all about Ivy

I will just start by saying that I am loving this stage so much right now.  2-year-olds are the best and Ivy is the best of the best!  Here's a little bit about her right now...

Ivy's language is impressive.  She is amazing us every single day with new words and phrases.  She knows words that make us wonder where she heard them and strings her words together to make complete sentences that actually make sense.  "Dad going to play golf with his truck?" "Missy is at Grandma's house!" and "Dad, I have all of them...so manies!" are just a couple of things she has said today.  Last night she asked Stockton "What best part of yous day, Stocky?" and asked Molly "How was your practice soccer?" today when we picked her up.  She'll also say things like, "actually, mom, I want..." or "how 'bout..." and then follow up with what she wants to do.  She tends to talk loud and will repeat every sentence until you repeat it back to her.  She also talks nonstop, mimics everything you say, and her voice increases in pitch as her sentence goes on.

Ivy was napping so well every single day until Daylight Savings hit.  I have never had a kid that was affected by the time change like she was.  She really had a hard time taking a nap and often she just didn't or would play in her crib for an hour or so before I let her come out.  She was also having a rough time actually falling asleep at night.  I tried to just be flexible and continued to lay her down everyday at 1:00 and thought that maybe she was just going to be done with naps altogether.  I thought for sure she would be done once we went on vacation for Spring Break.  But I went right back to our daily schedule when we got home and she has gone back to her nap in the afternoon (2-3 hours) and her regularly scheduled bedtime at around 8:30.  She sleeps all night and wakes up around 7:30.  It is wonderful and probably one of biggest reasons why I'm enjoying this stage...sleep is good for everyone.  I'm happy and she's happy.  To lay her down for nap or bed, we read a book in her rocking chair with both her blankets and then I lay her down and she goes to sleep when she gets tired.  She is still happy with her crib and hasn't tried to climb out so we'll keep her in there as long as we can!

Ivy was never much of a TV watcher as a baby or young toddler.  But I kept showing her Curious George because I think it is so cute and it finally stuck.  She loved to watch "gonkey" and that would hold her interest.  Then she discovered Daniel Tiger and that is her current favorite.  She likes to watch her shows while she eats breakfast at the little kid table.  She also enjoys Sofia the First.

Ivy is excellent at entertaining herself when she is home in the morning by herself.  She loves to play pretend with her babies or stuffed animals but she is really so good at finding any toy and staying busy with it.  She is very low maintenance.  This will be a good skill for her to have in the coming years when all her siblings will be at school all day and she will be stuck with just me.  She plays with Brynn ("Dynnie" to her) really well too.  She cried last night when I put her in the car so we could run Molly to the soccer field.  I had left Stockton and Brynn home and Ivy just kept saying "Dynnie take care of me!"

Ivy is a good eater, as far as 2-year-olds go.  I had a hard time with breakfast for her for a little while but I have it figured out now.  She won't eat pancakes or waffles although she will eat crepes or german pancakes.  She won't eat oatmeal or eggs either so we just do toast on those mornings.  She does okay with cereal but never with milk in it.  Muffins are a maybe.  Lunch is easy...ramen, quesadillas, pb & j, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs are all good for her.  For dinner, I give her whatever I made for everyone and she is pretty good to eat that.  She hasn't gotten to the point where she won't eat something just because she thinks it looks different or funny.  To be honest, she tends to eat dinner better than Brynn!

Ivy is in the independent stage and wants to do everything herself.  "No, Ivy do it!" is often heard around here.  She is lucky to be the baby because I have much more patience and have learned that it is just easier to let her try until she comes and asks for help.  I know I wasn't that patient with Molly.

It was a rough go to get Ivy to go (and stay) in nursery.  But now she looks forward to going to "cwass" and stays the entire two hours.  She loves the bubbles the most but also tells about playing with the toys and coloring pictures of Jesus.  It is good timing since I am the primary pianist and Justin got called back into Scouts.  It is much easier for both of us to do our jobs when she is in nursery.

Ivy loves to say the prayer and insists that she say it for every meal and morning and night for family prayer.  We are all okay with that, because she is just too cute to listen to.

Ivy has shown some interest in the toilet.  She will sometimes say that she has to use the "bafroom" and I'll sit her on the toilet but she has yet to have anything come out while she's sitting there.  I am a believer in letting the kids choose when they're ready so I won't be forcing potty training on her (or me!) anytime soon, we'll just see when things click and she is really ready to try.

Ivy has been a binky baby but I put my foot down when she turned 2.  I thought briefly about getting rid of them altogether but decided that I didn't want to ruin the good thing we had going with her naps and bedtime.  So we became very strict about only having them in her crib and she has learned well.  I stopped taking them to church, she doesn't get them in the car or anywhere else for that matter.  She has learned to spit it out as soon as we come to get her out of bed.  I will let her use it for a little while longer (as long as she will still nap) and then we will get rid of it.  Molly and Stockton voluntarily gave up theirs before they turned 3 so I'm sure Ivy will be the same.

Ivy has started to learn her colors, not because I've sat down and taught her, but she has just picked them up here and there from books and such.  She doesn't know all of them but she does recognize purple and orange really well.  They must be her favorites!  She is also fluent in animal sounds.

One of her favorite places in the house is up on Stockton's bunk bed when she should be going to bed at night.  It is a sweet sight to go down to find her and see her snuggling up listening to her big brother read her a book.  Stockton loves it too.

Ivy is pretty much everyone's favorite right now.  We are all having the best time watching her learn and discover new things.  She is usually happy all the time and has not thrown too many tantrums so our days are very enjoyable and we are extremely thankful to have her in our family.