Tracey Ann -- Two-and-a-Half

Our first born, our oldest daughter, our spunky, joyful, sassy, confident baby girl, Tracey Ann, is two-and-a-half.

Here is what she is up to these days:

•  She loves to climb and jump -- there is almost nothing on the playground that she will not play on... and our rule is basically, if she can do it by herself, she can do it.  There are a few climbing parts that her legs are too short to reach, but the majority of the park is within her comfort zone.
• She loves to swim.  She had a blast at Grammie and Papa's pool and by the end, she was trying to talk herself into going down the big slide all by herself -- she never actually did it, but had we been there another week, it would have happened.
• She likes to sing and dance... not all the time, but randomly when she feels like it.  She sings "If your happy and you know it," "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," The Alphabet Song, and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"  In St. Louis, Tracey was playing with her cousins, Zivah and Mayah (who are just 3 years old, and 18 months old) and they were getting a little carried away, so I suggested that we dance.  I put music on my phone and Tracey and I started dancing like crazy, and Zivah and Mayah just stared at us like we were nuts.

• She loves Howard and Caroline but is starting to struggle a little bit more now that they are mobile and interactive... and playing with their own toys.  She often will want whatever toy either Howard or Caroline has.  With two little siblings, she is turning into a little leader... she will often commit either Howard or Caroline to something that she isn't quite ready to do... like go off the diving board at Grammie and Papa's house, "Airoline will do it!"
• She has such a diverse interest in terms of toys and playing, which I love -- she will dress up like princesses with her cousins, she will use her toy hammer (or a real hammer if she can get her hands on one) around the house, she loves to build with blocks, she likes puzzles, she will twirl around in dresses and say she is 'Princess Tracey', she loves to paint and color, she loves play-doh, she loves animals and friends of all ages.
• She speaks in complete sentences and some of her words are so adorable... like "popwocle" (popsicle), "Airoline" (Caroline), "Zeebah" (Zivah)... I can't think of any more right now, but I will have to write more when I remember them.

• She does not sit still very well... whether its in church, or at the dinner table, or when we're helping her siblings, and I'm not sure if we are laxed parents or if it goes along with her being a toddler
• She is doing really well with potty training as long as we are at home.  When we go somewhere else, it sort of throws us all off in terms of potty training and we use pull-ups in those situations.

Tracey is such a joy.  She is so much fun, and so challenging and keeps us running and busy all the time.  She reminds me of the little girls with a curl... who "when she was good she was very good and when she was bad, she was horrid."  I certainly would not describe Tracey completely in those terms... but when she is good, she is very good... and when she is bad, she is very challenging.  It is a new aspect of parenting to work at shaping a child's character with every decision we make and every disciplinary situation we enforce.

 

We love you, Tracey and we love watching you become the sweet, loving, kind, curious, attentive little girl God has created you to be.