29 Months

We had kind of a rough week. Sabine got croup again. She had it last year, and this year it was even worse. We're learning to recognize the symptoms, but it is hard to alleviate them, and the poor kid really struggles with basic things like breathing and sleeping. Fortunately she seems to be getting better, finally. I love the extra snuggling and coziness, but truly it's better when it comes from a happy and healthy little girl.

Sleep has been tenuous recently anyway. There are days when Sabine doesn't nap, or only takes a quick, 10-15 minute cat nap. (Usually because she wakes up coughing and then can't get back to sleep.) On those days she goes to bed a full hour earlier at night, which is nice, but evenings are often rough because she's tired. On the other hand, sometimes it takes a loooooong time for her to fall asleep at night when she does get a good nap during the day. I don't know if this is a phase, or if this is the beginning of the end of naps. I'm hoping for the former, but there are some up-sides to not having to schedule our days around nap time, too.

This is a funny age, nearly two and a half. Sabine's hair is coming in, she likes to pretend, (including things like "pretending" to do things she's not supposed to do, like "I'm just pretending to jump on the bed," followed by a tiny bounce.) and is testing limits. Does "no" really mean "no"? She makes sure it still does daily.

It's a big transition, from baby to kid, and it seems to be happening suddenly. Sabine can seem so small, so delicate next to the big kids in the neighborhood or when she's sick, and then the next moment she's got these long kid legs, which fill up her crib, and nothing about her body seems very baby-shaped, anymore. She's able to gallop, sort silverware, and turn the lights on and off as she comes and goes.

Sabine loves to read any and all books, she still enjoys the picture books from when she was a baby, along with a new favorite, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, which is more words than pictures. (Although there are still plenty of pictures.)

Sabine's sentences are becoming more and more complex, I regularly count 8-12 words in one of her sentences, and her ideas are becoming a little more abstract, and we can talk about rewards and consequences, if you clean up all the blocks, then we can watch "Caillou." (The new favorite TV show is a very effective bribe.) We talk about relationships a lot, like how Nana Lin is Daddy's mommy, or Great-Grandmom is Mommy's grandmom. Sabine's really good at communicating what she's feeling, she almost always tries to explain why she's crying, which is pretty impressive for an upset toddler. And yet she still likes to use her signs, often for emphasis, like tonight she and Daddy were looking at pictures, and Daddy pointed out some marbles and he got corrected, "No, daddy, those are BALLS," (signing "ball" furiously.)

(In this picture she's signing "cat.")

Potty training's going pretty well, although both traveling and being sick were major set-backs, but we get back on track much more easily these days.

Sabine's also becoming a good helper. She regularly helps carry in the groceries, give the cats their food, and water the daffodils outside. She likes to vacuum with me, and breaks out her little vacuum anytime I have mine out. She has a little stool, which she likes to move around so that she can reach things or see what I'm doing up on the kitchen counters. She often helps make food, too.

I finally ordered a new charger for my camera, so we're back in picture-taking business. Here's a quick shot of our daffodils, it's definitely spring around here!