this little light of mine.

Our lovely little lady hit two and a half last week.

There are a lot of things about two-and-a-half-year-old Carly that I don't want to forget.

Carly is a chatter box. She is a real talker, and she is engaging in some sort of conversation just about all the time, especially in the car. People often comment at how well and how much she talks, and she engages total strangers in conversations, filling them with information. Like last night as we walked to the MSU hockey game: "I'm Carly. And this is Rex. He is blue. And this is my mommy. And this is my daddy. I'm on his shoulders. And we're going to the hockey game!" She is a little narrator: "Mommy is sitting at the table because she is still eating dinner but daddy and Carly are all done!" She talks in much longer sentences, and I can always tell what I say a lot by what she says, like "That's cool" or she'll give one of her animals a hug and say "You're so weird!" (I say that to her in a positive way, like 'you're so silly' or something). She also uses pronouns correctly for the most part, and corrects herself if she uses the wrong tense. After the hockey game she told us "I see Sparty . . . no, I saw Sparty!" (Oh, she was absolutely obsessed with Sparty. Hardcore fascination).

She loves to color and paint. She got markers for Valentine's day and they have been a huge hit. I love that she has some sort of artistic side. It is also interesting to see how her coloring skills have progressed. She now colors specific parts of a picture a certain color on purpose. She'll say "I'm going to color his tail blue" and sure enough, she'll color the tail blue. Not that she stays in the lines, but you can look at some of the pictures she colors and see how she is purposefully coloring, rather than scribbling all over the page.

Just since Christmas it has been fun to watch her imagination explode. She makes up songs and words to songs. She plays pretend, with pretend people and pretend objects. She saves pretend animals with pretend Diego. She opens books and tells stories that go along with the pictures (and sometimes recites the actual words nearly perfectly). She also makes up dances. "Let's do the puppy dance!" she'll say and then direct me to hop, lay down, get up, march . . . whatever the puppy dance may involve (these dances are in no way pregnancy-friendly).

She loves our family. In the evenings we'll all sit on the couch and she'll say "We're all a family!" or "We're all talking." We just started "family hugs" and she will request them over and over. It is funny that our family usually includes white towel. I hope she'll be as eager to include the babies too. She also like Family Home Evening, though she wants to give the lesson, and often has a hard time listening to whatever message we're trying to get across.

She is so smart, and has a memory you wouldn't believe. I really can't believe the things she remembers. On the way to my doctor's office, we pass the exit to get to campus. As we were passing the exact exit, she looked out the window and asked, "Can we go see daddy?"

She likes to "help" and wants to be involved in everything. That makes things tricky, because you want to involve her but of course everything is way more complicated and takes longer with her help. But when she looks up at you and asks "Can I do it too, mommy?", how do you say no? I love that she has the desire to help, and hope that sticks around.

We've also hit some rough patches lately. I've heard an independent streak often happens after potty training, where kids start to test boundaries a bit more. It could also just be the fact that she's two and a half, and that's what two and a half year olds do. Either way, its been a little emotionally exhausting from time to time. Almost everything is a battle: brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, putting on socks and shoes, picking which books to read or show to watch, the arrangement of her animals in her bed when she goes to sleep . . . all are met with resistance and/or hyperventilating and panic on her part. For the most part I keep calm, talk softly, and ask her to tell me what she wants/needs. I try to get her to communicate rather than whine or freak out. But sometimes I just end up telling her to "take a chill pill", which I'm guessing is significantly less effective. She is also proving to be a little bossy when playing with other kids, and I think it is because she is used to adults understanding her perfectly, while kids to their own thing regardless of what she says. We're working on that.

Favorite foods: pasta, Italian chicken (meat!), pancakes, tomatoes, fruit, milk

Favorite snack: fruit snacks ("Dora snack!") and Cheese Its ("cheesy squares!")

Favorite books: Green Eggs and Ham, Go Dog Go, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Bunny My Honey

Favorite shows: Bubble Guppies, Dora, Max and Ruby, Olivia . . . and The Voice ("more singers!")

Favorite movies: she's in a Mulan and Balto phase right now

Favorite songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, I am a Child of God (she knows all the words, its too sweet), Book of Mormon Stories, Old McDonald

She doesn't like me to do her hair. "Just a clip" she tells me every morning.

She still has to wear a dress every day.

Her greatest fears appear to be bats, owls, and ghosts. We can blame Halloween for that. At the zoo, an owl starting 'hoo-ing' really loud and she was not a fan. And I often overhear her telling her stuffed animals "Its ok, there are no owls and no ghosts."

She says really funny things:

When we show her a picture of her as a baby, we always say "This is you when you were a baby." One day we were looking at pictures of animals and she pointed to a hippo and told me, "This is you when you were a hippo." Oh, my gosh I was laughing so hard she asked me what was wrong.

During one of my migraines she asked what was wrong. I told her "I have a really bad owie on my head." She pointed to a zit on my forehead and said, "Yeah, it's right there."

But she also says very sweet things. She often tells me "You look so beautiful!".

She's a little quirky:

We have this 'how to get organized' book that she loves and calls it her book, and I've tucked her in for several naps and she lays in bed and looks at the book (there are no pictures, mind you). She loves pens and pads of paper, and walks around writing so you feel like you're under review. She loves the tape measure. 

She goes to bed with an insane number of animals. We try to sneak up and put some away, but she'll take one look at her bed and ask "Where's dolly? Where's Bunny?" Girl, there are 15 animals in your bed, how did you notice the 2 I took out? She positions them very specifically, and sometimes leaves very little room for herself. I don't know how she sleeps in such crowded quarters.

Of course, she still loves white towel. The thing is getting ragged, as she recently developed the habit of pulling on the individual strings. We've had to give towel many "haircuts", and we worry about how much long it will last. But even when it is in shreds I'll keep it forever. It has been her comfort and her friend, regardless of how strange that may be.

She has a heart of gold. 

She wraps her arms around us and says "I love you soooo much."

She gives kisses when there's an owie.

She has even wiped away my tears.

Our time as a family of three is ticking down, and to be honest, it hurts my heart. The babies will add so much to our family, but we've had a wonderful two and a half years being just the three of us, and it will be difficult to let that dynamic go. 

I love this girl so much. 

She taught me to be a mother, and continues to teach me every day.

She is just a shining light.

And I'm so grateful she's ours.