Two...

...and a half.

I had absolutely no idea how {exhausting} a two and a half year old could be. No idea!

And at the same time, I had no idea how {delightfully} entertaining, thoroughly engaging, and pleasantly accompanying a two and a half year old could be.

As I drive down the road, with or without Addie in the backseat, I now find myself noticing birds, heavy machinery, motorcycles, car washes, fire trucks, airplanes, horses & cows.

You know, things we take for {granted}.

I didn't realize that when I'm stuck in traffic that I mutter, Come on people.

Or that I talk to red lights and ask them to turn green.

I don't remember how easy playing {pretend} came for me...because it doesn't come as naturally anymore. I have to work at it. But she never does.

Who knew that {potty} training could be so exciting and 15 minutes later so frustrating.

I love Addie's pure {enthusiasm} for life:

Good job, Mommy!

I made a good choices!

Oh. My. Goodness! Look at that! 

This is so yummy!

It was beautiful!

It's good to see you!

And I had no idea one could throw such a passionate {tantrum}...

...over a paci.

...or sticks.

...or doing anything that wasn't her idea!

She's {two and a half}.

And over the past year, her little world has been turned {upside down}.

But as a whole, I think she's adjusted pretty well.

(below are some of the things that we find Addie doing these days. I'm recording them here so we can remember them later. I know it's my blog and I can brag if I want to...but, I just had to warn you :)

Addie loves to:

play in her kitchen and with her dolls

read: 

being read to or making up "once upon a time" stories

be outside with rocks, sticks, and dirt

blow bubbles

play with puzzles, especially letters or animals

color with crayons and now sidewalk chalk

run, dance, and do front rolls

kick, throw, or bounce a ball/play soccer

"help" us cook

celebrate birthdays: 

making birthday cakes (a ball on top of a bucket, her pizza), making birthday presents (random objects wrapped up in her lovies) and singing happy birthday

music:

loves Kindermusik, rhythm, dancing, and instruments 
loves to sing Jesus Loves me, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, Jesus Love the Little Children, If You're Happy and you Know It, The Farmer in the Dell, Spider Pig, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and so many more!
the funniest thing is that she wants to sing a song about everything: here we go to gym-nas-tics, gym-nas-tics, gym-nas-tics, here we go to gym-nas-tics on a thursday af-ter-noon...(or the beach or the park or to school or anything else we might do together!)

gymnastics:

loves doing forward rolls, straddles, pikes, swinging and flipping on the rings, walking on the balance beam, and jumping

she loves to talk about:

animals

letters

bugs

machines

fire trucks

her babies

she knows a lot about:

letters: 

recognizes all and knows the sounds to all but a few; 
can usually tell you what letter a word starts with if emphasized enough

numbers: 

great up through 14 and then she skips to 16. 
20 has turned into twelveteen.

shapes: 

consistently recognizes most shapes even in the form of objects.

colors: got them...finally!

where she lives: 

knows her street name, city, state, and that she lives in America where we proudly fly the American flag! 

drawing:

loves to draw lines and is working on circles

loves for you to draw bugs, hearts, smiley faces, giraffes, shapes, and spiders

Before the little girls were born, a friend (who's girls are less than two years apart) said she remembered her oldest seeming so big when their baby was born; but that she had to remind herself how little her oldest child still was at only 2!

As much as Addie's grown up over the past 5 months, as big as her hands and feet look compared to the babies, as tall as she seems...she's still so little! I'm so thankful she still loves to snuggle, to hold hands when I walk her into school, and for us to help her. As much responsibility as we do put on her (you know, like climbing into her own car seat and putting on her shoes or asking to be excused and putting her plate in the sink), I'm trying to savor those things that she still needs us to do with or for her!

I pray daily for wisdom in raising all 3 of our girls, but especially Addie right now. She can be so obedient and so helpful and then turn around and completely ignore you! I have to remind myself to use everything as a teaching moment, with our goal being to mold and shape her into a young woman of God. I'm relearning a lot about patience and consistency, biting my tongue and counting to ten, prioritizing and picking our battles. Needless to say, she's consistently teaching me!

As we said her prayers tonight, I helped her thank God for the big things: our family, our home, our food, and our health. And then she proceeded to thank God for: her baby sisters, her Mommy and Daddy, her bed and her clothes, her pullups and her animals, her kitchen and her microwave...her church and her teachers.

And we are so thankful for Addie. For her enthusiasm for life. For her sweet (mostly) manners. For her passionate protecting nature over her sisters. For her beautiful curls. For her love of singing and for her desire to help others. For the precious blessing God has given our family!

We love you Addie-boo!

Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings