Two and a Half

Next month Stella will be two and a half. I probably won't have time to write then and so I'm going ahead and updating you all on her now.
Stella is 40 inches tall and weighs a little over 35lbs. According to the internet, that's about the stats of an average 4-5 year old!
She wears 3T and 4T clothing and a size 9 shoe.

Our girl is a talker! I can't even remember all of the cute things she says and does because there are so many! We are really enjoying this stage in her growth because she is so fun loving and interactive.
Some of the funny things she is saying these days...
When referring to Drew and me she always calls us "You guys".
So a recent conversation went like this,
"Where we going you guys?"
"Do you want to go to Costco?"
"Perfect!!!"
(after a minute) "Let's go you guys!"
Stella loves to go on outings. As noted in the conversation above... every morning when she wakes up she says "where are we going" or "what doin'"? If I say that we don't have any thing to do today or aren't going anywhere she gets a sad look on her face and says "but I slept a long time!". Apparently good sleep earns fun outings.
And good sleep there is! Stella is sleeping from 730/8pm to 9/930am and taking a 2-3 hour nap most days. Every now and then we'll hear her talking and singing through out her whole nap.
Stella is also a really good mimic. She has very well behaved dolls too. Today while on a walk I heard her tell her babies in the stroller not to ask to get out and not to fuss. Later she told them they had to say hi to people that passed because it was sweet, kind and nice. HAHA. Those are obviously two lessons we are learning right now.
Every morning SJ wakes up with "friends" in her bed and they are always her friends in real life... with the occasional Bible character thrown in. Sometimes Moses is in there with a paci or Jonah and water and always Layne... her current BFF. They go with us in the car and on the couch and in the bed. They always have an imaginary paci too. She is also usually accompanied by her pretend phone in her pretend pocket and she calls her friends, their moms and her daddy a lot. It usually sounds like this...
"HEY! Yea. Ummm. Yea. Yea. We going to _____. Yea. Ok. Bye."
Another common phrase we hear is "cuz?" and when that gets no response she says "may I please ask why?". I had no idea the "why" phase would come this early!!
SJ loves sunglasses but hates if the sun is shining in her face.
She loves to play at Pottery Barn Kids with the jogging stroller, babies and big girl desk and kitchen.

(busy getting work done at PBK)
We love to walk and play at the playground a lot too. Slides are the current favorite.
Stella also had her first admirer the other day at the playground. This little boy from our church followed her with in inches at all times and even attached himself to her going down the slide. He would throw a ball to her and if she didn't catch it, her friend Layne would grab it. When this happened the little boy would cry to his mom, "I don't want to play with THAT girl... I want to play with THAT (SJ) girl!". It was so so so hilarious. Stella was definitely playing hard to get. The attention sort of freaked her out.
SJ also loves to do "exercises", which consist of push ups, crunches and arm circles and sometimes high knees.
Her favorite foods are still basically the same... mac n cheese, avocado, sweet potato, bread, pizza, pouches, any crunchy salty food, apple sauce and yogurt.
Stella also LOVES to sing. She tries to pick up on the words to any song. She can sing pretty much all the words to an entire kids praise CD, Oh No You Never Let Go, Jesus Loves Me, ABCs and a few choice elmo songs. She likes to make up songs too. I love to hear her singing to herself while she takes care of her babies or when she is in her own world in the back seat of the car.
We are also in the do it yourself phase. She can put on her own shoes, help get dressed (and pick out the clothes), get in her carseat and booster seat and help buckle, get her milk from the fridge, and feed herself most foods.
Our girl is not a baby any more but we are really loving our big girl!