Fun

Yikes- a month since the last post. Well after she got over being sick (from the last post) we had a solid three weeks of fun and then WHAM she was sick again. This one out of the blue and ended up being a double ear infection and possible pneumonia. It was scary going to the quick clinic only to have them say we needed to go to urgent care because her oxygen was low. Thankfully she's a trooper and is great at taking medicine so with a week of staying home and resting, she's back to her old spunky self. 

Actually, she's better than ever. We are having SO much fun right now. She talks up a storm, sings, dances, and always wants to be doing something. She loves the playground, throwing balls and rocks, digging in the dirt (this weekend she discovered worms and now each night since we have to go out and dig up some dirt to find a worm to examine), and is developing a great sense of humor.

She is also very close to being potty trained. She's better at it at school than home, but she has undies now and she loves wearing them. 

We had her spring "conference" last Friday and they said she knows all her colors, loves music and Spanish class, really gets into art and has great fine motor skills, and loves loves books.

The whining/crying over people in her space is improving so that's good news. She certainly tries the fake whiny cry at home and every now and then she digs in her heels with NO! But for the most part she's really very good and shows lots of love. We end each day with our nighttime routine of singing some songs and then saying "good night, love you, see you in the morning". Hearing her say that makes me smile no matter what...it's so stinking cute in her little cartoon voice.

Two

Dear Frannie,

You are now two. As I'm sure I will say in every year to come- this year was even better than the last and I can't believe how fast it went. You've gotten so big...24 pounds and 34 inches tall. And you are cuter by the minute. Now that you can talk (and sing) your personality is starting to really shine through. You are so full of life and spunk. Constantly on the move and always asking, "What's that?" You keep us on our toes and amaze us daily. Your smile is so genuine and pure and full of joy and I love to make you laugh. Caring and sensitive, you worry and are sad when anyone is crying and as of recently, you also are showing your stubborn, strong willed side. I've always said I wanted you to become a strong, independent woman- and you are on your way. You are the light if my life and anytime I think of the not so great stuff that may be happening, I remind myself how unbelievably lucky we are to have you. Thinking of you makes my day brighter. I love you!

Happy birthday......

Spring Break

This year's spring break happens to fall the week of Frannie turning two. Never too early to start celebrating the birth "week" rather than day. And it also just so happened that this week was also actually spring-like in regards to the weather. SO NICE OUT. Others may say this sounds crazy, but any temp over 30 feels balmy here right now and it's been in the 50's several days which is pert-near hot.

We have been outside daily building a snowman (which has already melted), walking and splashing in puddles, playing on the playground, sledding, and visiting the "farm" in Hayward. Frannie has figured out she loves eating snow, she can climb the stairs of the tall twisty slide by herself, she demands underdogs on the swing, and she likes going fast on the sled (but does not like snow in her face). 

Two of my favorite comments of the day were....

1- When we were at dads putting up the hoop greenhouse, Frannie wanted to go into the garden. When we got in (the beds still have some snow on them), she asked "Eat?" because the last time we were in there we could pick something and eat it. She walked over to the blueberry bushes and was so perplexed (and ticked) that there wasn't food there just waiting for her. So she settled for eating some snow off the bed where the carrots used to be.

2- There was a ladybug (Asian beetle) on the floor at dads which Frannie immediately shrieked Yucky! and stayed away from. Once I touched it and said it was ok, she got right down by it and gently nudged it along. It was walking away from her so she got her face down right next to it on the floor and whispered, "Turn around". Priceless.

What a great week it has been. We celebrated with Meme and Boppa and tomorrow Grandma Joy comes to go to the zoo. Sunday we celebrate with friends at the playground with cupcakes. 

A recap of that and my ode to Frannie at 2 to come shortly.....

Music

"Bass. Bass. No treble" This is what Frannie was repeating over and over this morning on our way to school. I asked if she was singing the "All about that bass" song. "Yeah". So I played it on my phone twice til we got to school.

