24 months

Since I have been so delinquent about blogging (work just really has gotten in the way lately), this is going to be really long. Don't feel obligated to read it, I just needed some kind of record that Erin and I both existed and did interact over the last 2 months. Matt and I have had a few really busy months with long hours, lots of call and a few work trips sprinkled in. Gramma Beth came to help out for 3 weeks in April. Between the contributions of Gramma Beth, Jan, Dean and Laura, our house has kept running. So thank you so much and here's hoping for less busy times! Updating the blog has been on the to do list for a while, but recently I've started getting nasty emails, so here goes...

At some time in the last 2 months, Erin has really turned into a little girl. It is so much fun to see her mature and be able to express complex ideas. When she is relaxed and happy, we are treated to a constant monologue of Erin’s thoughts. She describes the cars and their colors as they drive by, she talks about things that happened “yesterday” which of course might have happened yesterday or last month, or she will recite songs or her favorite books to us. It is delightful.

Erin was thrilled about her birthday. After Matt’s birthday in April, she spent a lot of time pretending to have “Happy birthday parties” for her dolls and herself. She would spread out her blanket on the floor, bring over the tea set and hand out bowls filled with her play food to all of those who were there. She wasn’t picky about food for these parties and you were as likely to end up with a bowl of onion as anything yummier. Often she would declare that it was a “Happy birthday party for Dando.” One day I asked how old Dando was going to be. She thought for a second before answering, “Three minutes!”

During the week leading up to her birthday, Erin let us know that she would like cupcakes with pink frosting, ice cream (because it’s COLD!) and a pink tricycle. We managed to grant her most of her wishes and when she saw her tricycle was red, blue and yellow instead of pink, she didn’t seem to mind.

She has been fixated on “when Erin is a big girl.” Before her birthday she told us that “Erin ride a yellow bike when she is a big girl.” She also thinks that “Erin will put her pee and poop in the potty when she is a big girl,” and “Erin wear pretty undies when she is a big girl.” I keep assuring her than she can be a big girl with respect to potty training any time she would like, but she’s less than convinced.

Erin absolutely loves her trike and spends a lot of time talking about it and trying to convince me to let her ride it inside. I told her trikes were for outside. She accepted this for a minute before asking me with a twinkle in her eye, “Ride bicycle inside?” Nice try. We got a trike that has a push/steering bar on the back which is wonderful. We’re still working on pushing the pedals as her feet don’t automatically “go around and around and around and around” when the trike moves. She’s getting better and will repeat “this is how the big girls do it!” over and over again as we ride.

She is getting more sophisticated in her reasoning and doesn’t usually take no for an answer. We were driving home from the doctors last week and she asked to eat some Puffins in the car. I told her no, we would wait until we got home to have a snack. She paused and then told me “Erin ate Puffins in the car yesterday!” Hmm… I still said no, it would be messy. To this, she replied, “Erin won’t make a mess.” My goodness, I’m going to have my hands full soon enough.

Erin has endless self confidence and has no qualms about telling people about it. She’ll tell you she is a good cooker, runner, reader and that she is a “very fast runner.” When she is running, she’ll often turn around and command those following her to exclaim “look at her run,” “look how fast she runs.” She appreciates this and is even happier if you start each phrase with “WHOA!”

She is in love with exclamations. Her favorite is “whoa” but she also enjoys “wow,” “oh baby,” “whee,” “whoop-a-ding-dong!” Without fail, she’ll say “whoa” emphatically whenever she sees a truck or a bus or something that really impresses her. She also gets really excited and loud when telling people that something is cold.

We went to Madison last weekend with Jan and Dean for Muggy’s graduation and saw Gramma Beth, Ken, Papa Joe and Jeannette, Jan and Andy. Erin had a blast getting attention from that many doting adults. She is still quiet and reserved in new situations and with new people, but seems to get comfortably pretty quickly. It still seems to take her longer to warm up to men, and as such, Uncle Andy and Paul’s dad, Ron only got “a pat-pat,” when we were leaving. In fact, she specifically told me “no kiss for Ron.” Awww, poor Ron missed out on Erin’s specialty: very soggy kisses right on the lips.

Erin was a trooper in the car and was generally happy to have snacks and read books. She has had a resurgence in reading lately and loves to look at books. Before she was only happy to have us read them to her, but now we often find her snuggled up on the couch, or in Duncan’s kennel, looking at a stack of books. She can recite many of these books to us now and will correct us if we misspeak or miss a word. I also finally gave in and let her take a book to bed with her. I have to say that there aren’t that many or Erin’s traits that come from me, but I am pretty sure that her love of staying up to late while reading a book in bed is pure Lee girl.

Even before the books in bed, Erin has taken a long time to fall asleep. The good news is that she requires nothing from us after we put her down, but the bad news is that she often stays up singing and talking to herself for an hour or more after we put her down. Initially, I tried to shift her bed time and naps around, but none of that made much difference. And since she is so happy while in bed singing and seems generally well rested otherwise, I’ve just let this go.

Erin has gotten very interested in singing and nursery rhymes. She goes with Dean to the library every Wednesday for story time. I’m told that she doesn’t do a lot of singing there, but loves to do the hand motions when other people sing. She also loves to command singing at home or in the car. She’s even happier when we make up songs about her toys and blankets. I have to say that I’m not very creative and most of them are set to the tune of “I wish I were a little bar of soap,” but for now she seems happy with my unsophisticated attempts at music.

We had Erin’s 2 year check up last week and it went great. She is still tall and lean (~90% for height and ~50% for weight with a whopping 20% for BMI). She got 2 booster shots and blood drawn and did not shed a tear. This is not to say that she wasn’t surprised and upset by her pokes, but she recovered very quickly and loved her stickers. She got a princess sticker and a pony sticker. So far, the princess craze is lost on her, and she told me later that she got “a sticker of a pony and a sticker of a girl.” She is also still talking about her “little owies” from the doctors.

Erin is working on a pretty good sense of humor. She loves to be teased, which is either genetic or a defense mechanism for dealing with her Grampa Dean. She loves to tell us that the doggy in the book is a kitten and wait for our reaction, she loves to tell people that they are silly or a "teaser-beazer." She also says things that are funny without actually meaning to. Our recent favorite is when she was wearing a dress, she said "Erin has some no pants on!"

She has been very interested in letters and numbers recently. She will count up to 20 pretty well (15 and 16 really shouldn’t be numbers after all) and she will recite her ABCs. Even better, she will spell her name “E-R-I-N, Erin!” and actually recognizes most of her letters. She will tell you that “C is for cow,” “M is for Matty and Mama,” and “F is for Frances!” She loves to pick out letters she recognizes in books and signs, but is still convinced that most words that have an E and and R probably spell Erin.

We’re still having a few tantrums, but usually they are small and short lived. She is beginning to master the art of whining, which I’m not thrilled about, and is working on how to deal with frustration. Aside from tantrums, her most consistent overt expression of frustration is throwing. It is still pretty wimpy and she doesn’t actually throw things at people so I’m happy. She also hasn’t really gotten the idea of hitting people. She’ll swing her arms wildly when she’s unhappy, but mostly she ends up hitting walls.

Erin is going to be starting daycare at the beginning of June and she’ll already tell you “Erin go to school this summer!” She’s not that sure of what this will entail, but tells us that “Erin will have a teacher,” and “Erin go down the slide at school, Whee!” I’m a little aprehensive about how well this will go over. It’s hard for me to imagine her spending her days with people who are not genetically programed to love and adore her, but I’m sure that it will be just fine. I am also sure that our healthy streak is about to come to an end. It was nice while it lasted!