I'm in trouble" or "thats naughty." She has had one timeout at home and one at school that we know of. She understands the concept and gets very unhappy if you threaten her with a timeout. Disciple has gotten more important very quickly and we are still learning. What works one day does not always work the next and that is very frustrating. A few things lately that have been really tough: getting her dressed in the mornings and bed time.

Ally has become very specific about her diapers/pullups so getting her dressed and undressed is like torture sometimes. For some unknown reason Huggies can't make a box of pullups with the same design and Ally is so picky about what design she will wear. I can't even tell you how much time I spend chasing her around to get her dressed all because she is melting down over which princess is on her pullups. Makes for some unhappy mornings at least once a week. Bedtime is also becoming a similar struggle, more so this week than ever before. She has always been a champion sleeper but getting her calmed down with a routine has started to change. Rather than reading and rocking in her chair then laying down on her own, she wants to read books herself- a ton of them. She says "no turning the lights off" and throws a huge fit if you turn them off or take away books before she is done. Just when we thought we had everything going so well with bedtime, she changes it up.

Her eating habits haven't changed much over the last few months. Still not a great eater but she goes in streaks. Loves fruits of all kinds but won't eat much meat at all. Between Ally and Karl we go through multiple gallons of milk in a week. Her skills with utensils are pretty good and some days she only will use a fork and some days she only wants to use her hands. Bibs are a thing of the past and going out to dinner is starting to involve the rejection of the high chair. She won't sit still on her own because she is just so busy looking around and wiggling. Some days she does great in a high chair at a restaurant and some times its a screaming fit until we let her sit on her own in a regular booth or chair. Her favorite foods are still about the same and seem pretty typical for a toddler: macaroni and cheese, noodles with sauce, corn dogs and rice dishes. Ally definitely has a sweet tooth and loves ice cream, cookies and cake.

Potty training has somewhat regressed or just come to a standstill. She goes on the potty most of the time but still has wet diapers in between. Not much interest in wearing big girl 'unnies' and some days she just flat out refuses to go on the potty. I assume she is like most kids in that she gets easily distracted. She may say that she has to go potty and start walking that way but something catches her eye and she forgets. Public restrooms are also a little scary for her which is understandable. All the advice we have been given or read says that they let you know when they are ready so we continue to try and let her go at her own pace.

This week we moved into the Beginner Room at day care and the change has really been positive. Many of her friends moved up in August and she was a little sad about that. The toddler room was getting very crowded and loud, with lots of running and screaming. She likes the more structured group environment and loves to play outside and sing songs. Her retention of information is incredible so she can sing a ton of songs, her matching skills are really great as well as color recognition and starting to recognize letters. All of a sudden she can count to ten and is very, very close to reciting her ABCs with the song. She has also learned the days of the week and the months of the year. She knows everything in a song so she can recite them but may not know specific things like you can ask her what day is it but she wont know what comes after 3 if she isn't actively counting something. Ally is still a leader and likes to be the boss.

Favorite color- yellow
Favorite TV show- Sesame Street
Favorite food- fruit snacks
Favorite Movie- Despicable Me (aka Gru Movie)
Favorite toys- puzzles, princess barbies
Favorite book- Head to Toe by Eric Carle

Favorite songs- wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, monkees in a treeCan count to ten
Very close to reciting the whole alphabet

Knows all basic colors

Knows basic sign language
Cant survive at night without her blanket