THE KUPPERSMITH FAMILY: Marlo is 2 and a HALF

Marlo is now officially two and a HALF. She hasn't gotten the idea of how important this HALF is but I am sure she will soon. Liam has been trying to teach her. At her 30 month check up, she was 33 pounds and 38 inches tall. The doctor is pleased with her physical health and how she is developing in all areas. She especially wasn't concerned with her speech when Marlo spoke a detailed complete sentence to me in front of her. Marlo definitely is chatty like her brother. The only difference with her is that she talks with her hands quite a bit...I guess that could be a girl thing. Some of our favorite Marlo sayings are,

"I can't have rooms" ( I don't have room)
" I want to do it my own" (I want to do it by myself)
"Epsersize" (exercise)

Marlo is currently in 3T clothing. She still naps for 1.5 to 3 hours in the afternoons. I would like her to keep the nap forever but there are nights where it throws off her sleep at bedtime so I am not too optimistic about the amount of napping days we have left. If I had to guess, I would say we have about 6 more months.

Marlo continues to be an independent and expressive little girl. She has a little bit of a temper too. We say "use your words" often. When she gets frustrated, she either hits or goes straight to screaming and crying. The hard part is, she is so loud, we can hardly talk to her to get her distracted or calmed down.

Marlo enjoys playing outside, getting her nails painted, singing, playing games, dressing up as different characters (her favorite is Spiderman), having pretend picnics, playing with her babies, playing doctor, and doing other people's hair and makeup. She is especially good at doing Blake's hair and makeup. Marlo likes reading books and watching movies like Little Mermaid and Frozen. When seeing characters in books, while playing, and/or on TV, she automatically assigns everyone a role. For example, she has a play camera with disney characters shown in the pictures. She is Minnie Mouse, Arden is Daisy, Liam is Mickey Mouse, Blake is Goofy, Duncan is Pluto, and Laura is Donald. I love how Laura made the cut and I am nowhere to be found. Marlo continues to love ballet and practice it at home. She is excited to go to ballet camp this summer as well.

Marlo's favorite item in the house is her owl pillow. It goes everywhere around the house with her. We even recently got a back up one, just in case. Her favorite color is pink. Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, fruit, yogurt, tomatoes, red peppers, and cheese. She also loves anything chocolate. Her babysitters have commented on several occasions about the unbelievable amount of macaroni and cheese she can eat. Marlo's favorite song is "Let it Go" from Frozen. She also likes singing her ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me. Marlo loves anything Little Mermaid, Minnie Mouse, or Hello Kitty. Marlo's friends from school are Laurel and Bentley. Her other favorite friends to play with are Ellie, Collins, and Logan.

As far as potty training goes, I anticipate we will try soon. Marlo has been showing more and more interest but it has to be her idea. I would love to have her potty trained but am not going to rush it. We will wait until she seems ready, try, and if it doesn't work out, wait a little longer and try again until it sticks.

Behaviorally, I can see Marlo is slowly creeping to the "terrible threes" (the twos have nothing on the threes). She is getting more sassy and is often determined to do what she wants no matter what. She has quite the selective hearing when being asked to do something she doesn't want to do. Our biggest struggles with her are all related to the carseat. She wants to buckle herself but every time she gets in the car, she tries to play around and not buckle. Then, while I am driving, she thinks it is a good idea to completely UNBUCKLE WHILE I AM DRIVING!!! This is of course extremely dangerous. I have found a few consequences that seem to be working for now to stop this but she is just not mature enough to realize how dangerous it truly is.

Marlo continues to be learning her shapes and we are working on her identifying the first letter of her name. She knows it is M but she isn't so sure what an M looks like sometimes. I am amazed at her fine motor skills. When she "scribbles," it is so controlled and neat. Her coloring is similar to Liam at a much older age. I guess the stereotype regarding boys and girls in this area is true in our house.

Marlo is a loving and active little girl. She is affectionate with her kisses and hugs and loves her big brother more than anything.