Babies grow and change so much in a year -- it's easy to write monthly posts and talk about all their milestones.
But toddlers grow and change too. It's just more subtle. And as we approach V's 3rd birthday, every day I notice something that makes me realize she has grown from a
toddler to a
preschooler.
Here was my little girl one morning last week.
Compare to this photo from last year:
She looks so much younger here, a little more of the baby look in her face. It actually makes me a little nostalgic.
Which isn't to diminish how proud I am of all her achievements this past year. I can tell her knowledge and comprehension has expanded tenfold. She studies everything around her, never misses a detail in conversations going on around her, picks up on things we think are over her head. As one small example -- a daycare friend has a baby sister, born this week. It didn't surprise me that she heard adults talking about the new baby. What did surprise me was that she took care to memorize the baby's first AND middle name. In the car on the way home, she told me Aubrey had a baby sister, then paused to think for a second, and very carefully said, "Hadley Rowan." Wow. Not even a common name to remember.
At the beginning of this year, V's coloring and drawing still consisted of large blobs all over a page, usually covering as much of a page as possible. In the last month or so, this has taken a drastic change. This drawing was one she left on my desk at work:
The big arch that reminds me of a rainbow, the traced hand print, various places it looks like she was practicing her "V"s.
This next drawing was done at daycare, and afterwards Lou and I were marveling at it:
Much more attention being paid to drawing in accordance with the lines in the picture (I resist instructing her to "stay inside the lines"). Very detailed use of different colors. And something else: we talked about how vivid and intense this drawing is. Very indicative of V's personality! So much going on inside her head that seems to come out on paper. She draws and colors every day, both at daycare and home. It is her meditative exercise, her peaceful place.
I mentioned her "V"s above. She has grown leaps and bounds in letters and numbers. She knows the alphabet (as well as the lyrics to innumerable songs) and loves to count everything we can (the legs on a spider! the number of blocks!). She can spell her name and will ask to "text" it on my phone. The other night she wrote an "S" and said it was for "Big Sister" -- umm, we had no idea she could draw the letter, let alone know it was for sister.
V's conversations have become so detailed. She speaks in
complete sentences, with a vocabulary that surprises us. Even Lou, our
daycare provider, says, "oh, I love listening to her tell stories!" Mom
loves it too. We talk about such amazing things in the car and snuggled
up at bedtime.
She has learned to do so much for herself ... to open doors, brush her teeth, get dressed/undressed (mostly, anyway), help with house chores, use railings to go up and down stairs, get herself into her car seat. Check out the fox shirt in the middle of her drawer below -- I asked her where she had put it, and she told me, "in my drawer." I expected a balled up shirt stuffed in the drawer. To my surprise, the little girl knows how to fold clothes.
Physically and mentally, she can do so many things. Emotionally, I see her struggle. At times she is so proud of herself for doing things, and gets mad at us if we try to help (the phrase several months ago was "my do it!" and now it has evolved to be more specific - "I can buckle this by myself!"). At other times, she reaches out and asks for help (can you put on my pants? carry me! please mommy can you do it?). She is navigating a world between dependence and independence, and torn about which way she wants to go.
Baby Girl, Mama will tell you a secret. I struggle between these too. Do I encourage you to walk by yourself and just hold Mommy's hand? Or do I scoop you up and carry you, knowing these days are limited?
Certainly, the past year has brought so much growth in her role as a big sister.
She loves to help take care of Alex. But hates when he takes her toys. And sometimes decides she wants whatever toys
he is playing with. She watches out for him getting into things -- but sometimes becomes a little dictator, telling Alex what to do/not to do, or taking it upon herself to yell "no!" I guess I did this as a girl too. She comes by it naturally. In the course of being a big sister, she has learned to feed Alex, to push a stroller, to play games and soothe him, to make him laugh. Lately she has started to say, "I'll keep an eye on him, k Mommy?"
Cute.
And if I ever doubt how she really feels about him, I think back to a day in late summer. We were all out working in the gardens. V was picking beans with Daddy in the "small garden," and I had taken Alex with me to water the "big garden." I set him down in the grass to go back to the house and turn on the hose. V, looking up from picking beans, saw me and her face changed to sheer panic when she yelled, "WHERE'S MY BROTHER??" Of course, from her angle she couldn't see Alex happily playing in the grass. All she saw was Mommy walking by, sans brother. The relief when I explained where he was, and that I was only leaving him for a second, was so evident. What a sweetheart.
She also has grown in her relationship with our dogs, playing with them, helping to feed them and put them in kennels, and nicknaming Hannah, "Hannie." Here she is with Piper:
Nap time is still a part of her day ... usually. Even if it has to be done with her hat on her head:
In a few short weeks, we will be celebrating Toria's 3rd birthday.
Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door.
Sigh.
Love you, sweet girl.
