Lately with Lady A

Funny that I'd call her that in a blog title, because I never use that name out loud anymore.  In fact, she gets called her full name most of the time, unlike her brother whom I mostly call by one nick name or another.  Funny - it really should be the other way, given the length of their names!

Anywho...

Although I do regularly call her "Baby Girl," it is very clear that she is no longer a baby.  She is doing a lot of growing up these days - I can see it in her attitude (which is much more, um, opinionated these days), her play (which is more creative), her interactions with other kids (she gets what the big kids are doing and tries hard to keep up) and in what she's learning.  One night she set things up for her baby doll to join us for dinner.  She and baby took turns taking bites throughout the meal.

In spite of all this growing, she is still the littlest around here, and sometimes when you're little you just don't get to do certain things.  And Baby Girl is no longer indifferent about missing out on things that the rest of us are doing.  Do not joke with her about staying home while everyone else leaves, lest she leave you with her "Don't Stay Me At Home!" line she demanded at Gommy.  And don't ask her to stay in the car when Mommy and Sam are dropped at a birthday party at the splash pad, lest you suffer a 20 minute melt down.  Chris texted me this picture while we were at the party - when they got home she ran to her room and came back with her swim suit so that they could head back to the splash pad.  She didn't handle the "not this time" all that well.

One day last week, while Daddy was out of town, I took the kids for donuts as a special after-school treat.  She handed me this and told me she was done.  Do all 2-year-olds go through a phase of eating only the parts touching the frosting, or is that just my 2-year-olds?

This morning was our last music class for the fall session.  The kiddos all dressed up for "national wear a costume day" - the music class was at a Baptist church...teachers hands were a bit tied on what she was allowed to call our little celebration!  That would be Mommy's very first ballet costume she is wearing - her favorite of all her dress up items.  Fear not: of the 8 little girls at class today, there were 3 Elsa's. 

We started up a Tuesday morning bible study a few weeks ago, so even though our music class is over, our weeks are still sufficiently full.  She's a good side-kick to have around - and way better at shopping than her brother was at this age!