Every once in awhile I have to have a Mama brag post LOL! It’s only fair, since I also write up all of the craziness that comes with having a toddler 🙂
Today I just wanted to get out on “paper”, how incredibly amazing my daughter is. I know I’m biased, but I’m so impressed with her abilities.
I’m Almost Two and I can…
– Say small sentences!
“Here you go, (insert name)”, “Hi, (insert name)”, “I got it”, “Yes, Mama”, “Thank you, Mama”, “Yes, please Mama”, “Green block”, “Oh no, Mama. Away”….and many more!
– Clean up all by myself!
If I ask her to clean up her room, she knows where everything goes and can clean up all by herself. I still help her, of course, but I’m so impressed that she understands what to do, where things go, and can do it on her own.
– Ask to go potty and hold it until we get to a bathroom
She’s just done amazing with potty training. I am beyond happy that we are through this phase, and so amazed by how quickly she took to it.
– Say how old I’m going to be!
She just randomly decided she could do this one day! Adorable!
Caroline waits patiently when I ask her to (at the doctors office, in the grocery store line, etc). She waits in line better than most of the big kids in her gymnastics class. Even without being told to wait, she waits for me to say that it’s ok to do something. She gets to the stairs on the sidewalk, or to where the sidewalk meets the road, and she stops, waits and puts her hand out to hold my hand.
– Listen to directions
In addition to being able to wait, she knows how to stop, turn around, do something right now, put things away, clean up, be gentle, say sorry, etc.
– Share
Caroline shares with her friends (stuffed animals), and shares with Mama, Daddy, Auntie, Uncle, the dog, etc. She does it all on her own now.
– Put groceries away
As soon as we get home with groceries, she starts reaching into the bags and handing me things to put away. Love this, as it really is helpful!
– Help in the kitchen
That’s right! Caroline can make her own zucchini ravioli! She can lay out the pieces of zucchini, put a dollop of cheese in it, fold it up, and place it in the pan. Holy cow, I just couldn’t believe my eyes!
– Walk up and down stairs while holding on to the wail or a railing
No longer does she go up and down with Mama’s help, or on her hands and knees. She walks like a big girl and holds onto the wall if she can’t reach the railing. Scary, but awesome to see. She also waits for me if there isn’t a railing, and holds my hand.
– Help set the table
At dinner time, she puts the utensils on the table, and carries out a few other items if we ask her to.
– Help unload the dishwasher
She loves to help unload the dishwasher. She hands me the utensils a few at a time. She puts the cutting boards away on the shelf all on her own.
– Help put laundry away
I have her help me make piles. Her job is usually to help find the underwear. She can then open the underwear drawer all on her own, but them away, and close it. Last time we did laundry, she also went to her closet, grabbed a hanger for me and a shirt off of the pile and handed it to me! I’d hang it up, and she’d take the hanger to and put it on the rod in the closet. I was amazed.
– Calm myself down
She doesn’t always do this, but she has the ability to calm herself down. She squeezes her hands together, takes a deep breath, and does it really well when she tries.
– Use a fork and spoon
She was refusing to use her utensils, now she’s back at them and she uses them really well. She even puts her hand underneath the spoon to catch anything that falls.
– Find all of my letters
She’s known her alphabet for quite awhile now, and she loves finding letters in books, and written on objects. She knows a couple of numbers. Now that she’s talking she says a lot of the letter names in addition to identifying them by pointing. She can say “A, B, C, D, E, O, P, R, T, Y” She can identify all of them, and some of them (like N) she says a word instead of the name. If she sees an N, she says “Nana”, if she sees a W, she says “Wawa” for water.
– Identify all of the main colors
She can identify all of the main colors, and says many of the color names.
– Match shapes and do big block puzzles
Yesterday we had some flashcards out, we made piles of all the circles, all the stars, etc. She was able to match them by shape and color. She also puts her big wooden block puzzles together in seconds now!
