Addie is the sweetest little girl at age two and a half. We can't believe how fast she is growing and how much she is learning. She continues to have an amazing memory and vocabulary. She loves music, playing her instruments, reading books, and drawing with markers right now.
She goes to ballet once a week, usually with Mandy, but I have been able to go a few times. She is so cute in her little tutus (she has literally a dozen of them to pick from every time she goes to ballet), and she just loves to dance. I am even starting to see a difference in the way she moves and dances....I could almost describe it as graceful. It is also nice that she is making friends with a few other little girls in her ballet class. Out of six girls, three of them have a nickname of Addie (our Addelyn and two Addisons).
I take Addie to a Waldorf parent-child class every Friday. We both enjoy it so much. The other parents are great, and all of the children are very sweet and play well together. Our friends Teresa and Ellie also joined the class, so it is really nice to see them each Friday. We usually go to lunch afterwards too. It's a fun activity for Addie that I look forward to every week.
We still belong to a Meetup group called Mommy & Me of Bradenton. It is made up of mostly stay-at-home moms that organize fun activities and events for their children. Teresa and Ellie are in the group as well, and Teresa hosts a lot of fun events at her house. Although I can't make it to many of the Mommy & Me events, it is nice for Mandy to take Addie to them occasionally so Addie can play with the other kids. She really has fun with Ellie and Kenley in particular. This picture was from an event called Penguins and Popsicles where the girls made penguinis out of their footprints and then ate homemade popsicles.
We finally bought Addie a little tricycle. She was so excited to ride it, even though she still has a little trouble with the pedals. When she actually is able to move a little bit, she gets so excited and yells, "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" It is pretty cute. Hopefully the trike will help to improve her coordination, which isn't all that great!
Addie has been going through phases of major interest in a certain activity or toys for about a month, during which that is all she wants to do. For example, right before and after Christmas, her favorite thing to do was to "play spices." This entailed getting out a dozen or so bottles of dried spices, lining them all up, opening them one at a time, and smelling them. She actually can recognize several spices by scent or sight - cinnamon, basil, cumin, thyme, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, and turmeric to name a few. Then the spices game turned into an art activity in which we would draw small shapes with glue and Addie would sprinkle spices on each one and then tap off the excess. After about a month of this Jay and I were going crazy playing spices, so we finally told her that we couldn't waste spices anymore. She finally moved on to something else, but I will always remember her obsession with spices!
Ever since we went to Disney and she met some of the princesses she has been talking about them. She has Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora dresses that she loves to dress up in. Mandy got her Belle and Cinderella magnetic dolls for Christmas, and she got a set of 8 princess dolls for Christmas. She loves dressing them and knows exactly what color of dress and shoes goes on each princess, and which crown goes on who. She loves to role play with the princess dolls - going to the ball, to the park, etc. She keeps telling me that she has only met Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Jasmine, and Ariel. She says that she NEEDS to meet Tiana, Snow White, and Rapunzel. We'll have to make another trip to Disney soon!
Another phase that is still on-going is her love of her tiny "square books." These were some books that I found at a rummage sale that we used for potty prizes. Now she keeps them in a little blue basket and totes them everywhere. We read them to her in the bath, before bed, while watching TV, at dinner, you name it. She pretty much has them memorized now and can "read" them to us. They are 5-page books of several Disney stories and characters.
Right now she also has a major obsession with Grandma Julie's "teeny babies" (Beanie Babies). Addie calls them her "very special friends" and she begs to go over to play with them every day. When we do break down and let her go play with them it is usually a 2-hour ordeal during which she has to take them all out one by one, look at their tag to read their name (but she has them all memorized), and then line them all up on the couch. Then she puts them each down the "slide" (lawn blower attachment) one at a time. Then they all are placed back in the tub until next time. She just absolutely loves these Beanie Babies for some reason. I keep thinking this phase is going to pass, but it has been a month and is still going strong.
Can't wait to see what the next six months brings!
