Rose: 2 years, 2 months in a "Tutu"

Here is what this "big girl" has been up to lately:  

Learning her Letters
We have been teaching Rose her letters for a while now. She knows almost half of them and here they are in the order she learned them: J, I, R (which she calls Rose), S, O, A, B, E,and H. We started with her magnets on the fridge and now she uses her wooden blocks she got for Christmas.

Pretty Princess
Rose loves anything to do with princesses. She loves watching the shows, reading the books, and dressing up in all her "prettys." She is getting good at singing the songs: "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream", "I'm wishing, hahaha", etc. She always calls Cinderella, Cinderelly just like the mice, and is always very concerned about Belle's papa.

Big Helper
Rose loves to help. She wants to be involved in what you are doing and have an assignment. She especially likes helping to wash the dishes, so I pull up a chair and she gets one sink and I get the other. She likes helping make the food. She'll either tear up the lettuce for a salad, put something in a bowl after it's been chopped, or mix and mix (or as she says "bate, bate, chocolate" - from Dora). And whenever Lucy needs a diaper change, Rose gets the diapers and wipes as fast as her little legs can carry her.

Talking it Through
Rosie hates diaper changes and getting dressed. So Daddy has been using some special methods to help her through these hard times. Whenever it's time to put new clothes on, Andrew puts her clothes on his head and says, "is this Daddy's shirt?" She lowers her brow, takes a step forward, points her finger and emphatically says "No Daddy. Silly. Those are Rose."  And then she takes them back and is willing to get dressed. He also tells her when it's diaper time that "Lucy is a baby, so she doesn't know how to take off her diaper, but Rose is a big girl so she knows how." She loves that and repeats it five times while taking her own diaper off. Again, then she is more willing to get a new one put on her.

Picks Up on Everything
Lately Rose has been trying out some of the terms of endearment Andrew and I use for each other. She will come up to us and ask so innocently, "What you doing, sweetheart?" or if she knows I need something from Andrew who is another room, she will yell, "Honey!" It is so cute. She also has been picking up on when one of us (OK just me) is having a hard time. If I'm worried or crying a little she will come up to me, pat my on the knee and say, "It's OK honey, be happy." She obviously has been observing Andrew's comforting tactics for some time now and has become the expert because it only takes one or two of her pleas and I've forgotten my trouble or start laughing at how adorable she can be.

Food
We've finally got her drinking her morning and nightly milk in a sippy cup rather than a bottle. We just had to make sure it was a princess sippy cup and everything was fine. She can be pretty picky about food and really has a hard time eating anywhere but our own house, mostly because she is too distracted with the excitement around her. Eating has always been more like an optional thing, unlike most of us who view it as a necessity and a pleasure. The foods she really likes right now are: baked potatoes with lots of sour cream, goldfish, strawberries, pizza, yogurt, nuts, oatmeal, tacos, cheese, apples, CANDY, sausage, savory bread, mac n cheese, spaghetti, and lots and lots of juice. We're working on veggies, but so far they are a big "No!" right now.

Big Sister
Rosie loves her sister. She loves bossing her around, she loves tickling her, and she loves rolling all over her. Sometimes their play gets pretty rough, and Rose will knock Lucy over, or sit on her tummy while she is lying down. Lucy is tough and rarely cries. She just laughs through it, even when we are reminding Rose to "Be soft with Lucy." The big thing, though, is that if Lucy has a toy, Rose wants it bad. So we are still working on a lot of sharing issues especially because Lucy is already noticing when her prized chew toy has been taken away. But most of the time, they have way too much fun. Rose especially likes getting Lucy riled up until they are both laughing so hard that they can barely breathe. And now that Lucy is eating little puffs, Rosie loves putting them in her mouth one by one. She is already a little Mommy in the making.