Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Now that Braelle is Two

As of yesterday I finished my first year of nursing school and it has surprisingly flown by. I have been so blessed with an outstanding support system and I'm so grateful to be studying to do something that I love. Thank you to everyone who has prayed me through. This time next year (hopefully), Ill be Hannah Runion, RN :)

As for Braelle, a lot has happened since she has turned two! I've been taking notes on her so that I wouldn't forget anything by the time I could finally sit down to blog.

Potty training: this has been a slow easy going process. She doesn't wear a diaper unless she's asleep or we leave the house. And she can hold her pee for 4+ hours. As long as she's willing, she does great with remembering when to go. We've taken a few steps back this week because lately when she sits down to go, her tee-tee "jumps" out of her potty and wets her clothes. She does not like that at all so she's regressed to preferring her diaper for now.

Weaning: this too, is a slowwww process. I really just don't know how to do it. I need a step-by-step manual on 'how to wean a Braelle-like two year old'. It feels impossible. She loves it SO MUCH and it has kept her healthy for 2+ years and I'm very thankful for it, but I am SO READY to put it to rest. If you have any experience with this, PLEASE give me some advice. I'm lost.

ABC's: Homegirl knows her ABC's. Every one of them. She was singing them to me in the tub tonight but got a little side tracked. "ABCDEFGH I love you...JKLM..." Ahh she melts my heart.

123's: She can count to ten on a good day. Sometimes skips #4. Maybe because when she sees the #4, she calls it #12. Not sure why...

Days of the Week: Braelle is learning the days of the week. Every day I ask her what day it is and she always gives it a good guess. Normally says its 'Monday or Tuesday'. We still have a little work to do here.

Braelle Hope Runion: that's her name and she knows the whole thing.

She puts her shoes on the right feet, always has, and wears a size 8 (rather large foot). She wears a 2t in clothes and is almost 25lbs.

Obsessed with candy...like OBSESSED. We call candy "emergencies" around here b/c well, we need Braelle to have some candy to make her happy when we're in public and a melt down is about to unfold.. She also really likes her vitamins.

Sneezes into her antecubital (aka her elbow). She does really well with this 90% of the time. I teach her the medical terms for her body parts. Nursing school would be so much easier if I would have grown up knowing the correct term for everything.

Manners: She has the most precious manners I've EVER seen a two year old have. She says please, thank you, your welcome, yes sir (to my dad), and yes mam (if I remind her). She also says excuse me! Mostly she is super good about saying thank you. If I open the door for her, hand her something, nurse her, give her a kiss/hug, it's "oh thank you mommy". Chrissy got a big hug and an "oh thank you" today for hanging a Christmas ornament. It's the little things. This girl is SO grateful just to be alive and she'll thank you for every little thing.

She still really loves to read, play outside, and pretend to talk on the phone. I hear her all the time pretending to place an order at Chick-fil-a over the phone, "Hey...lemon (lemonade), no ice, thank you, bye." She recently has really started liking her sandbox. She'll play on the backporch in it by herself for about 20 minutes. That's major. She still really loves our undivided attention though.

Christmas is coming and Braelle is really excited! She can't stop talking about Baby Jesus' birthday and all the pretty lights! We put colored lights on our tree this year just for her. I got a huge hug when I plugged them in.

Here's a few recent pictures!