Janen is 2.5 Years Old Today!!

To say that these last 6 months has been a challenge with my toddler would be an understatement. Of course every parent goes through some sort of terrible two's phase, but let me tell you, Janen is one hyperactive kid. Over the past month or so, I've had a few people ask me, "is this how she is all the time?" Yes, ALL THE TIME! They then  proceed to give me their sympathies. It's nice to finally be validated. I'm sure when we tell most people how difficult Janen is to put to bed they just think we must be doing something wrong. Bedtime and naptime is a 2-3 hour event. It drives me insane. Constantly fighting with her to get her to stay in bed and sleep. And when we finally can get her to stay, it can be another 30-45 minutes before she falls asleep. That method I tried a few months ago only worked for about 6 weeks. I'm starting to think I need to slip some melatonin in her milk. Don't judge me. She only naps when she's been awake at least 8 hours and is confined in either her high chair or the carseat as depicted below. This time she decided to use part of a bun as a pillow. LOL!

 
Janen has a brilliant mind. I get so many comments about how Janen talks better than most 3 and 4 year olds. 2 and a half  years old and even strangers can understand 90% of what she says. There are sunbeams in my primary that don't speak as well as my eloquent little girl let alone sing. Several weeks ago Janen was having a hard time in nursery so James sat in Primary with her so she could see me. We sang "I Love to See the Temple" and she sang along to the whole song while most of my 3 and 4 year olds either stared blankly at me or were chatting with a buddy.

Here is a video of us Chatting after dinner. When she's rested and calm, she's so much fun to chat with and she says such grown-up things. It's hard for me to believe that she will be 3 in 6 short months.

 

Her creative mind has exploded so much over the past 6 months. Whenever she tries to complete some task she tells me she needs to find a mousekatool to help her and will dig something out of her toy box to help her. Like a net to help her scoop up her toys. She's also in love with Cinderella and asks to wear a dress every. single. day. But recently I made a rule that she can only wear a dress on Sundays because I'm trying to teach her to go potty by herself and I don't want her to pee on her dresses. If she's not requesting a dress, she's requesting a dress-up costume. She also loves to act out parts of movies. My current favorite is when she pretends to be the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and runs to go and get her wand when that part of the movie comes on. She even does the little "ahem" at the beginning of Bibbidi Boppdi Boo song. It's hilarious!

Speaking of potty...we had a rough month during Elsie's first month of life. People say your child can regress with the birth of a new child so i was expecting that. But I honestly don't think it was from jealousy or starving for attention. It was because there was too much going on that she couldn't calm her self down enough to pay attention to her body. Most of her accidents occurred when she was out of the house and having too much fun. Not a day went by for a few weeks where she didn't have an accident of some sort. Sometimes 2-3. It drove me nuts! Now that things have calmed down, I went back to the basics with Janen. Set the timer for every 30 minutes. And after a day, she figured it out again. It also helps that Grandma put together a basket of potty prizes for her. Janen can tell me when she needs to pee and can even go and do her business by herself, which is very nice for me. This is day number 5 of no accidents. THANK GOODNESS!!! Still not potty trained at night....that will be awhile and I'm not going to mess with that until she's 3.

She's recently been obsessed with jumping off of things. Chairs, couches, beds, curbs...you name it, she tries to jump off of it.

Whenever she comes with us to the Garden, she insists on helping out. This is our garden about 2 months ago. That little green plant to the left of the marigolds is pumpkin. It's gotten so big you can't even see those poor flowers.

For some reason, Janen has lost interest in doing arts and crafts. She used to love to paint and draw and color but now shes says no almost every time I give her the option. Kind've annoying when I'm trying to get her to do presents for family members and friends. I think she's just wants to be on the go all the time and doesn't want to sit down.

She is such a good big sister. When Elsie cries she'll go up to her and say, "it's okay Elsie. Don't cry," in the sweetest voice and give her kisses. She'll also mimics us by calling Elsie all the nicknames we called her. One time Elsie was crying in the car and Janen leaned over and said, "it's ok schnookums. You'll be alright." James will call Janen Schnookums from time to time and she randomly decided to call Elsie that. I loved it. She's always asking to hold/hug/kiss her. And is always willing to help out with something regarding Elsie when I ask for it.

Janen has also gotten over any shyness that she used to have. She will jump into people's laps and ask them to come play in her room if they are at our house. I love that she's a little social butterfly.

I decided to ask her some questions about her favorite things to see if she would respond to them and she did! I will do this again when she is 3. It'll be fun to see what changes and what may possibly stay the same.

Even though my rambunctious little girl can test my patience on a daily basis, I'm so glad she's in our life. She makes me smile and laugh every day. She sincerely wants me and everyone around her to be happy and will ask me and others if they are happy from time to time. The key is to finding things to do that help her exert her energy when necessary and help her calm down when she needs to rest. Once we don't live up 4 flights of stairs, I'll be able to do that for her on a daily basis. Try taking a toddler, a baby and a stroller down 4 flights of stairs by yourself. Yeah right! Until then, sorry downstairs neighbors for all the loud thumping you'll be hearing over the next 4 months.