Our little lady is two and a half and is due for an update! We just love our Alivia Pearl. Out and about, at least once a day, people comment, without fail, about her hair. It is her signature feature. As a baby people always commented on her eyes, but her hair is so unique and fun that the comments have switched.
One of the most wonderful things of toddler hood is the mispronunciations. Livy's vocabulary is quite impressive and I often get told she is intelligible and speaks very well for her age. She can say ornament and appetite and hemorrhoids and other complex words just fine (don't ask), but the following list are some of the words she mispronounces in all her toddler cuteness.
kipmiss (Christmas)
poofy (smoothie)
cilial (cereal)
hangaburger (hamburger)
whisaping (whispering)
pider (spider)
lemalade (lemonade)
lorget (yogurt)
I tend to refrain from correcting these mispronunciations. But she is confusing her pronounces (her and him and she and he). That I am working on...
Liv is obsessed with candy, frosting, and sugar. Most meltdowns revolve around a denied candy request. During said meltdown, Livy will ask, "what will make me happy?" waiting for you to suggest, "candy will make you happy." Then she will say in excitement, "Yeah, candy! I want some!" We are working on this. But it doesn't help that Mama Bear and Papa Bear love sugar and candy too. And the holidays didn't help either.
And in general, Livy is fairly good with prolonged rewards. Candy please? No. not right now Liv. Maybe after dinner? Yes. Maybe after dinner if you eat a really good dinner. She will also take candy for "next day" and put it in a spot she can remember. And she has enough will power to keep her candy in that spot - often in view - until after dinner or after she goes poop in the potty the following day.
Livy will frequently ask, "Why me crying?" or says "You tell me" when we ask her a variety of questions.
ex. "Livy, what do you want for lunch" A: You tell me.
ex. "Livy, what is your favorite dress?" A: You tell me.
ex. "Livy, why are you crying - what's wrong?" A: You tell me.
The answer always throws people off, and usually, if you insist, she'll give you a more exact answer. "You tell me" is just her way of being lazy in answering a question, more often than not knowing the answer.
Livy loves music. She frequently requests a radio station change if she doesn't care for a song or for me to "louder please" the volume if a good song comes on.
She is obsessed with baby things. Babies, miniature things, she loves all things small.
She still loves her muslin wrap blankets. She still loves her bottle at nap and night-time (hey, we got rid of the morning bottle...baby steps).
Liv is ready to be potty trained. If she is nude and playing after a bath, she will say, "Peepees comin" and she will always say when she is about to go poop. But I'm not ready...and don't anticipate being ready for a couple of months. Too many of my friends kids have accidents and I hate messes. So although we haven't potty trained her, she does do 98% of her bowel movements in her little potty, and then I proceed to put back on her diaper and go about NOT potty training her.
Livy was really excited about having a baby sister. She said she has a baby in her belly too. And she gave my belly hugs and fed the baby a bottle through my belly button all the time. This translates to about 1,000 kisses a day for Elizabeth. This cute exchange recently transpired between Cody and Alivia.
Cody: "How come you kiss baby sister so much?"
Alivia: "I just love her so much."
Cody: "How come you don't kiss Daddy like you do baby sister? You don't love Daddy anymore?"
Alivia: "No I love you Daddy, but I just love her so much." (all while kissing her the entire time)
She always tells Elizabeth, "Its ok baby, Mommy's here (because I'm holding Elizabeth)...It's ok." - even when Elizabeth is perfectly content.
Livy has her moments of tantruming. She gets angry if she gets hurt - she often yells "no!" in a very angry voice and then cries. The other day she got into a crying fit over wanting water from a drinking fountain instead of from her Sippy cup. Unfortunately for her, we don't have a fountain in our house. It's the oddest things sometimes that can produce a tear fest.
Livy loves to sing. She goes to story time at the library every week with Cody and they learn tons of different songs. She also loves to dance. If she could, she would watch music videos on the ipad all day long and have a dance party with us.
Livy has transitioned into a full size bed. She thinks its a crib, because it has bumpers on the sides and a headboard and foot board, which translated into an absolutely smooth transition.
We love our big - little girl. She can't wait for her "burfday." She talks about her birthday at least once a day and says she wants "all the colors for her burfday" - along with cupcakes, cakes, piñata, toys, the park, and her friends. She'll probably get the most colorful cake and decorations I can produce since that really is all she wants. (ex. Look Mom, orange flowers! I love Orange! I want it for my burfday.)
