Carly at 2 1/2

Carly is now a little over 2 1/2 years old. She is a lot of fun at this age. We had our rough patches in recent months with 2 year old defiance, but we found a system that works for us and life is much better.

A few things I want to remember about her at this age:

She is fully potty trained. She's actually been potty trained for several months now. We started at 2 years old, and by the fall she had the hang of it. We recently completely ran out of diapers, so she is diaper-less even at bedtime. She's done great! She hasn't pottied in her diaper at night in at least 2 months. She even gets out of bed on her own during the night to go potty - without calling to us for help. Diaper free days are fabulous!

She finally knows her colors. She's been talking for what seems like forever, but she couldn't tell me the colors. Everything was green. The school bus, the apple, etc. In the last few months, she has mastered all the major colors. I'm not sure that she has a favorite, but she loves to wear pink. She is a girly girl.

She says lasterday instead of yesterday. Cracks me up.

She loves her baby dolls. She carries them around, disciplines them (timeout and spankings - yikes!), kisses their owies, etc.

She has imaginary friends. I don't remember exactly when the imaginary friends appeared, but I believe it was this fall. First we had Paula, a big boy. Then Paula's friend Pauly joined us. Most recently, Jelly (that's what it sounds like at least - jelly, like strawberry jelly) is also often present. These imaginary friends play in Carly's kitchen with her, practice the ABC flashcards with her, and also receive similar discipline as the babies.

Carly has started recognizing many letters. Thank goodness for preschool; I certainly can't take credit for that! I'm not sure how many she knows, but it is quite a few.

She can count to probably 15 in English and 8 or 9 in Spanish.

She loves hair bows. Considering I am not a girly girl, it is a little disturbing to me!

She loves to play dress up and will cry if I pick her up during the middle of dress up time. I finally bought her one dress up dress this weekend, but I need to find her some more.

She says the funniest things sometimes. Yesterday (lasterday in Carly talk) I overheard her talking sternly to Mr. Potato Head. "No, no no mister tato head. I'll take your eyes out and I won't give them back".

She loves to sing. She knows many songs - Jesus Loves Me, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc.

She can recite her night night prayers ("Now I lay me down to sleep . . ."), a Morning Prayer from School ("Now before I run to play, let me not forget to pray . . ."), and she says grace before meals. She recites God is good as well as the Bless us O lord prayer. I'm impressed with how well she remembers these prayers.