She turns on the radio and dances around the house and loves holding our hands for Ring around the rosy and then we all fall down. And tonight she took out her keyboard and turned on a beat and started "playing" piano. She has even started playing her harmonica which is hilarious. 

After I put her to bed each night she'll sing something along with her talking...twinkle twinkle little star is the current favorite. 

Little Person

She's a little person. As in, we can have conversations, she can tell me what she needs and how she feels, and she can understand "if this, then this" (to a certain degree). It's awesome. She runs around the house talking, singing, and dancing, and when she goes to bed she lays in bed talking and singing to herself anywhere from 5-30 minutes. Her body and/or mouth is in constant motion.

I LOVE the new room she's in at school. They do more learning types of activities and with a smaller class and older kids, the teacher can process with her if she tried to do her little fit - which they (as it so happens) have stopped now that she's with older kids. She came home with this matching puzzle game thing and she did it; matching the shapes to their shadow. So cool to see and also was a great reminder how I could never homeschool her because it wouldn't have occurred to me to do that with her right now.....I'd be more likely to say,"let's go to Barnes and Noble for coffee".

She is still into counting and now she is naming everything's color. She gets better at this daily. Everything used to be blue or orange but now she can pretty much accurately name the right color. She can be quite the stubborn one though. This morning she pointed to a green basket and said blue and I'd correct her with green to which she'd repeatedly say "blue" until I just give up.

I just got rid of 5 or 6 pairs of pants cause they were too short. She took a 4.5 hour nap the other day (unheard of!) which I think was so she could grow another inch. She's reaching doorknobs and turning them now, where she wasn't even close before.

We had a fun Super Bowl at home. The three of us ate snacks and watched the game. She's really good at eating stuff we eat and she's a big fan of our homemade popcorn.

Well I thought the playing with toys would be the next post and don't get me wrong, it's so much fun to watch her play and learn, but there's something much more surprising now and that's NO. No Mama, no Daddy, no Foxy. And more often than not, it's usually yelled with hand gestures. Thankfully, it's really not bad or all the time but teaching sharing and saying things nicely is a high priority around here.

"What's that?" is the other favorite phrase of the moment. Also "What's (name of person) doing?" Listening to her make sentences and put ideas together blows me away daily. She is even counting forward and backward and in Spanish. I was in the kitchen listening to her talk and sing to herself in the living room and as I listened closer I watched her lining up her toys and counting each one. Then later she was running around the house counting to ten in Spanish. That's insane.

She was moved to the older toddler room recently because she was getting irritated with the younger kids messing with her stuff in the other toddler room. She apparently would cry to get out and "go for a walk" and then would try to go into the three year old room or sit in the principals office reading or coloring. Now that she's with the older kids, she's much happier.

She's still really into music and books. She loves dancing and is doing more pretend play with her dolls and toys. Last week she had a double ear infection so that really stunk (for all of us) but she's back to her spunky self now-even though Brian and I have her cold now.

Holidays

What a great holiday we had! It looked a bit sketchy at first as actual Christmas found Frannie with the flu, an ear infection, and teething her top canines, but with antibiotics things improved quickly. We saw Grandma Joy on Christmas Eve Day and Frannie was able to meet her cousins Tony and Diane, along with three new dogs including a boxer named Tiny who was three times her size.

We hung out as a family Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Opening presents was so fun this year. She really took her time and after opening each gift she'd play with whatever it was before moving to the next one. We took a break to make blueberry pancakes, which Frannie LOVED helping with. Then to get out of the house we went to Bentleyville again to see the lights.

Friday Frannie, Maymay, and I drove to Dwight where we stayed til Tuesday afternoon. Frannie was a great traveler. We got to see "Bikkee", Meg, the "Bret's", Beth, Val and Buzzy, and the highlight of picking and dropping off Booboo at the train. 

We stayed in Hayward a couple days to play with Boppa and Maymay and then came home Friday to relax. Although we got here and the furnace had stopped working so the pipes partially froze. Thankfully everything was fixed by 7 that night so we were actually able to enjoy the weekend.

Next post-watching her play with her new toys....amazing.....