Monaloca

Our littlest girl turns two today! Happy birthday, Nalani poppers. Just look how much our baby – who is no longer much of a baby at all – has grown.

First and foremost, she is as strong-willed as ever. Our girl is confident, intentional, determined, and loves an audience, especially when her actions provokes laughter. She adores her big sis (who reciprocates the feeling) and looks up to her as someone to emulate. Case in point: I took both girls to the doc when Melina got her kindergarten shots. Nalani followed every action Melina was asked to take, and once the five pricks were done on sis demanded one for herself. She got a cartoon bandaid instead.

Her two favorite sentences these days are “I do it, I DO IT!” and “I don’t want it.” Depending on the day, this could be provoked by the exact same thing, say, me pulling out her toothbrush at teeth brushing time. Nalani has also been saying “Mo teeta” for months, complete with the “more” hand motion, whenever she wants more of something. We chalked it up to toddler-jabber for a while but a couple weeks ago, as her language started to improve and the phrase remained, I finally asked her, “Nalani, are you saying ‘More please that’?” She said a confident “Yes,” complete with a single head nod, as in “Of course that’s what I’m saying, mama.”

Even Nalani’s destructive streak comes with intent. It seems tied to her love of having an audience, or more to the point, getting a reaction. We repeatedly observe her walk into a room and assess the surroundings with a little glint in her eye that says “Ok, what can I do here to make my presence known?” Then she’ll go to it. Sometimes it’s swiping an entire shelf of clothes to the floor at Old Navy, or dumping out a box full of dot paint when I pick up Melina at preschool, or tossing pantry items one by one out of our corner kitchen cabinet. Another tactic for grabbing an audience is to run away: at the park, at Melina’s school as I’m trying to coral both girls out the door, or at home when we’re trying to put on her jammies. She always makes a point of stopping to look back, just to make sure we’re watching her grand escape. And she always looks very proud.

Her desire to observe and methodically emulate comes in handy for getting what she wants. At the park the other week, a friend and I were hanging out with Nalani in the fenced-off toddler section while the bigger kids moved back and forth between playgrounds. One moment Nalani was climbing peacefully behind a slide-locked gate, and the next she was out. From watching the big kids open and close the “lock,” she figured out how to do it on her own. Then, hanging out with her cousins at my parents’ house last weekend, Nalani patiently watched the older kids climb Grandpa’s ladder to pick oranges. You could almost see her taking notes in her nearly two-year-old head. I knew by the end of the weekend she’d walk up to the ladder without a word and climb to the top. About an hour before we left, she did.

Nalani started showing distinct interest in the potty a little over a month ago. She asks to read “Time to Pee!” (by Mo Willems) several times a day, and goes through all the potty-ing motions seamlessly. Except for the fact that nothing, not a single tinkle, has ever come out. For over a month now she asks to use “potty,” goes to the bathroom and puts the toddler ring on the pot, pulls down her pants (we have to help with the diaper), and sits. Then after nothing happens she wipes, gets down, flushes, and washes her hands. Once she sat there long enough for Melina to recite the whole “Time to Pee!” book, which took a good 10 minutes. Not a drop. I’m glad she at least has the routine down, and am hoping the lack of action is the sign of a really strong bladder.

Our baby recently started the preschool program at her current daycare, and while drop-offs are still tough she loves the big kid playground and familiar older faces (like Tejal) from the toddler room. She’s also eager to start at big sis’s preschool, just as soon as they have room! Nalani is super comfortable there, so much so that a few weeks ago when I was picking up Melina early she lined right up with the Wee Duckies to have afternoon snack. Miss T saw her and said “Nalani knows her people. She’s ready.”

She’s a whiz at toddler puzzles, counting to 13, and singing the ABCs and other catchy preschool tunes. She also knows what words are color words, but for now calls everything “boo” (blue). She also love, love, loves books. She will still sit on her own and quietly flip through her favorites for over 30 minutes. She’s very insistent about getting in enough mommy and daddy story time, asking one of us to “Peas come” to the reading pillow, then gently shoving her chosen books, one after another as each story finishes, into the grown-up’s hand. In the evening this serves another purpose: playing into her beloved routines. As long as we follow the story and sleepsack ritual and she’s heading to her room the same time as big bro and sis, Nalani goes to bed without a fuss. Thank you, Nalani.

Happy birthday. We love you!

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