Little A: Toddler Top 10

It's been awhile since I've posted an update about Little A.  To catch up on this silly, sweet and sometimes sassy 2 year old (and show some of my 366 photos), I put together a list of her top 10 favorite things right now.

1.  Tea Parties: On our first day of summer break, a friend had us over for a tea party.  She put apple juice in the tea pots, and Little A loved drinking her "tea" and she hasn't stopped asking to have tea parties since (good thing we have 3 tea sets).

2.  Painting: Another near daily request at our house is to paint.  We've done lots of painting, including watercolors, finger paints, and painting the deck.  There are toddler masterpieces covering our fridge at all times.



This is Little A working on her birthday Thank You cards this spring.  I wrote Thank you on white cardstock, and let her paint with watercolors over the top so the secret message would show.



3.  Swimming: This summer has been hot!  No better way to cool off than swimming.  We've been able to do a few beach and pool days this summer, and Little A can't get enough.  She would stay in the water all day if she could, especially when she's allowed to have her floatie.

4.  Our Garden: We have a small box garden on the side of our house.  Little A, who normally (much like her Mommy) doesn't want anything to do with green veggies, has decided she loves the green beans growing in our garden (making Mommy and Daddy VERY happy!).  She's also a fan of picking raspberries from our bushes.

5.  Stories & Songs: Little A has been a book lover pretty much her whole (short) life.  Many times when we're out on our adventures, she'll find the book area, and bring one (or more) to me to read.  I frequently send her to, "go play!"  But I'm glad she likes to read, and most of the time I'm happy to read to her.  I'll have to post some of our favorites soon.  Along with books, she loves singing too.  And storytimes that include the two... she's in heaven.  She's still running around singing our ECFE songs, and sometimes (ushually when she's supposed to be sleeping) I'll hear her making up her own songs too.

6.  Cartoons: Or as Little A calls them, 'coons.  She's currently obsessed with all things Dora.  Caillou is a close second. 

7.  Adventures: Pretty much everything we do is an adventure.  If our job for the day is a trip to Target, I still call it an adventure (it's much easier to get her ready to go if I call it an adventure).  A few times a week we try to go on some fun little one adventures though, and Little A loves those days.  Actually, we're all much happier on those days. Below: puppet wagon, nature center, train museum

8.  Friends: We are lucky to have quite a few friends and neighbors with little kids for Little A and Baby J to play with.  Little A is really loving all of her friends right now.  She asks about our neighbor, Little L, just about every time we go outside. And she thinks any trip to the park she include Little EE or Little EJ.  Below is Little A playing with Little C.  He's about 6 months older, and she loves trying to catch up.  Here they were playing with a little toy snake E found in the grass.  They took turns hiding the snake in the trees and running around.  Later they played "crocidile" which apparently consists of laying down on your tummy and being really quiet (a game Mommy can certainly get behind).

9.  Diggers: This spring, there was quite a bit of construction on our drive to and from day care/work.  The construction drove me crazy, because I'm running a few minutes late most days, and the construction could slow things down considerably.  But Little A loved to watch the construction machines, especially the diggers. 

10.  Helping:  Little A has become such a good helper (when she wants to).  She enjoys dumping the ingredients in anything being mixed.  She had so much fun helping make Daddy's birthday cake!  She tries to help with Baby J.  Some things (like going to get toys, blankets, towels) she's very good at helping with, but others (like holding Baby J) are still a little difficult.

When I started this post, I thought it would be pretty easy to do.  But in the week I've been trying to finish it, I feel like things are already changing.  After telling us for months that her favorite color is orange (see the cake frosting and digger above) she now tells me her favorite color is green.  Her new favorite song is BINGO.  I know I say it all the time, but she's growing so fast!