– Do gymnastics SO AMAZINGLY WELL
Words don’t even describe how awesome she does. Her instructor comments every time how good she is, how strong she is, and how well she listens and tries everything. She can hang on a bar and touch her toes to the bar by herself. She can walk on a balance beam with minimal help. She jumps all the way down the long trampoline instead of running. She does the most perfect somersault I’ve ever seen. She does her stretches well, and follows the instructors lead. She listens to him and always does exactly what he asks. I leave every week feeling so proud I almost tear up…proud mama!
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– Say please without being asked
I am realizing now that I over-prompt her. She knows what to say and when to say it. I am trying to wait to ask her to say please, because many times she says it all on her own. Same thing with saying thank you. All I have to say is “Caroline, what do you say?”, and she comes up with thank you all on her own.
– Play red light green light
She invented this game on her own, I swear! We watch the street lights in the car together, and we always say “green means go”, “red means stop/wait”…she understands wait more than stop. One day in the living room she said “green, go” and started running. Then she said “wait” and stopped. She can’t say red yet, so I now help her out with that and say “green light”, “red light”.
– Jump and get two feet off of the ground
She can jump so high and get both feet off of the ground. She also does her donkey kicks at gymnastics and gets two feet off of the ground when her hands are on the ground. This girl is seriously strong!
– “Read” books all by myself
She sits and reads before her nap, before bed, and at other times. She goes page by page and does her own “reading”. Cutest thing I’ve ever heard.
– Wipe off my own hands and face
I still do a follow up wipe, but she can wipe her hands and face off all on her own.
– Turn pages of a book one at a time
She’s gotten really good all of the sudden at turning pages one at a time. She waits for us to be done reading the page, then flips the pages with one hand to separate them and turns the page.
– Remember my books so well that I know certain words to say when on a specific page
She can read along with certain books that we read a lot. She chimes in and says the right word at the right time. I don’t know if she recognizes the word on the page, or just the placement in the story, or both. Either way, it is awesome!
– Say sooooo many words!
Her latest words are “two” and “elbow” LOL!
– Talk loud and soft
We can ask her to talk loud and she’ll get really really loud. Then we ask her to talk quietly and she gets really really quiet. Soooo adorable. Again, something I never taught her…she just knew how to do it!
-Identify facial expressions and emotions
Caroline points to characters in books and can tell when they are sad/mad/etc. She says “oh no”. She also correctly identifies when Mama is upset! “Mama, mad”. WHAT!?!? This is the one I am so incredibly astounded by! I just can’t believe she is so in tune with emotion that she can recognize it and call it by name. Go Caroline go!
– Understand everything my parents say… (no seriously) haha
Literally she’s repeating everything now, and she literally understands things. She can go and do anything I ask her to do. She knows SO MUCH. I can tell her something one time, and she remembers it. I showed her what a dot was, and she points them out everywhere and says “dot” ever since. I showed her elbow the other day because she hit it on the table. I don’t think I’ve ever focused on teaching her about her elbow before. That same day she was pointing to her elbow and saying “elbow” perfectly. We have to spell things like “ice cream, cookies, playground, outside, walk, fountain”. When we are going somewhere I tell her what my expectations are: “stay close to mama”, “wait your turn”, “we need to stay quiet”. She does everything I ask her to. Yesterday she even repeated my instructions back to me a couple of minutes later. “Book, sit, Mama”. I had explained to her that at storytime, we’d get to hear a book being read, and that she needed to stay quiet and sit with Mama.
Today I wrote A, B on her doodle pro. She said “C” and tried to draw a C! She seems to really get everything! Our most recent visit to the doctor she was responding to the doctor, answering my questions, nodding her head, and doing everything the doctor asked. The doctor said that she was “very advanced for her age”. I always think so, but it is so amazing to hear that from a doctor. Caroline impresses me so much every single day. I am so very proud to call her my daughter!