{alligator: JellyCat // tee: Cat & Jack for Target (old) // skirt: Cat & Jack for Target}
{month twenty-seven} Daphne did NOT want to sit for this picture. (Which is one of the reasons why this update is slightly late.) Amazingly Aaron got a few shots, including some with Eloise in which Daphne was MUCH happier! And while Daphne is a big kid, this picture makes the girls look closer in size than they really are; Eloise has quite a bit of height – and a few pounds – on Daphne.
Daphne wants to do everything herself, as do most toddlers. She says “ME!” or “SELF!” when she wants to do something, rather than having someone else do it for her. She insists on wiping her hands and mouth with either her napkin or a washcloth after meal time. And when she wipes her mouth off, she also wipes off her tongue!
While I was holding out for Daphne to be a lefty, she draws and colors with her right hand. But, she still eats two-handed, including with utensils. So, maybe she’ll not to a total righty! Also, when she was coloring recently and the crayon wasn’t working, she told me, “Mama, no inking!”
Daphne LOVES food and will try anything. She has a healthy appetite and really loves to eat. And while she will devour any type of fruit, she loves veggies as well, including broccoli – her favorite, and most recently, lettuce (including kale, spinach, and cabbage). Daphne doesn’t, however, like chocolate. At least if it’s the main ingredient in a dessert (like a brownie). It’s so strange! And she also must peel her own fruit. And doesn’t want any of her food cut (she’ll say “No cut!”).
Over the past few months, the biggest change in Daphne is her ability to communicate. She is constantly chattering, but it’s becoming much more clear what she is saying. She says “got it!” when she does or completes something. She asks “why?” all. the. time. And if you don’t give her a good enough answer, she’ll just keep asking “why” until she’s satisfied! “Ga” used to be her filler word for any word she didn’t know, but now it’s pretty much exclusively used for her pacifier. (She sleeps with Duckie – her lovie, Ga – her pacifier, and Albee – her alligator from her monthly pictures. And if she is upset or sad and wants comfort, these are the three things she asks for.) Daphne also has added the phrase “all day” to almost everything she says or talks about; like “Me eat broccoli all day.” We aren’t totally sure where this came from or how it started, but it’s pretty funny sometimes! And just this past weekend, she called flamingoes migos, and it was super cute. I feel like that might be a word that sticks around in the family vernacular.
Daphne still LOVES music and is singing all the time. We are getting to the end of our weekly music class which she loves and we will definitely miss each week. Her favorite song, as of late, is “Old MacDonald had a farm EIEIO” and her favorite part is “EIEIO!” She learned the song from watching Daniel Tiger and if she could watch that specific episode over and over, she would. I recently got her the book “Old MacDonald Had A Truck” and she is OBSESSED. We read it at least a few times per day, at bedtime each night, and she “reads” it in bed before she goes to sleep.
Daphne is doing really well in school. I figured she would be, but she is the youngest in the class by quite a bit. She spends Tuesdays going to the library for storytime (and then she comes home and shows us the stamps on her hands and the letter of the day). She really enjoys playing with her friends, doing art projects, and taking nature walks. Honestly, most days I have no idea what she did (based on her chatting about the school day) but lately she has been singing songs that I recognize from when Eloise was at school. Also, she only cries about half the time at drop-off, so that’s a win, and then she almost never wants to leave at pick-up.
While it’s not always correct, Daphne counts everything. She generally starts from four or five and counts up into the teens. She also knows the names of colors and can tell you a color if you ask about one, but if you ask her what color something is, she almost always tells you blue. I know this is something she’ll learn over time so I’m not worried at all.
Recently Daphne has been waking up in the morning and immediately telling us that she dreamed about movie night with Eloise, Papa, Mama, Me, popcorn, and ice cream. This is basically her favorite thing ever and we’ve been trying to do more family movie nights on Fridays or Saturdays when we don’t have other plans. Daphne’s attention span really isn’t long enough yet to sit still thru an entire movie, so she starts moving around and playing about 45 minutes to an hour in, but LOVES the popcorn (and ice cream if we have it)!
We got Daphne a scooter for her birthday after seeing her interest in Eloise’s. The Micro Mini Kickboard Scooter that we got the girls starts at age 2 so I wasn’t super sure Daphne would be ready, but she has learned so quickly. She can keep up with Eloise (much to Eloise’s dismay) and is such a dare devil. She is balls-to-the-wall on that thing and just flies down the sidewalk. She loves going super fast and balancing on just one leg.
I get a lot of questions now that Daphne has turned two about impending potty training. It is coming this summer. If I didn’t have to drop off and pick up Eloise every day at school (aka be in a vehicle) I probably would have done it right when Daphne turned two, but life, right? I’ll go into details after-the-fact but hoping that next quarter’s update will be that she’s trained and we are done with diapers! And we will use the “Oh Crap! Potty Training” method again since it’s right up our alley in terms of parenting style and worked really well for Eloise.
And lastly, I get so many questions about Daphne’s elbow and everyone is so sweet to be asking and supporting Daphne. Her elbow is good at the moment. It isn’t 100% still, but it isn’t causing her any pain and there doesn’t appear to be any swelling right now (or in any other joints). We had a good check-up with the rheumatologist, got clear blood work (there is one marker for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis), and a clear MRI on her elbow (no active swelling). BUT she still doesn’t have full extension of her right elbow. We were able to see an OT at Children’s who evaluated her and while the OT was pleasantly surprised with Daphne’s progress given her swelling from this past winter, she agreed (and measured) that Daphne’s elbow is about 5% less in extension from where it would typically be. Likely, it will be a few months before she will gain full extension and we are trying to focus on getting her to stretch, extend, and weight-bear on that right arm as much as possible. We also will see a pediatric ophthalmologist (at Children’s) in July who can do specialized testing to make sure Daphne doesn’t have swelling in her eyes (which is a symptom of JIA). Then in August Daphne will see her rheumatologist again for a check-up as well as the OT. So all-around good news: Daphne isn’t in pain anymore, she is seems to be getting closer to 100%, and we live close to Children’s Hospital!
{weight} 32 pounds.
{hair} blackish brown.
{teeth} four bottom teeth, top four teeth, four molars, four canines, two (bottom) two year molars.
{eyes} dark grey/brown.
{clothes} 2T and 3T.
{diapers} size 6 {from the honest company}.
{likes} singing, dancing, babies, any type of accessory (hat, bag or purse, bracelet, necklace), Albee the Alligator, an old remote that she holds up to her ear like a phone, watching and chasing the Roomba, picking her nose, eating, bath time with Eloise, watching big kids or babies, chewing on anything, sitting in her highchair, banging on her tray, staring at her quilt (from Amanda), rattles, riding in the car (usually), Eloise, Sadie, lights, paci, being bounced, being tickled, talking, her Lovie.
{dislikes} seeing some type of food on a plate that she doesn’t have, having gas, lying down flat, being hungry or tired, having her face or nose wiped off.
{nicknames} Daph, Daph-Daph, Daphers, Bug, Daphne Doo, Daph-a-doo, Love, Lovebug.
And here’s Eloise’s twenty-seven month update.
Happy Two-and-a-Quarter Years Daphne girl!
M
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