Adelline is ATTENTIVE at 2 Years, 2 Months

This month’s discovery was an amazing grant-funded program to ensure Mississippi children are ready for kindergarten called EXCEL BY 5.  The facility offers a block room, toddler room, preschool room, art area, toy lending library, and a snack and toy/book with each visit.  They also sponsor parenting classes.   Mike was expressing his disbelief at all the free services to the director saying, “We don’t have anything to this extent in Wisconsin.”  Ms. Sue gently reminded Mike that this is Mississippi, 49^th in national education rankings!  Our adventures this month have taken us to the Biloxi Lighthouse, Biloxi Burger Burger restaurant, Mississippi Coast Clean-Up, Ocean Springs 5K, Spooky Ooky Chili Cook-Off, Fall Muster at Beauvoir, Biloxi Cemetery Tour, New Orleans Audubon Zoo, The Green Goddess restaurant in New Orleans, and Bourbon Street by night.  We’ve reached the point where Addy is talking so much that we really can’t keep track of her new words anymore, unless it’s something particularly memorable or entertaining. 

Our adventure in military terminology continues as we are advised to “go to your shirt” (first sergeant). Mommy is also learning more acronyms like NCOI (non-commissioned officer in charge), although she’s still not very clear on what they actually mean.  Our southern friends have also taught us the following this month:  in’it (isn’t it?) and snowballs (snowcones).    

Addy is very cognizant of her little sister.  She frequently reminds us to “check on Stella,” and she is always “checkin’ on Stella” as well.  Of course, we sometimes observe the classic “set-up” as Addy puts an off-limits item in front of Stella and then frantically calls for us!  Addy loves telling us when Stella is getting into MISCHIEF.

Addy also has to know what Stella is doing at all times.  While she is eating lunch, we hear over and over again, “What’s Stella doing?  What’s Stella doing?  What’s Stella doing?” 

Addy discovered sunny-side-up eggs recently as Mommy was eating them for lunch.  Addy declared, “I want yellow eggs.  I want dip.”  Mommy prepared a sunny-side-up egg for her, and soon Addy’s entire face and hands were coated in gooey yellow.  Mommy couldn’t help but laugh as Addy slurped the yolk from her piece of dipping bread.

Addy is very concerned when any toys or animals are dropped on the ground.  She runs over and asks in a serious voice, “Are you okay?”

After her Itsy Spider costume arrived in the mail from Grandma Gretchen, Addy announced, “Family REALLY likes my costume.”  

When Mommy reports to Daddy how storytime or our adventures at EXCEL BY 5 went that day, Addy always responds sheepishly, “A little bit of talkin’,” even if she was very well behaved.   

Addy loves her bike helmet as much as her bike.  She tries putting her helmet on whenever she has the chance.  When we ride to the park or go outside to throw the ball, she will leave her helmet on the entire time.  She has also always enjoyed wearing her sunhat, which makes life so much easier!   

Addy helped with her first neighborhood trash pick-up in our military housing development—West Falcon—this month in honor of Make a Difference Day:  National Day of Doing Good.  Later when we saw a piece of trash on the ground at the library, Addy pointed it out and wanted to go pick it up.  Mommy also volunteered at Hiller Park for the Mississippi Coastal Clean-Up effort on October 20.    

People have a hard time identifying or understanding “homemade” costumes, as culturally, we seem to have settled for purchasing expensive yet poorly designed television and movie character costumes at Walmart.  At our library storytime party, another child asked in reference to Addy, “Is she a sheep?”  Answer:  If sheep have eight legs, then yes.  Baaaa! 

Addy has been informing everyone what Stella is dressed as for Halloween by saying, “Stellaluna chicken!”  Chicken.  Turkey.  Close enough!

Addy had an accident in the bathtub one night as an incredible amount of poop entered the water near Stella.  Since then, every time Addy’s toes touch the bathwater, she yells, “Poop comin’!”  This has resulted in a lot of potty sitting time while Daddy gives Stella a bath.  At some point, it also requires convincing Addy that there is time to give her a quick bath before the aforementioned “poop comes.” 

