Monaloca

A week after her second birthday, what’s our little girl up to?

Over the past month, Melina has burst into song. She sings herself to sleep most nights (and sometimes tries to pull in Kai but this is the only time he completely ignores her), and often sings as she plays, bathes, or rides in the car. Her favorites refrains include: “baa baa black sheep,” (she gets through the whole song on her own) “ee-i-ee-i-o,” “happy… to you,” “little bunny foo foo,” “ashes, ashes, all fall DOWN!,” “itty bitty spider,” and “twinkle twinkle star.”

After I weaned Melina, I would recite “Goodnight Moon” as I put her down to sleep each night. Now she’s asking for something different: “Maisy Bus!” I sing several verses of “The Wheels on the Bus…” ending with “The mama on the bus says good night Melina.” Kai’s also learned to join in, so the Jelly Bean gets a whole chorus. For a while Joey had no idea we did this, and now knows why Meli threw a fit on the rare occasions Daddy put her to bed. He’d simply put her down with a quick “Good night” – but has now changed his ways.

Melina’s favorite toys are anything she can put into and pull out of containers and move around the house, in a purse, bag, wagon, or mini-stroller. She also loves pocket-sized items, especially Burt’s Bees apricot oil in a little plastic bottle and a small pink penguin she got from the doc’s office. Her favorite birthday “present” from Grandma and Grandpa is a little bear full of honey to use on her yogurt. She carries “honey bear” all over the house, and puts him to sleep in the little plastic baggie he arrived in. Needless to say, we haven’t broken the honey seal just yet.

Melina still loves animals (stuffed and real) and putting on shows, with or without Kai. About a month ago she had fun naming her animals in front of the video camera. She also loves puzzles, stringing beads, opening and closing drawers a hundred times over, and trying to figure things out. She’s obsessed with buckles, on her booster seat, car seat, and stroller, plus my backpack and any others she can find. She’s really good at buckling them but doesn’t have the strength (yet) to open one.

I’ve been picking Melina up from daycare on my bike once a week and she usually loves it. Every so often she’ll get antsy and ask for “hat off,” but if I help her look for dogs or cats on the street she gets distracted right away. If she sees one and I ask her what color it is, she now says “white!” instead of “blue.” It’s like she has a single favorite color word each month. I wonder when she’ll start catching on for real. Maybe in preschool?

That’s our next big transition: Melina starts at Kai’s old preschool later this month! I’ve been taking her for weekly visits since mid-May and she’s already a fan of Miss Lisa, the slide, and the great new garden the kids helped plant. But I think her favorite things are the tot-sized sinks throughout the school. A whole world of water within her easy grasp!

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