Our girl is two and a quarter, and boy is she acting like it. This quarter she has given up naps, become the boss, started preschool, became a pro at scooter riding and fell in love with Pinkalicious. Hannah continues to keep us on our toes with her sass, affection, unrelenting dialogue and her sweet-natured personality. She’s growing faster than we can keep up with!
Hannah’s 2 – 1/4 Stats:
- Weight: 29.5 pounds {80th percentile}
- Length: 35-1/2″ {90th percentile}
- Clothing 3T
- Shoe size: toddler size 7
- Number of teeth: 18, I think
- Favorite foods: pears, apples, strawberries, basically any fruit, chickpeas, oatmeal
- Least favorite foods: beef, chicken
- Favorite things/activities: watching her Kindle {Daniel Tiger and Pinkalicious}, playing with her babies, reading books, running, dancing, riding her scooter {!!!}, doing anything art-related, testing boundaries
- Least favorite things/activities: waiting, stopping doing something fun, leaving somewhere, not getting what she wants
Our lives have changed pretty drastically during this first quarter of Hannah’s third year. We went from living in the mountains as a family to living there with Alex’s parents, then we moved back to Seattle and started going back and forth. More change, still, came when Ben went back to school. Hannah’s whole world has been upended these last few months.
These changes and/or general development, have coincided with the loss of an afternoon nap for Hannah and a step backwards in being potty trained. Yesterday Alex managed to get her to fall asleep for her afternoon nap for the first time in weeks. We’ve graduated to a “rest” time in her crib for an hour – half the time on her own, the second half with a pile of books to read. She’s just plain not getting enough sleep, though, and by the end of the day she is falling apart.
I’d seen this, of course, for a while now, but the bond and friendship between Ben and Hannah is incredibly strong. These two loves are the best of friends. I truly do not believe their relationship would be as tight would it not be for the pandemic. That said, it’s been very hard for Hannah when Ben has gone off to school. She cried the saddest tears the first few days we dropped him off. She has adjusted now, but it’s clear just how much she misses her brother during the day. {It’s been evident it’s tough for Ben too.}
Hannah and Ben adore playing together. They love dancing, racing cars, snuggling, riding their scooters and playing with blocks. We do a lot of art projects and baking together and they really are getting quite lovely at taking turns. I marvel at how reasonable Hannah is with her brother. She could choose to be nasty and refuse to give his toys back, but she never does. She always hands him his toys when he asks for them. She’s the first one to check to make sure someone is okay after getting an “ouchie” and loves to bring Ben a stuffie to cuddle if he’s the injured party.
One of Hannah’s favorite things to do is to take care of and play with her babies. Her natural maternal instincts have been pouring out both with her babies as well as her brother. If Ben asks a question she usually will jump in and answer with whether or not that’s acceptable or safe, or remind him that we’re eating right now and he needs to stay in his seat. She’s my mini mama and loves to be in charge! Additionally, she is such a rule follower, which is such a funny contrast to other personality traits of hers.
Since moving back to Seattle we’ve had the opportunity to go up to a blacktop parking lot and basketball court for Hannah to practice her scooter, rain or shine. She has picked it up quickly and teaches herself new style tricks each week. It has been a total blast for me to watch her improvements day after day.
In the last few weeks she’s become a lot more independent with her balance bike. She definitely prefers her scooter to her bike at this point. Hannah and Ben love to go on bike rides together at the mountain house.
Hannah had her first trip to the pump track over the summer. Following in her brothers footsteps, she loved it and frequently requests it. She is not independent at all at the pump track so Alex or I have to hang onto her handlebars and take her through the track.
Hannah absolutely loves to watch shows on her Kindle. The only shows she really watches are Daniel Tiger and Pinkalicious and she adores them. I am positive she has the stamina to just curl up on my bed with her Kindle and watch it all day long. Of course I don’t allow this, but some days I think she wishes I would.
Art projects are another one of Hannah’s favorites. Drawing, painting and cutting are regular activities around here. Unfortunately, drawing often takes place on the walls and the floor, so currently all drawing supplies are “under supervision only.”
Her speech is definitely becoming more clear; however, she is still not the easiest to understand. I will generally have to interpret when she is talking to someone other than Alex, me or her preschool teacher. Unsurprisingly Teacher Shannon can understand everything she says, even over a computer!
Hannah is the chattiest of chatty Cathys. She loves to narrate her day, without missing a single detail. Truly once she starts talking she might not be done for five minutes. I absolutely adore listening to her describe her day to Alex and hearing what she chooses to share with him, which parts were the most meaningful for her.
One of my favorites is that Hannah has started asking “how did you sleep?” as one of the first things she says to me when I get her in the morning. She is so in-tuned with conversation and picks up so quickly on what other people are saying and works it into her own dialogue.
Last month Hannah started co-op preschool, virtually. We log into Zoom twice a week for our little class with Teacher Shannon. Hannah pays attention to storytime, then we usually do a craft of some sort and occasionally Hannah will hold on for some songs, but not often. I love that Hannah is getting this enrichment, even if she doesn’t stay for the whole class. Hannah is connecting with another adult, albeit over Zoom, and seeing and hearing other kids.
We just started doing distanced, masked playdates at the park with a couple other “twos” from co-op and I really hope that continues. Hannah was so excited to talk about her “friends” and it is so endearing and so completely heartbreaking that her socialization has been so limited as a result of the pandemic.
Hannah’s personality really runs the spectrum. She is fierce, boisterous and independent, yet nurturing, sweet, clingy and timid. She is confident, tenacious, loving, kind and friendly. She’s going to be a pistol of a teenager, and I cannot wait to see what this personality turns into and what this little girl grows into as she keeps on developing.
