30 months

The girls had a little vacation, sans mommy and daddy, for a week in Miami with Grandma and Grandpa. Of course what do they do when they go to Miami? Eat LOTS of BBQ (Grandpa's steakie) and ride the carousel at the mall, those are two givens when they are there. They swam when it wasn't raining, went to the movies to see the Secret Life of Pets and have McDonald's for lunch, went to the mall to ride the rides and talked Grandma into buying them new dresses and lip gloss, had lunch at the French Bistro, and played lots of Play-Doh and with the babies at home. They spent a day with Aunt Boo, Uncle Mikey and B while they were there. They attempted to go to the Little Gym but it was only a hit for C, so what did they do, took them shopping at Target for a new outfit. C picked out a Peppa Pig shirt to match J's and some pink shorts. She did good potty training while she was there and didn't have too many accidents. C was very happy to see me when I went to pick them up, of course mommy had to have BBQ which got interrupted with a little water from the hose (need to teach them how to properly have a hose fight!).

Cousin B spent a few days with us while his school was closed. C tried to help with him in every which way she could, she loves her cousin, and wouldn't stop patting him on the head and trying to smother him! We celebrated Nana's birthday with dinner out, went to the mall and played at the playplace and had pizza for lunch, and hung out at home and destroyed the playroom! C got moved to a big girl booster seat at the table while B was here, I tried to get her to go back in it after he left and I got a big NO, another step to her not being a baby anymore. I let it sit in the dining room corner for a few weeks and then decided to pack it up and put it in the garage, the phases of our life are changing (it's also been so nice not having a diaper bag the last few month and taking all I need in a small Vera backpack).

This girl loves to rock out to music! She enjoys playing DJ with my phone when we run and loves to sing along (or should I say scream along). This is her singing a song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she is pretending to be Pop Star Minnie. I wish she (and her sister) had at least some talent, they would both get a 'X' rather quickly from Simon Cowell!

The month couldn't go by without a trip (or two) to Disney. I said after we went back in June that I wouldn't go again until it got a little cooler but found myself along with Nana and six other moms and their kids in the park at the end of August, and then decided two days later we should go again with Daddy before the girls started school! It was SUPER hot but we made the best of it both days and indulged in some ice cream, C got her first Mickey Bar, thank goodness we found someplace air conditioned to eat it or it would have been all over her! The being hot and miserable (at times) all became a blur when the Electrical Parade started and we got to watch their little faces light up as the floats/characters went by. All the real reason we took these two trips, to see the parade a few last times before it is gone.

C has pretty much graduated to big girl status. The highchair is gone and we have started to let her nap in the toddler bed. The first couple of days were a challenge with her getting up and wandering/playing in her room but she quickly got the hang of it and is doing well (and sleeping), I love peeking in at her and seeing how she ends up. She did roll out one day but went right back to sleep when I re-tucked her in. I wonder if she is going to be like her sister and have 20+ animals in bed with her?

Potty Training is progressing and going well. She still needs help getting on the potty, is having fewer accidents and starting to tell us more when she has to go. The M&M's are gone, she is doing very well at going pee, poop was doing well but then took a little bit of a step back.  We still are using Pull-Ups for night/nap (although she is 99.9% dry) and for when we go out.  She had no accidents at all on either of our Disney trips, I think she enjoys going to the bathroom there because they have the little sinks in most park bathrooms for the kids.

The biggest thing that happened this month was C starting school! She was in full-time daycare until she was almost a year old but clearly doesn't remember that, what she remembers is being home with mommy for the last 18 months. A few days before school started we went to "Meet the Teacher" day and got to meet her teacher, see her classroom and meet some of her new friends. She was very shy and hesitant and stuck to me like glue, at one point I snuck out to go see what was happening in J's classroom and all of a sudden I heard her wail when she noticed I was gone. The first morning of school was as expected, she was hesitant about staying and when she realized mommy and daddy were leaving she started crying, broke my heart some but mama needs some alone time! The second day of school was a little better and while she tried not to cry and be a "big girl" she ultimately did. Both days she was very happy when I picked her up and couldn't wait to tell me about her day. We had two Tropical Storm days and school was cancelled on Friday, I know she was secretly excited there wasn't any school, not a good way to start a new routine!

Dress-up is still one of her favorite things to do many times a day, you never know what she is going to come out wearing, she's making it so much harder to get to the potty! The pink light up cow girl hat is the perfect accessory for when she pretends daddy is a horse! She loves to paint and we did a canvas project at home for the kitchen wall, she only wanted to use purple and I had to steer her to other colors.

Here are the pictures from the month.