Miss Ivy Lu lately

Our baby girl is 2 1/2 this coming month and she has really grown up these past few months.. Just wanted to do a fun update on her with some videos..

I guess the biggest update is she is finally over her social anxieties that she had back when she was two and all through the summer. She no longer gets nervous or upset around a lot of people or unfamiliar places. I think the time we realized she was finally growing out of it was back in September when we took her to the very busy county fair.. I was a little hesitant on how she would do but she absolutely LOVED every bit of it. From that time on, we never worried about taking her places. 

She loves all things crafty, including crayons or pencils, watercolors, and play-do. Other favorite toys right now include books, her little people, stuffed animals, dress up jewelry, her car and bumblebee, and the past few weeks- her halloween pumpkin, lol.. She also loves singing with the radio and songs at home- ABC's, I am a child of God, Bushel and a Peck, do as I'm doing, Ivy come out and play with me..

Ivy really is the biggest goofball and such a tease. The other day, I got her out of bed and she ran off into our bedroom, I wandered off to the kitchen and Sam got out of the shower and was in our bedroom.. He said he had no idea she was in there until he heard a giggle come from our covers. She had hid under there and was completely quiet until after she knew he was there. It was hilarious. She loves silly faces and being completely obnoxious with friends her age, growling like a monster or laughing hysterically at nothing at all. Gotta love this age.

She's always been an independent girl and that has not changed. Loves to put her own shoes on, eat with her own silverware, even asks for napkins when something spills so she can wipe it up. Tries to put on her own clothes (and take them off, haha)..  She also follows directions fairly well and can be reasoned with when she gets upset about things, most of the time... Her stubbornness does come out every now and again but let's hope she keeps her easy going personality a while longer (we'll see what 3 is like, haha)...

She's really become a great talker. putting more words together every single day. Most of her phrases are actual sentences now. And it's adorable to hear her really try to pronounce words correctly. For a while "store" and "door" sounded the same but now she tries really hard to say "ssssstore" when she is telling me she wants to go somewhere. 

Last month a good friend started teaching gymnastics to some toddlers in the area and Ivy has been loving it! She catches on pretty quick to the things Miss Jill teaches. Her attention span starts to wane after 20 minutes and she starts to get restless but as far as ability and coordination goes, she keeps up pretty well with the 3 year olds. And it's just so darn adorable to watch. 

Here she is practicing her straddles and tucks.. Short but I thought it was cute to see what the class is like. Oh and she's the one copying everything Jill is saying, it's hilarious:

These last two show her cute little personality.. In this one she is singing the "clean up" song (randomly while playing with blocks, lol). Her phrase "help you" is what she says when she wants me to help her with something.. most of the time she figures things out though:

This last one is my favorite. I had no idea she even knew numbers 11 and 12 until the day before this video. Not sure where she picked it up but it totally cracks me up:

Other facts:

-no potty training yet! I can tell she's not ready so I'm not going to push anything until after this baby comes. She likes to sit on the potty but hasn't quite gotten the concept of why we sit on it yet. haha

-loves playing instruments or pretending objects are instruments. Also loves when we play the piano for her. I guess this combined with her obsession for Little Einsteins makes it fairly obvious we are raising a little music nerd, hehe.. it was inevitable. 

-favorite color is most definitely green. 

-very aware of emotions lately. describes things like "happy spider"or being scared, or a crying baby

-recently was gifted a wonderful glider rocking chair and it has made bedtime so much easier/ way more enjoyable. Never ever cries at bedtime since we've had it. 

-still a picky eater but not much of an issue anymore. I just rotate the meals I know she will eat and throw in some random stuff from and every now and then she'll give things a try but wont eat it. 

I can't wait for Ivy to become a big sister. I'm fairly positive she will be great with her baby brother and will love him. I've never seen her become jealous or possessive of me or Sam and I think she'll love being able to help out when he's finally here. I'm staying realistic and not forgetting that patience will run thin from time to time, or even lots of times, lol.. but I am excited to see how she grows as our family grows.