Monaloca

I haven’t done an overall Melina update since her birthday in June. We’ve been busy, and monthly updates started to seem like overkill. But our little girl’s as active and full of personality as ever – and still changing quite a bit – so here goes.

Since mid-June….

When we ask Melina to do something she doesn’t want to, instead of screaming or even stating a firm “no,” she politely says “No thank you (mama/dada).” “Melina, please clean up your toys.” “No thank you, Mama.”

Her favorite phrase is “What doing?” or “What doing (mama, dada)?” She’s also started asking “why?” fairly consistently. Kai never went through this phase, though with him I distinctly remember a “then what?” phase around age three.

She’s developed a minor princess leaning. She sometimes insists on wearing “big dress,” a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Weiss, and loves the book “Pinkalicious,” a birthday gift from Auntie Cyndie and Uncle Rich. Daddy bought her “Goldilicious,” which isn’t nearly as good in our minds but features a unicorn, so Meli loves it.

Since mid-July….

She’s learned how to whisper and loves to practice, with the added flair of hand gestures a la Kai, whenever the mood strikes. She also loves walking backwards. Not quite sure when she picked this up (maybe it’s been months?) but recently she’s been having fun with it.

Melina made her first preschool friend! Juliette, a three-year-old little blond girl. She also talks about Sophia and “Banana” who I finally figured out is Hannah. She seems to like hanging out with the “big kid” three-year-olds at school, and also loves playing with three-year-old Kendall down the street and four-year-old Zoe Zarling (whose little sister Melina dubbed “Other Zoe.” Poor little sis!) She asks to play with cousins Noah and Lucas frequently. Luckily, we’ll see them in Capitola next weekend.

More recently…

Melina can take off her own clothes and diaper but sometimes gets stuck on her shirt. She can also get her pants back on mostly by herself, but often asks for help getting her legs in two separate holes. Of course half the time they end up backwards. She still likes to do absolutely everything herself, including grabbing onto monkey bars that are two feet out of reach. She’ll usually ask for help on her own when she realizes she needs it, but will throw a fit if we offer before she asks.

For the past two months, she’s been asking to use the potty at home and about town at least three times a day. Until recently she refused to use the pint-sized potty at school (ironic – it’s just her size!) but was inspired when some fellow two-year-olds took to it. She now wears her beloved Elmo panties to school and last week came home dry four out of five days. Not quite sure what led to multiple “uh ohs” on Thursday. She’s also been doing pretty well at home and around town, though is most definitely still “in training.” I’m thrilled and slightly surprised. Kai was 3 1/4 by the time he made it this far, not 2 1/4. Yay Jelly Bean!

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We’ve had a super warm spell in Berkeley this past week. On Wednesday my childhood friend, Sarah, and her gang were driving from Portland for a visit with us, so I picked up Melina early from preschool. All the kids were suited up for water play when I arrived. I don’t think Melina wanted to leave!

It turned out Sarah and the girls were running late, so when we got home I pulled a storage bin from the basement and Melina and I filled it with water and toys. Perfect for two-year-old play.

She played with and sat in the tub for over an hour, and was still sitting in it when Sarah, Kari, Linnea, and Joy arrived. We pried her out with the promise of Zachary’s pizza, and the arrival of bro bro Kai from summer camp.

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“Who do you want to put you to bed, Mommy or Daddy?” we often ask Melina after the last good-night story. Inevitably she’ll say, “Mina,” herself. When she started trying to climb into her crib on her own, we asked if she wanted the railing off. (Funny, most kids end up in a toddler bed because they start climbing out, not in.)

Last night Joey, screwdriver in hand, took action. Bye bye crib, hello toddler bed! Melina was ecstatic. After her last story on the couch, we said, “Ok Melina, give Mama and Dada a kiss good night then put yourself to bed.” As she walked towards her room, Joey yelled from the couch, “Don’t forget to close your door.”

Seconds later we heard the door shut, then not a single peep. I was insanely curious but knew if we went to check the whole thing would backfire. She didn’t sing one song, barely said one word, and didn’t get out of bed til we walked in the next morning. She did call out twice in the middle of the night – once because her water was “broken” (she was tilting the straw cup) then later because “pillow fall down” and she wanted me to pick it up. I don’t think she realized she could have gotten out to get it herself! I’m sure it won’t take long.

(8/10 update: Railing’s back up. Melina refused to nap in her big girl bed – or anywhere – yesterday. After an hour-long power struggle Joey said “If you don’t go to sleep I’ll put the railing back up.” “Ok Daddy.” Railing up! We’ll try again later.)

On a related big-girl note, take a look at Melina brushing her teeth with extended commentary.

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Last weekend we watched our neighbor friend Max while his parents went to a birthday party. Max and Meli, nearly the same age, are always excited to see each other, but like most early two-year-olds, play alongside instead of with each other. In fact both are so independent that they entertained themselves, with only minimal help on our parts, for nearly four hours. At one point I looked at Joey and said, “These two two-year-olds are easier than one six-year-old Kai!”

While we love Mr. Intensity to pieces, it’s fun to see Ms. Smiles ease her way through life, even at such an early age. Of course she’s also full of energy, boundless curiosity, and a distinct mischievous side. Her teacher Ms. L says she’s a textbook two-year-old, testing just enough to find hard limits then (most the time) moving on to the next thing.

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