Emma's Last Month Being Two!

Emma has embarked on her last month as a two year old!  In my mind, she is already three and so I am not too sentimental about my baby turning a year older.  Maybe Violet's impending birth is helping me accept my middle daughter's age progression, or maybe Emma is just already acting like a three year old and the calendar is finally catching up.  I am more emotional about the fact that she will no longer be the baby in the house, and that is causing me to tear up far more than her age.  How will Emma fare with the transition and how will I?  She is definitely still a mama's girl but also has a really big heart when it comes to her baby sister.  Violet's arrival shall be interesting to say the least and for now I am just trying to enjoy every moment I have left of Emma as the baby of the family.

In anticipation of our new baby, we are still diligently working on Emma's sleep habits.  After seven nights (not in a row) of sleeping in her own bed through the night, we took her out for ice cream.  She was super proud of her achievement and has since received two more prizes of Barbie outfits.

Emma wants curly hair like Lucy, and has lately enjoyed wearing the curlers from their pretend beauty shop around the house all day.  Sadly, she has hair like me, and the curls last about ten minutes once the rollers are taken out.  She also loves to wear "decorations" which include multiple hair accessories at one time, tutus, bracelets, rings and necklaces.  She truly believes that variety is the spice of life and our current battle with her is trying to convince her that she can't wear two different pairs of shoes at the same time - for example a boot on one foot and a tennis shoe on the other.  I'd let her find out the hard way, but that didn't work the last time we tried that approach when she ran around barefoot in the snow.

We continue to put her energy to good use and she is now a pro at vacuuming after meals.  In the bottom left picture she was wearing a skirt that was a little too big and it fell down while she was vacuuming.

 She loves helping in the kitchen too and the sampling of ingredients that comes with cooking.

She has been doing a great job at the All By Myself Story Time.  The other day on the way home from the library, I asked Emma if she did a good job listening to the teacher.  She told me, "Yup, I listened a little, picked my nose a little, and listened some more."  Here she is below doing a good job on the listening part at story time.

Our little girl has definitely embraced the trials and tribulations of being three already.  We are working on her getting ready in the morning on her own as well as making her bed, and listening to directions the FIRST time they are told to her.  For some reason she currently translates any type of direction into crazy running back and forth while gleefully screaming.  She operates best when given choices and will flat out rebel if she is told to do something without options.  She requires adequate warning to make a smooth transition and rarely takes naps, much to my dismay.  She is full of energy and loves to harass her sister.  She drives us crazy and melts our hearts sometimes within the same five minutes.  As the sun rises on her third year of life, we are looking forward to watching her little personality continue to develop and hoping that the kisses, hugs and cuddles that she is famous for will never be outgrown.  We love our almost three year old!