2.5 years

Calla is 2.5 years old. Or is she 4? I don't know sometimes. This girl is crazy smart. She is fully potty trained, wants to do everything on her own, and talks like a preschooler. She is also incredibly obstinent, stubborn and tests boundaries like Addie never did.

The other day in the grocery store I came so close to just leaving the full cart of groceries TWICE and walking out of the store with crying girls because Calla continued to throw stuff out of the cart onto the ground, hit Addie in the head with a lettuce container and kicked her in the face with her foot. She was definitely testing me and I failed that consistency test miserably, because even after I threatened to just leave the store without buying any of the food, what did we still do? Yup. We bought the food. I just couldn't bring myself to leave the full cart. Even though I know that that would have been the right thing to do. It seemed in the moment that it would have been punishing myself instead. Hey, Margaret, I know you just spent almost an hour putting all that food in the cart. But you know what? Now, you just are going to leave right there in the aisle, leave, and then have to come back and do it all over again later. Nope. Couldn't do it.

So that is Calla's "interesting" (used like a Minnesotan) side. I'm glad that this is something that she is just trying out on us though and that her teachers at school have seen none of this. Hopefully this phase will be over soon...although I'm fully (who am I kidding?!) prepared for it to reappear in 12 years.. manifesting itself slightly differently of course.

In honor of her half birthday I gave her this survey. Here are her answers:

1. What is your favorite color? Purple

2. What is your favorite toy? A ball

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apple

4. What is your favorite tv show? Dora

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni & Cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? “That one” (points to purple shirt and purple leopard print leggings...although really her favorite outfit is her birthday suit as you can see from the above photo!)

7. What is your favorite game? Candy Land

8. What is your favorite snack? A banana

9. What is your favorite animal? Monkey

10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle

11. What is your favorite book? Elmo (Adventures in Story Land, read by Bubbie & Grandpa Garry)

12. Who is your best friend? Addie (awwww!)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Nutty Nuggets

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the playground

15. What is your favorite drink? Milkshakes

16. What is your favorite holiday? Birthday

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Abu (her doll)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Bagel

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Nutty Nuggets (she says laughing)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? “A Belly Agil like a fairy” (I have no idea what this is!)

Here is a link to a video of Calla drawing with markers and talking about the primary colors. I had been talking to Addie about the colors and Calla was apparently pretty interested too.

https://vimeo.com/64689403