S at 27 months: "She's So Two"

I took some flak following my 24-month S development post for saying I wasn't a fan of "The Terrible Twos" (the phrase, not the stage). The most common response? "You haven't gone through it yet."

Y'all were right. :)

Months 24 to 27 have certainly brought its share of meltdowns, overt stubbornness and (at times) a seeming inability to listen and comply at all, and indeed this can certainly get frustrating and exhausting!

But - I still don't like the aforementioned label, alliterative as it may be. :) Instead, Chris and I have grown fond of glancing at each other during one of S' episodes and proclaiming "She's So Two!"

Let's catch up on some official monthly pics!

25 months:

26 months:

27 months:

(Apparently she's auditioning for Canada's Next Top Toddler Model in this one!)

I also love this shot of her taken close to 27 months. She's all Chris in so many ways, but definitely has my own "gummy" smile!

Stats-wise, she's just under 34" tall (one more inch 'til she can hit up the kiddy slides at Great Wolf Lodge - woot!) and weighs 26 lbs. [Insert standard comment about her continued residence on the lowest quarter of both growth spectrums here.]

In addition to being "so two", a lot of awesomeness has emerged during the 24-27 month window. Here's a laundry list of notables:

• She has taken to describing and narrating everything in great detail! Some examples:
• [Pointing at a picture on the wall with foam stickers on it.] There's an orange elephant and a purple elephant and a blue elephant and a brown horsey and a red giraffe with black spots on it!
• [Describing how she called my bluff when she wanted to go back to daycare on the way home one day.] I got out of the wagon and started running then I fell down and got my boots and pants wet and dirty!
• [Recalling a conversation she had with Daddy earlier that day.] I was playing with a green ball and Daddy said "Do you want to go to Great Gramma and Grampa's?" and I said "No no no no no!" 
• She uses sound effects and hand actions to augment her stories. For example: We go pffffff to cool down the oatmeal!
• She states her preferences clearly and often provides reasoning. E.g., I don't like brown bananas. They have dirty spots.
• She's becoming more conversational, often asking people questions. E.g., Have you been to the Great Wolf Lodge, Nana? She often asks me what I'm doing when it isn't obvious to her.
• She has started using a lot more adjectives. For example: 
• Can I have some more delicious oatmeal?
• These are really beautiful flowers on my shirt!
• She wants to be part of all conversations, and will voice her displeasure when she feels left out. When adults are talking to each other around her, she'll often ask What are you talking about? or demand that everyone Stop talking!
• She knows the difference between real crying and fake crying and will usually admit when she's doing the latter. :)
• She is starting to play much more interactively with her peers. For example, she talks about how she plays trains and hide & seek with the kids at daycare, and she'll engage her friends in make believe play. (I'm a rabbit! Sammy, you be a frog!)
• She's really beginning to understand emotions. One of her current favourite toys is a bear dress-up puzzle which has six faces all with different expressions - happy, sad, angry, sleepy, sick and surprised. We often refer to the bears when we're discussing emotions - for example, I'll say "What kind of bear is Mommy right now?" and make a face, and she'll name the emotion. Then she'll do this back to me!
• She now jumps, skips or runs pretty much everywhere she goes. She loves to count to 10 and then jump onto stuff - a pile of pillows, her little couch, Mommy, etc. Thankfully she hasn't tried this with her little brother! (Yet.)
• Speaking of CJ, S has generally become gentler with him (despite the aforementioned "two-ness"). She most often wants to give him kisses, cover him with her "pink little blanket" (her favourite comfort object) and tell him "It's OK!" when he's crying. We mainly need to watch that she doesn't crush or smother him when she's feelin' the love!
• Some of her current favourite things to do include sensory crafts/activities (our 30-Day Creative Kid Challenge has been wonderful for this!), playing on Daddy's Kobo or Granda's iPad, finding hidden pictures, I Spy, colouring/stickers and matching games. We often hear her talk to herself about things that match and don't match, and the other night she built the following two towers that were exactly the same!

• She also likes making her dolls and animals talk to each other, and she'll give personalities to objects like pom poms and balls.
• Potty learning-wise, we've definitely had our ups and downs! This probably warrants another post, but for now let's just say we're not quite there yet. :)

I searched for some good videos to embed within this update and there wasn't a heck of a lot. (Not surprisingly, li'l brother appears to have stolen the show recently!) I did find the following cute one of S singing with her Papa. All together now - awwwwwwww!

What were your kids up to at 27 months old?