2y5m (June recap)

went to the aquarium 2x. she seems to have a different favorite animal each time though i feel like a consistent one is the turtles

SO happy when she wakes up! loves lying down and looking at us and squealing. she usually does this for 5-10 minutes and we're just playing with her while she's still in the bed lying down but also being playful with us. she could probably be in there for up to 20 minutes if we don't coax her to come out 

ANOTHER sore throat. she was sick for like a full month last time and her prolonged cough lingered for prob 2-3 weeks after that. i think she was OK for maybe 3 days until she got yet another sore throat (as did i!!!) and it's another prolonged one for about 2 weeks. yikes! i

she seems to LOVE wearing dresses. maybe because she can look down at it and it's flowy. we usually like gender-neutral and plainer clothes (to be more practical) but she seems to really like clothes with animals or characters on them, so we're thinking about letting her choose her own clothes when we go shopping soon :)

some new things she likes to do:
grabbing dresses (hers, or even sometimes mine) and trying to put her head in and out of dresses.

trying to put on underwear. (AHH SO CUTE when she holds my arms for support when she's putting on underwear). i don't think she's still quite ready for potty training yet because she DOES NOT CARE when her diaper is wet or has a poopy but at least she is practicing the underwear and pulling down her pants part.
there was also one time where i left her alone to play in the closet (because she likes to do that) and funnily enough when i opened the door she almost had a whole new outfit lol wearing a hat and a bag. UGH she's so cute and she only gets cuter

she still LOVES chicken (in all forms, roasted, poached, soy sauce), beef (short ribs!!!) and ALL her berries. new fav is tater tots! she's been eating more this past week and actually sitting still at the table with us. she had like a 2-3 week stint where she DID NOT want to eat and always wanted to leave the plate at the floor with her while she picked her food, but i think maybe her mind was so over active and she was so focused on playing that she didn't care about food for a bit lol

we went berry picking for the first time and she had a BLAST. I actually never buy fresh blueberries and usually give it to her frozen but she really seems to love them more fresh!! she actually likes raspberries the most (out of that, blueberries, and strawberries) - which is surprising to me b/c I actually like it LEAST

oh! we got her the nugget (toy) and she LOVES it! it's been about 4 weeks now and she loves either jumping on it, laying on it or kind of making a tent for herself. she likes playing with this as a slide after dinner recently

she also JUST got into the little magic school bus books, which I think is super cute b/c it's definitely too old for her age but maybe she just likes the pictures.

been taking 2.5-3 hour naps over the weekends! she must be so excited during the weekdays at daycare that she catches up on the weekends.

been easier and easier to take care of. lately she's taking less coaxing to come take a bath, and even to help us have her lie down on the floor if she has a poopy diaper for us to change her easier. we also made a hole in her pack and play and she goes in there at night when she's ready for bed (doesn't even give us a hug or kiss before she does that :() but at least we all sing rockabye baby together!! i miss cradling her before she sleeps, but she's been getting really heavy and it's hard to carry both her and a thick blanket at the same time! saves mine and carlo's backs too..

she's also been really good when she's in the car. we don't have any TV or toys back there and on 30-60m rides she'll just look out the window quietly most of the time. her expression when she looks is so cute!!

firsts
went to her first bbq - it was her first time  visiting a stranger's house and she did better than i thought she would. still very introverted and although doesn't like to be IN the fun and chaos, likes to observe it and makes sure that we're around.

saw her first fireworks. startled at the loud noises but overall i think she liked it b/c she talked about it for like 3 days!

saw a horse and a big dog up close - she always looks like she doesn't care about things (b/c she doesn't have a big reaction) but blabs about it afterwards and even for the next few days

splashed around at the apartment pool - surprisingly didn't take too much coaxing for her to play in the water even though it was her first time! she loved walking around the sides and sitting on the shallow end just kicking or lightly splashing. carlo tried to hold her horizontally to kick but she liked having control or her feet touching the ground, which makes sense.

LOVES playing with water, we went to a splash pad in front of city hall and she was literally sprinting around for like 15-20 minutes!!