A little bit of Carly, at 2 years 4 months

Carly is a chatterbox. She talks a lot. The other night the three of us were just sitting on the couch before she went up for her bath and she was just talking away. It is fun to hear what comes out of her mouth. I'm always so curious what goes on in that brain. She likes to inform strangers. An encounter at the store often goes "I'm Carly. And this is my white towel. And this is my [insert color] dress. And that's my mommy. And this is my pretty hair." The stranger is usually pretty shocked by so much info coming so fast, but it cracks me up every time. If asked, she will also inform you that there are "two babies in mommy's tummy. A boy baby and a girl baby." Though, the other night someone asked her how many babies were in mommy's tummy and she confidently replied "Four!" Thank goodness she's not right.

She is getting a little harder. She is more opinionated, but I feel like she can't quite express her opinions as clearly as she'd like, and I get a lot of "No!" and whining and refusing to do what I ask or suggest. Her wardrobe is one battle, and her coat is another. She does not like wearing a coat. This morning we had a 10 minute stand-off before church over the coat. I won in the end. I don't see a coat as something that can be compromised, given how the temperatures have dropped. But it drives me insane. She also has zero patience. I mean, she decides she wants milk and it is: "Mommy! I need milk! I need milk! I need milk!" We're working on her asking nicely and being patient, but patience has never been her strong point (but is any 2-year-old that patient?).

Carly is not particularly good at playing with other kids. She really just plays around them, and sometimes it makes me worry a little. I know she will learn, and having two little siblings will help that a lot. She is just so used to playing with adults, with us and aunts and uncles and grandparents. And adults listen to her and do what she says, while kids, obviously, don't. I think she doesn't get why the kids don't interact with her the way adults do. But I've seen sparks of interest in other kids here and there, so I'm sure it will get better eventually.

[chilling at library story time.]

The big girl bed? She is a pro. Napping and sleeping at nights with no problem. And she calls for me in the morning and waits for me to tell her she can get out. Most of the time we still put her in, just like we did with her crib. But sometimes she climbs in all by herself and gets under her covers, and it just pricks my heart with how big she is.

She loves painting. Like, really loves painting. Right now we paint on the floor, but I'm really excited for the present we got her so we don't have to do that any more (and my back is excited, too). She likes to build with blocks, and loves the tinkertoys at Chris's parents house. She still loves all her stuffed friends and sleeps with a whole posse of them in her bed. She still loves towel, and Red Baron is still her BFF. She loves Family Home Evening and often says "let's play home evening!", which means she gets out her nursery book and shows me pictures and tells me what they are: "this is the kids . . . this is a big temple . . . this is Jesus . . . this is Joseph Smith . . . this is a family . . ." She is a ridiculous daddy's girl. It is painful sometimes. She will be Mr. Hyde with me and as soon as she is with daddy it is all Dr. Jekyll. Chris always jokes that he thinks I'm making it up. It drives me nuts sometimes, but at least I get some peace when she's with daddy :).

She remembers everything. Some afternoons she asks to "play balls" or "play with the green ball", two games that take a whole lot of energy. If I can't manage it, I'll tell her she can play when daddy gets home. Hours later, daddy comes home and the first thing out of her mouth is "Time to play with the green ball!" She also talked to her uncle and aunt a month or so ago on the phone for a minute. The last time we saw them was in Oregon, and Carly asked Aunt Kasee, "Are you playing in the sand?" I couldn't believe she still remembered that. She is not going to be one of those kids I say something to in hopes of her forgetting it.

[very serious about the orange ball at our beloved dollar store.]

I do love how communicative she is. It is fun to be able to have a conversation with her. And she says some things that crack me up. So of course, some of her greatest hits:

Me: "Who says Ho Ho Ho?"
Carly: "The pirates!" (get it? they say "yo ho ho". smart girl.)
~
Chris locked his keys in his car one night so we had to go up to campus with the spare. I told Carly we had to go help daddy, and during the drive she kept saying "I need to go rescue my daddy!"
~
We told her it was time to set up the Christmas tree. She put her little pointer finger in the air (which she does when she is being very serious) and said, "But first, we need . . . decorations!"
~
She is actually really good at sequences. She will often say "First, we need to ___, and then we will ____." It is obvious I do that a lot with her.
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She was telling me a story and started off "Once upon a time, there was a mystic dragon . . . " I said "A mystic dragon?" And she said "Yeah! A mystic dragon" very seriously. I have no idea where she got mystic from. Probably Dora.
~
Another story started off "Once upon a time there was a mean mommy wolf, and she was sad!" I said, "Maybe she is sad because she needs a hug." Carly said ok, and came and gave me a hug. Does that mean I'm the mean mommy wolf? Haha!
~
We were folding laundry and she pulled Chris's pants out of the basket. "It's daddy's pants! I'm going to take daddy his pants," she said. I told her, "But daddy is at school." She replied, "But, I think he needs his pants." Very true, he does need his pants.
~
Same laundry folding party, and she holds up my undies. "What's this?" she asked. "That's mommy's underwear," I said. She replied, "To keep you snug and warm." Yes, I suppose so.
~
She has become very bashful about "doing her business" and prefers to be alone when doing so. She will go into another room and if I follow her in, she will put up her hand and say "Stop! You go in the other one room!" And if we're in public she'll go hide in a corner and do the same thing: "Stop! You go over there!"
~
And my very favorite of all.
I was giving her a big hug and I said "I love you more than the sun and the moon and the stars." She replied, "I love you more than the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets." Brilliant and sweet.

[such a crazy beauty.]

More than anything, Carly is pure joy to be around. She is full of life and goes at full speed. She has the sweetest nature. I've been increasingly excited to see how she will be with the babies. I like that she'll be a little "older" (if two and a half is really that old) when they are born, because I think she understands a little bit more than if she were younger. The other day at playgroup she was rocking a baby in her carseat and making faces at her and laughing, and the baby just had this big smile on her face the whole time. There will be challenges, but I think Carly's fun personality and naturally sweet and loving spirit will serve her well as the big sister of twins. It is obvious to me that she was specifically designed to be perfect for such a task. Every day I just can't get over her. Even when she makes me want to explode with frustration, I am just so grateful for our days together, and for the opportunity to watch her learn and grow and turn into this big little girl that we are so incredibly proud of.

For the record, we love her a lot.