While we try to downplay the pooping in the bathtub incident, Addy loves to reminisce about it on a daily basis.  We pretend to have forgotten about it, so she has to tell us the entire story each day.   

Addy was intrigued by the entire trick-or-treating process.  She loved watching all the costumed kids come to our house for treats (string cheese, Clementines, stickers, pencils, notepads, and spider rings).  She would cruise around on her tractor until people started walking toward the house.  Then she’d pick up her tractor, run to park it in the garage, and stand by the garage door to watch.  She was particularly interested in the princesses.  Periodically, Addy would say, “Happy Halloween,” to the families.  Afterward, Addy said she loved “trick-or-treating.”  What an easy-to-please kid!   

One day, Mommy noticed that the cover on her sewing kit was ajar but didn’t think much of it.  As it turns out, Addy discovered Mommy’s sewing needles and stuck five of them in the carpet at the top of the stairs.  What a pleasant morning surprise for Mommy’s foot!

While Mommy was preparing Addy’s breakfast, Stella started crying.  When Mommy asked what happened, Addy replied, “Stella faceplant.” 

Prior to going on the Biloxi Cemetery Tour, Mommy and Addy talked about “appropriate cemetery behavior.”  Addy suggested that we do “a lot of laughing.”  Luckily, we were able to compromise that we would do “a lot of whispering” rather than “a lot of laughing.” 

Addy likes to “play basketball” before bed with Aunt Lyddia.  This involves holding a picture of Aunt Lyddia in one hand while throwing the basketball around the house.  There are also a lot of, “Are you ready Lydi?”

Addy loves Brussels sprouts, aka “super balls,” especially when Daddy plays the “try a new spice game” during dinner.  On each super ball, Daddy sprinkles a different spice, and Addy “taste tests” it.  Her current favorite is pumpkin pie spice, which she reminds us has “ALLLLL different spices in it.”  Addy also declares that things have “flavor.”  She is a girl after her Mommy’s heart!  Mommy is highly entertained by this game, especially when Daddy says things like, “Should we try cream of tartar next?”

Addy’s new phrase is, “Yokie dokie.” 

When Mommy said it was fun to try new things, Addy responded, “I’ll remember that.” 

One morning, Addy unloaded all the garbanzo beans from her oatmeal.  When Mommy asked why, Addy said they were “going to family reunion.”  Sure enough, the garbanzo beans were all gathered in a circle on her tray having a great time!

After nap, Daddy asked Addy if it would be okay to set Stella on her bed.  Addy had woken up a bit early and was still quite sleepy, but her quick response of “no deal” still surprised us a bit! 

We’ve had a breakthrough this month as Addy expressed interest in using the potty, so we decided to give it a try.  Mommy finished reading, “Potty Training in One Day” just in time, although we are currently employing a longer-term strategy.  We’ve been using “special stickers,” M & M’s, and a sticker reward chart.  So far, Addy’s earned a family trip for ice cream, which the restaurant gave us “on the house” once they found out why we were celebrating.  She loves M & M’s, so that continues to be a huge incentive.  Hopefully, we can keep the “potty train” moving in the right direction through our holiday travels. 

As Daddy encouraged Addy to try going poop in the potty, Addy was thrilled one night when the “poops visited the pees!”  She proceeded to “role play” the visit.  “Hello poop!  Hello pee!” 

Addy figured out that the big stickers at the end of the row of her sticker chart are the most desirable ones that earn her special rewards and toys, so she snuck into the bathroom and filled in all the biggest circles on the chart, making it appear that she had completed all the rows.   

Addy gets very animated and dramatic about moving everything out of Stella’s reach, even toys Stella is allowed to play with, and often tells us that Stella is “coming to get me” now that Stella is so mobile.  Addy has always been very good about sharing toys with Stella, but it seems like she’s not quite ready for Stella to be moving around and able to tag along behind her. 

We’ve had a few incidents where Addy has hit Stella or moved a toy, causing Stella to lose her balance and fall over.  Addy responds with loud fake laughing, which is what she normally does to make Stella laugh when she’s crying.  Addy doesn’t quite understand that when she causes the injury, it’s not really appropriate to begin the fake laughing immediately!