31 Months Old!

Jordan got to celebrate her 31st month birthday by enjoying dinner at a station potluck. We had a TON of food and Jordan got to woo every single person there. She is not worried about being polite (although demanding) and adorable.

I'm so amazed to have this big girl in my house. In the last month, Jordan has taken her independence and shown me how easy it is to switch between big girl who can do everything on her own and one second later is desperately in need of me picking her up and giving her a cuddle. She still loves her lamby blanket even though I don't let her bring it everywhere like I used to.

We lost some potty skills during our vacation, but she's slowly getting back on track. I kind of forgot how I need to remind her on a regular basis about using the bathroom. I'm getting myself trained a little better, so she's staying pretty darn clean these days. (I love it!)

In the last month, Jordan has shown she can get really angry. She'll throw a huge fit, thrashing, punching, screaming... And I will try to help direct her into a calmer state of mind. The amazing thing is how she'll return to her calm demeanor eventually and apologize to me for the outburst. It's pretty awesome. She and her brother are still at each others throats -- Although they are getting to a point where they can play together a times. It's awesome to watch them pretend to cook at our play kitchen or run around outside being silly.

Speaking of sweetness, here are a few Jordanisms: Jordan can't just give you a kiss. A kiss ALWAYS comes with a hug. At night, she tells me "Good morning! Good night!" In the morning, she always tells me: "I wake up!" Recently she loves to walk up to me and let me know: "I happy Mommy! I really happy!" She's scared of bears due to my speech to the kids about how we don't put food in our tent while we were in New Hampshire. She still will tell me at a random moment: "Bears really scary. I not like bears."

Everyone at Jordan's school calls her Jordy and when Jordan talks about herself, she calls herself Jordy more often than Jordan. Oh - and when she says her name, it sounds like "Yordy."

She's growing up so stinking fast!! I'm absorbing myself into this phase. She's strong-willed, dynamic, sweet, loving and EXHAUSTING. I love it.

Super silly

Jordan is a kick. She is SO stubborn. She's so stubborn that you have to laugh. Her new thing is to take a stand. A loud and screaming stand. It is so appropriate since she's my kid. But today was a turning point.

She talked back at me. I was telling her that we were going to pick up Cameron at school and she kept saying: "No Cameron's school."

I told her yes, we were going to to get her brother when she yelled, screamed: "NO CAMERON!" There was a tone of disdain that I'd never heard before.

Ah life with a two year old. She's also taken to throwing an all-out tantrum when I try to get her dressed or when I need to buckle her into her car seat. Traditional stuff to try and test my will to live.

It's all good. And exhausting.

Word explosion

Jordan talks. She doesn't just talk, she has exploded with words. Everything she sees she days: "WHATSTHAT?" That's the fast version of asking "what's that?" If she knows what it is, she says, "yeah." If she didn't know what it was, she'll repeat the word.

In the last couple of days, she'll walk up to any of us in the house, drop a book on our lap and say: "READABOOK?" She's even asked Cam to read to her. We've spent the last six months encouraging Cam to read to her and Jordan would always say no. I'm thrilled that she's finding purpose in having Cameron around.

Anyway. The girl is obstinate. She is excited to communicate. We're thrilled with the communication. She really can speak her mind these days. She wants to do EVERYTHING on her own: "MY DO IT!" And man, you have to let her do it. I try to patiently wait for her to ask for help. She does ask for help. More often than not, she doesn't get that aggravated. She's much angrier if I don't let her try than if she does try and realizes she can't do it. That's the kind of spunk I hope she maintains forever.

In the holiday mood

We're enjoying family time for the holidays -- I'm doing my best not to hop online as much as I normally do. Jordan is getting better at saying words like Santa, Ho ho ho and tree. She's also saying more sentences. REALLY fast sentences.

I wanna eat that sounds like "Iwannaeatthat." She'll say it rapidly five times in a row before I realize what she's saying. There are other sentences - They are all very fast and I'm floored every time I translate it and realize this little baby is NO baby.

I'm also talking her into doing a few things with actual logic. If you've noticed, her hair is constantly in her eyes because I'm growing out her bangs. Bangs suck. It's a BEAR to grow them out so I figured we'd just grow them out from the very beginning. Well, she has started complaining about her hair in her eyes from time to time - And I've jumped onto the opportunity to actually put a bow into her hair. Check out the picture of her at her school holiday party. I've been able to get her to wear a clip two times in the last week. It doesn't always work, but it's progress.

I've also found that I have to count to three every once and a while -- To get her to move away or stop doing something she shouldn't do. The down side, she screams the moment I say "One..."

She's screaming a lot these days. It's loud here. It's very loud.