Another Mama's Life: 2 years, 8 months

Dear Evelyn,
As we approach Autumn, I find myself with the rare moment to write to you. In the last 8 months you have blossomed even more into a big kid. There's so much to write about, yet, will I be able to cover everything?
In February we found out we are expecting a little sibling for you. We started telling you about it immediately to help you prepare for a life after single-childhood. You are ecstatically looking forward to having a tiny baby to hold and care for. You have put your hands on my belly to feel little kicks and spoken sweet words to the developing ears inside. You were the star of the gender reveal party, too:

We are so excited for you to be a big sister to a little sister. You can see I am excited too. :) Here's one more video of you being a great big sister, listening to your little sister's heartbeat:

With the impending addition to our family, we have made many transitions. For one, we moved back to my hometown. For a brief interim, we stayed with Mummum and you absolutely adored that time. You still act like her house is home sometimes. The new apartment is not as exciting as a house, not to mention it's on the third story of the building, so to get up there is a bit of a hike. But it will do, and it is close by our very best friends.
Another transition has been to your own bed. At 2 years old, I said that we would get you into your own bed. I made several half-hearted attempts, but this time we are sticking with it. You have a whole nightly routine now: At 9:30pm we head to the bedroom. You let me brush and floss your teeth, then you gargle and spit. You pick out 2-4 books to read in bed with us, then sit on the potty before snuggling into your own bed. Most nights you are still putting up some fuss, but I think for the most part you are starting to accept that this is the new normal. After all, Mommy's belly is getting bigger and so are you. Our bed was really running out of space! Poor Daddy was finding himself being shoved off the bed a bit too much.
Since you have been going to bed so much earlier than before, you're not needing as many naps. This has coincided with H not taking any naps anymore either, so that means I'm one exhausted pregnant mama. I miss the days when we could snuggle to sleep in the spare room while H napped. But in exchange, I do get more time with you awake during the day! You still sometimes nap in the car and if I'm lucky you'll nurse to sleep in my lap while H plays in her playroom. I've learned not to let you nap past 2pm or bedtime will not go smoothly.
Potty training has been a lot of ups and downs. We had like a solid 3 weeks of so many accidents I didn't think your clothes would ever not smell like pee. I had to relearn how to do laundry to get the smell out. Then you had like a few weeks of doing really well. You weren't really telling us much when you had to go, but we had kind of figured out your habits and could catch you before you would have an accident. You like to hide under the table to poop. Your tell is that you yell, "go away!" at us. That's when we know we're already too late, but we still rush you to the potty anyway. :P You were having a really good couple of weeks up until this week, when you regressed. Not entirely sure why, but there were a few really frustrating days that involved you going pantsless and then shirtless when you somehow managed to pee....up? and we had run out of clean clothes in the bag. The last 24 hours have been really successful though. We basically started over with a potty timer set for every 30-40 minutes and even though its exhausting, its better than toting pee-soaked bags of clothes around. I hope this time it sticks because tomorrow is the first day of our vacation!
We are going to be driving to Norfolk, VA to stay with Aunt Rora for a few days and spend some time in the sand and sea. We've all been looking forward to this for a few months now, but it is a bit bittersweet, too. When we come back after vacation we will have a mere 10 days left with H. She's heading off to preschool and you'll be without the "big sister" that you have come to love and be close to for the last almost 2 years of your life. I'm worried about how that transition will go. You may miss her a lot. H was really looking forward to the baby, too, but I understand why her parents have chosen to put her in preschool instead of keep me on. I was able to find a new family fairly quickly, too, so you may be just fine since you won't be too lonely. The new family has a little girl 3 weeks younger than you and a baby who will be a few months older than your little sister! And since it will only be a couple days a week, you'll have lots of time with Mommy and eventually your baby sister.
One more big thing happening is that your Aunt Kat is coming to live with us. Just for a few months, maybe just until the baby is born. Your room is going to be her room since you still sleep in our room, just on your own bed. This should be a fun transition!
I haven't really hit on many of your milestones, but at this point I'm not sure what counts as them. You've picked up the habit of repeating swear words you hear on TV shows or Daddy's videogames. And yeah, sometimes you're just parroting me. You heard me say, "seriously!?" in a moment of road rage and proceeded to repeat it to me the rest of the car ride. And in case I wasn't getting it, you asked me to ask you if you were copying me. And then you said yes. Ha. Snarky little kid, you are.
You are becoming more independent each day. Sometimes you want to dress yourself, pick your own clothes out, decide what hairstyle you'll tolerate and what shoes you will wear. You pipe up if you disagree with the day's plan, or if you don't want what we're having for dinner. You have started helping out a lot around the house. You can feed the dogs, wash some dishes, cut vegetables with assistance, pour sauces on the meal before it goes in the oven, put away your clothes, pick up your toys and in exchange for being allowed to turn the dryer on, you will pull the clothes out and put them in a basket for me to fold. You can wash your own hands and body, too.
Physically speaking, you have exploded with skill. You can confidently climb most of the structures at the playground and sometimes get down unassisted as well. You've crossed a rope bridge once while I hung out below waiting for you to fall, but you didn't! You're jumping from heights that make me nervous and dancing around and around:

In September you will be starting ballet class. It's more of a toddler dance program, but to you it is Ballerina Class. You have a pair of ballet slippers that you have been hard-pressed to take off at times. I'm still on the hunt for a tutu and leotard to put you in so you can feel the full experience. And if you love it, when you turn three you can go into an actual ballet program where you can put on a performance at the end.
Your interests are starting to broaden. You love swimming and get pretty envious that H goes to a real swim class. As mentioned above, dancing is a favorite pastime. You love playing with baby dolls and reading books is still high on the list of things to do. You enjoy legos and building towers and forts from blankets and pillows. You prefer the playground over pretty much any other outing, but you're still game for museums. You just recently braved the carousel at the park after a long time of being too scared. I have had lots of opportunities to be proud of you.
You had your first and second dentist appointments this year and two doctor visits as well. The first dentist visit put you on edge. We tried to discuss it ahead of time, but you weren't quite to the point of understanding and you ended up in tears. The second time, however, you told me on the way in that you did not want to cry, you wanted to be brave. And brave you were! You let them lay you back, opened your mouth and allowed them to clean your teeth, floss and then at the end you even thanked them, no pressing from me! The two doctor visits were like night and day, too. You had a really anti-doctor phase from about a year old on and it lasted at your 2 year appointment too. But at your 2.5 year appointment you told me again how brave you wanted to be and that you didn't want to cry. You marched into the office, told the doctor what he could do (listen to your heartbeat, look in your ears, feel your belly, etc) and then showed him how you could jump. He gave you a sticker for your bravery. I have to admit that I was near tears myself leaving the offices those days. You impressed the hell out of me! What a difference 6 months made!
You have a few favorite people in your life right now, which deserve mentioning: Granny Apple, who will spoil you rotten if given the chance, Mummum, who would do the same but mostly enjoys watching you play, Gramma and Grumpa Maxfield, who have been seeing you much more often this year, it feels like and of course your best Uncle Johnny, who loves you to the moon and back. The rest of the family is important, of course, but those are the people you ask to see most regularly. :)
As always, I know there is so much more to share here, but without the time or the presence of mind to do so, I'll leave it as it is. Here are a few photos of you: