2.5 years...now & then!

It’s so hard for me to believe that my little baby is already 2 ½ years old.  What?  How does it happen so fast?  In the last 2 ½ years, Dafney has learned, grown {both physically AND mentally}, changed and become a {mostly} sweet little girl.  I look back at pictures of her from when she was just an itty bitty baby and I cry I can’t believe that she was that small.  Whoa.  Seriously.

Dafney has learned so much since moving to the Discovery Toddler room at daycare.  She moved to that room over a year ago and learns something new on a daily basis.  It’s truly amazing.  By the age of 2, she knew her ABC’s, could count to 10 in both English AND Spanish, knew all sorts of kiddo songs and was speaking in 2-3 word sentences {phrases}. 

 Now, she sings her ABC’s perfectly, can basically count to 20 {sometimes she forgets one of the upper teen numbers}, counts fluently to 10 in Spanish {or Española as she corrects me when I say “Spanish”}, can speak in 4-6 word sentences, knows a few non-kiddo songs {i.e. One Directions “Story of My Life”} and SO much more.  I just love watching her grow and learn.  She’s curious and asks A LOT of questions and has a crazy good memory.  Seriously, she remembers EVERYTHING and will remember for days/weeks.  She’s learning the Minnesota Gopher Rouser; we’re working on spelling out MINNESOTA – she’s getting there!

 Dafney LOVES playing with all her babies, which all have names {Maya, Laylo, Maggie, Eda, Robin, Puppy, Marcus...she’ll be VERY upset if you forget one of their names}.  She changes their diapers, puts on their sunscreen, takes them for walks, reads to them, feeds them and puts them to sleep.  It’s pretty adorable…and it allows me to get some things done around the house – BONUS!

When she’s not playing with her many babies, she’s probably outside riding her bike or begging us to take her to the park.  We try to fit in a couple park visits each week to keep her happy! 

All in all, it’s been an amazing 2 ½ years and I know the next years will be equally amazing, and probably fly by even faster than these first 2 did.

 Other Dafney Stats:

Height – not sure, but probably around 34-35 inches

Weight – around 22.5lbs…she’s a teeny little thing

Pants/Shorts – this is a bit tricky…12 month pants/shorts fit her best in the waist, where 18-24 month pants/shorts fit her better in length.  I’ve even been known to throw on some 9 month pants and call ‘em Capris….don’t judge.

Shirts – 24 months/2T is what she mostly wears

Dresses – 2T

Shoes –size 5, I’m afraid she’s going to have annoyingly small feet like her Mother!

I asked Dafney what a few of her favorites were and here were her answers:

Favorite Toys: bike(s), babies, strollers/wagons and her kitchen set

Favorite Color: "I like Pink" {however, this changes from day to dya}

Favorite Food: Pizza, although she can eat her way through a plate of chicken like no other!

Favorite Stuffed Animal: this usually changes on a day to day basis.  Some days it’s her Hello Kitty, Dora or “baby”...today it was her Frog

Favorite Song: Story of My Life...ha, she's 2 going on 13 :)

Favorite School Friend: tie between her buddies Oscar and Oliver – seriously, they are the cutest together!

Favorite Sport: running...although she does like to watch Basketball {her Dad has trained her well}

Favorite Book:  Back and Forth...otherwise known as I'll Love you Forever.  She also likes "the Monster Book", which is a cute book we got at the library months ago and she STILL talks about it!  And, her newest favorite

Newest Trick – riding her bike…fun to see her be able to pedal around the driveway and sidewalk!

Sleep – usually it’s pretty good!  She tends to go to bed around 8:30pm and we wake her at 6:30am M-F {YIKES…she’s NOT a morning person} and she tends to get up around 8:30-9am on the weekends {a parent’s DREAM}!

The things that come out of her mouth:

{pointing to a larger} "oh my, he's SO big" {I literally wanted to crawl under the table} ~ {pointing to lady in wheelchair} "look, she's on her bike} ~ "Hannah is my brother", or "I want a brother"

Even though she sometimes acts like and wants us to treat her like a "baby", she's really growing up to be such a sweet, smart, funny, kind-hearted little girl.  She melts my heart on a daily basis and is constantly reminding me the meaning of "unconditional love".  Her sweet kisses, hugs and "I love you's" are the best things in the world!  Even though she continues to grow, she will always be my "baby'!

I love you, sweet Dafney!

Latte with Leah #5

Hello Monday!  Hard to believe it’s already JUNE.  Seriously, half the year is almost over…how is that even possible?  It seems like yesterday was just New Year’s Day. 

Alright, you know the drill – grab your favorite drink and let’s get this party started!

-   ~ Summer is officially 20 days away!  And though I've been working out for on a pretty routine basis the past few months, I’m not anywhere near beach ready.  After some thought, I figured that my eating habits might not be quite on par for achieving that dream beach figure.  So, this month, I've decided that I’d like to exchange one meal a day for a nice, healthy, veg-i-fied salad!  I know that it won’t be possible every day, but I’m shooting for 5 days out of the week.  Last night I made a nice, healthy grilled chicken Asian salad and it was so tasty!  

   

   

  

I    I didn't miss the heavy meal and actually felt quite full afterwards.  It was chalk full of grilled chicken and veggies and a really tasty    Asian Vinaigrette.  Perfect for a hot summer day!  I've also had my eye on all of these salads, too.

-   ~ Speaking of summer figure…I’m also participating in this ab challenge.  It started June 1^st and runs the whole month of June.  It starts off pretty easy {especially since I've been working out on a regular basis for a few months}, but it definitely builds up and will certainly be a fun challenge!  Abs of steel…here I come!

-   ~ Over the weekend, we visited another park on #ourparktour2014!  Actually, it’s technically not a “new” park as it’s part of the Nokomis Lake Parks, but it’s one we’d never visited.  It’s fairly small, but it’s nice and shaded!  There were only a couple of other people there so we practically had the playgrounds to ourselves.  There are 2 separate playgrounds, but they’re almost identical.  Of course, the main attraction for Dafney were the swings!  She loves them!

  

  

     She did enjoy climbing and sliding, too, but she mainly hung out on  the swings.  

       

                             

     

     Afterwards, we biked to Carbone’s for some lunch.  Though I've  had their pizza before, I never remember it being as good as it was  Saturday!  Dafney and I shared a pepperoni/green pepper pizza,  while the Hubby ate a sausage/mushroom pizza!  We even were  able to hit up a multi-family yard sale on our way home, too!  My  kind of Saturday J

-   ~ This video is about as cute as it gets!  Adorable!!

     On that note, have a great week!!