Switching gears

Lately, with school and the start up of swimming and skating lessons again, it seems like it's been all about Liam. It hasn't, of course. Mallory is still trucking along, doing her own thing, and (mostly) being a true joy. Last night, Chad took Liam to skating and I got to sit down alone with Mallory for an hour. I asked her what she wanted to do. Go outside? Go for a bike ride? She wanted to do her "most favourite thing", she said. She wanted to blow bubbles. So we went outside and did just that. I blew and she laughed like crazy and chased them all over the lawn. Sometimes I think we get caught up with what is going on with Liam, and she gets pulled along for the ride. It's nice sometimes to remember that she is only 2, and is still interested in simpler things.

She is also extremely cooperative when it comes to the camera. I asked if I could take a few pictures when we were done blowing bubbles, and she immediately said, "Yes. Cheeeese!" and started striking poses. With Liam, I am lucky to get him looking at the camera at all. With Mallory, I have to work on getting her to tone down the posing because it is so over the top! Thank goodness that I got myself a little model. It makes my greedy old photographer's heart happy.

I get comments all the time now saying how much she looks like me. I take those as a compliment. Who wouldn't, when being compared to an adorable face like this?I was on the phone with my mom last night, and Mallory started harassing me. "I want to talk! I want to say hi to grandma!" I passed the phone to her. My mom said, "What did you do today, Mallory?" and Mallory said, "I did a big poopie on the toilet!" I'm not sure that should have been shared as the highlight of her day, but I am still proud of her. She has been doing such a good job in her new princess panties. She always tells us when she has to go and a few times, she has even done the deed by herself and just calls me in afterwards to show me. She is almost always waking up with a dry diaper. Last night she actually woke up after she was in bed for the night, and told me she had to pee. I took off her diaper and sat her on the toilet. She peed and then went back to bed, and woke up dry again today. We put the stinky old diaper pail out at the curb this morning. Good riddance!!Sure, she can be aggravating at times. She is very slow to make a decision. She has five dolls that are her mainstays: her Best Baby (her favourite), her Love Baby (the dark skinned doll - no idea how she came up with this name!), her Pointy Baby (who wears a peaked hat), Addison (her Cabbage Patch doll) and the Laughing Baby. She likes to take these dolls everywhere with her and it takes her forever to decide who comes and who stays home when she is only allowed one at a time. She and Liam can fight a lot when left unsupervised, and while I know Liam sometimes provokes her, she also has a very fake cry she uses to try to get him into trouble. The newest form of her harassment is directed at me: she is a backseat driver now. Whenever I turn right on a red light, there she is, shrieking in the back seat. "Don't go mommy! The light is red!" It's actually pretty funny. She also has some of her nouns mixed up and she often tells me, "Mommy, you are my daughter." I say no, you are MY daughter, and she nods and says, "You are my daughter, too!"

All in all... she is pretty wonderful. And I am enjoying her so, so much.