The Amazing Leslie

I made the mistake of posting pictures last but I am not going to move them all to the end because I am lazy.

2t tights, I guess she will have to grow into them

Can I just say that I have an awesome little girl living in my apartment? Some days I wonder where she comes from and where my baby girl went.

* Leslie started nursery officially in June, on my birthday. Greatest present ever! We have never heard a complaint from her and never had to go in. One of the nursery leaders even told me that she is a very well behaved child. For the most part I do agree.

*Leslie no longer needs a pacifier! We weaned her a few weeks after moving into our apartment. One day she was throwing a tantrum so I took scissors and cut off her pacifier in half. After I did it I stood in shock of what I had actually done. It was so sad when she tried to put the plastic in her mouth but there was no binky to grasp in her mouth. Many people assured us that it only took three nights, so we figured okay, we can do this. They were WRONG! It took one week give or take a day.Plus going to bed or naps was not as easy has it had previously been, however after about a month we have figured out a good routine and some days I even think about changing everything again and putting her in a toddler bed.

*Leslie likes to pray with us, well most of the time. I forget how much these kid's little minds soak up. After a story at night( or several if she gets her way) we ask her if she wants to pray, she says no usually, because she knows that is the last thing we do before we turn off the light and leave her for the night. So we obviously ignore her comment and get on our knees , fold our arms and pray anyway. Eventually we peak and see her then get on her knees, fold her arms and start mumbling with us in prayer. She even started saying Amen again. She went through this phase of saying All Done at the end.

* Leslie is fading out naps! Leslie no longer takes a nap everyday.Yuck! In fact the doctor told me that some children are completely done with naps by this age, every child is different of course, but that I shouldn't force them to take one. (Umm....it's time to switch doctor's huh?). It started with a Sunday when she only took a 30 minute nap after church and the next day I put her in her crib, with books and some toys to entertain her till she falls asleep but after two hours I could still hear her. Actually for a majority of those two hours all I heard from her room after about a few minutes of crying was " Mooooooommmmmmyyyyy, mommy, mommy" over, over and over again. I actually wanted to video tape it but was afraid she would hear me and start crying. In panic I called my mother and to reassure myself that Leslie was much TOO YOUNG to give up naps and she agreed. However, later that week she only took a nap every other day! Since then she goes without a nap at least once a week. My mother always made us have quiet time, at preschool I was forced to lay down for 20 minutes and in kindergarten I was forced to take naps( I never fell asleep at school) so therefore Leslie has her daily quiet time. I put her in her room for at least two hours and if she sings and reads books to herself the whole time so be it. It's really not doing any damage and its a necessity for my sanity.

* Leslie is becoming a Disney groupie. When we moved we watched Tangled at least once a day for a month! She calls it "horse" movie. Now she loves Cinderella(Rella), Snow White(White or babies( she calls the dwarfs babies) and 101 Dalmatians(dog). It has been nice to have more variety. We were given about 15 Disney VHS by a friend of mine and she has watched them all and occasionally will ask for Robin Hood or others so I am glad that she is over her Tangled phase. I hear horror stories of kids being obsessed with movies and liked Tangled too much to be sick of it.

* Leslie loves to color. Some times she is so content just drawing in her notepads, she always prefers someone to do it with her of course. On occasion she has decided her artwork is much too good to not color on other canvas, such as the wall and grandma's couch. I think after both experiences she learned her lesson that crayons are for paper. However she loves to doodle in my planner(yikes) and with my sewing pencils.

*Leslie likes to dance, but is too embarrassed to dance alone. If someone dances in a movie she dances with them and tries to imitate them, its cute.

*Leslie likes to pick her own bows and clothes and shoes. She gets really excited to wear Sunday shoes and fancy socks or tights. In fact she is so big she tells me what she wants to do all the time. She has an opinion on EVERYTHING so I have learned I need to give her options but be really excited and animated about the choice I want her to pick.

*Leslie loves her babies and purses. She can usually be seen walking around the house with at least one purse slung across her shoulder and a baby in one arm. She loves rocking babies, having them tucked in with her at night and pushing them around in her little stroller. Often she will do this while talking on her cell phone.

* Leslie likes to go places. When we mention that we are going somewhere she is ready to go, that minute and if you aren't then you have a cranky girl on your hands until you are all out the door and she insists on all of us going out together, no family member left behind. When we first moved and I was busy unpacking and cleaning and sorting( apparently there is a lot of that after having stuff in storage for 1.5 years) she would look at me, give me shoes and a purse and say bye, and if I got side tracked and put the purse down , oh boy, watch out because Leslie knew that meant you were not leaving. Now we are getting into a routine and having play dates and spending time outside enjoying the nice weather so she doesn't have to remind me that we should go bye.

* Leslie loves her friends.She gets so excited when we mention certain little people's names.Of course if we mention their name and she doesn't seem them soon the situation becomes a little unpleasant but its so fun to see her face light up when she gets to see her" long long friends.

* Leslie loves animals and making their noises. I think Baby Einstein started this little obsession. She knows animals sounds but recently has decided to say the animals name in a high pitched voice rather than making a funny noise. It's pretty funny to hear.

*Leslie wanted to go potty. Leslie is a typical little child who likes to follow people to the bathroom. She then likes to wipe herself also front and back and throw it in the toilet. For a while she would tell me she was stinky, and sometimes bring me her potty seat so she could go potty too. Umm.... sounds like someone might be ready huh? No...we tried one morning and when she peed herself and did not care I said okay lets try this in a few months. Once the 400 diapers run out I bought last month, we will give it another whirl. She really did want to wear the big girl panties.