Jumping with Both Feet and Other Things our almost Two Year Old Does

(like wear coffee filters as hats)

Most of Adelaide's developments these days are seen in what she says or learns. A few weeks ago though Adelaide started a new physical ability-- jumping! For the longest time her jumps or hops were pretty pathetic, not that they are Michael Jordan quality now, but she can jump with both feet off the ground. She is so proud of herself; she likes to show off her skills to anyone that will watch.

Another new development is that we've entered the "why" phase. Adelaide asks why or 'cause why to almost anything I tell her. I didn't expect it quite so early and after a few answers down the list I'm already wanting to say, "because I said so."

Discipline has been going really well for the most part. The corner (which is essentially time out) has been really effective. Sometimes Adelaide will even say, "I need to go to the corner" and will go on her own. It seems like it wouldn't be doing any good if she's so willing to go, but her attitude has generally done a 180 by the time she's done with her minute or two of silence. It's like she's needs a quick break to refocus or something. I have to say it's pretty darn cute to see such a little girl with her face buried in the corner standing still for that long.

When we're all done with the corner I ask her to come to me, tell me she's sorry (if her action warrants it), and explain to her what happened. We leave with her saying, "I will obey." The majority of the time when we're having our little talk, I ask Adelaide to look at me or look in my eyes. Well, Adelaide has definitely picked up on that part. When she is really wanting our attention, sometimes she'll physically grab our faces and pull them to look at her or she'll actually say, "look at my eyes." It's pretty funny.

Adelaide isn't always so compliant of course. The other day when we went to the San Antonio zoo with some friends is an example. We were leaving the petting zoo and all the kiddos were excited to wash their hands. I helped Adelaide wash hers and asked her to climb in her stroller. She told me she needed to wash her hands again. I told her they were already clean and that she needed to listen to mommy. She instantly bent down and wiped her clean hands in the mud, held them up, and said "hands dirty now." She did get to wash her hands again but shocked me with her defiance.

Adelaide's memory is off the charts. The other day I told her we were going to the zoo the next morning, and first thing she said when she woke up was that she wanted to bring a teddy bear to the zoo with her. Today we bought a travel booster from Goodwill and when I set it up for her lunch, Adelaide said "just like Seth." She was perfectly right. Her friend Seth has a booster that's identical.

"Just like" is something we're hearing a ton these days along with "same as," "both same," etc. She is making lots of connections and comparisions. She'll compare color, sizes, types of things, whatever. It's kind of cool. The other night at dinner I had the hardest time figuring out what she was asking for. As I was cutting up her banana, she kept saying what I thought was "like wheel." It didn't really make sense as I was putting it on her tray. She became even more persistent so I really tried to figure it out. Then it hit me. I asked her, "do you want mom to cut it like a wheel?" She said, "yes." So I cut the banana into circular segments and she was as happy as she could be.

I mentioned that Adelaide has her ABCs memorized, well at the beginning of last month it finally hit her one day that ABCs are everywhere. They aren't just for fridge phonics. We were driving around and she said, "Car has ABCs on it." Then she started noticing them on signs, her stuffed animals, everywhere. Connections. Awesome.

A little conversation can go a long way with our kiddo. If we prep her for something, she generally does really well. Now when we leave somewhere, sometimes if I don't tell Adelaide what's going on, she'll say "don't leave me, momma." Really? Have we done that?

Adelaide is quite good at getting herself dressed. She can usually take her shoes and socks on and off and pull on her pants. What she's even better at is getting naked. There have been naptimes and bedtimes now where we've gone in to find Adelaide completely stripped. It doesn't matter if it's a full footed sleeper with snaps and zippers or buttons or if it is two separates. She can break out. One day I came into her room and upon entering she said, "I naked momma and I cold too." I guess so. We've been putting sleepers on backwards to remedy the issue. I don't want her to be cold, but I really don't want to have to change the sheets all the time.

Anyway, that's a little bit about our quirky kid. She has a very fun and strong personality already. Rocky said she even borders on bossy at times. It's such a fun age to start and see more of who she is.