Tabby at 2.5

The months have been flying by at an alarming rate. Now here we are, Tabby half way through her third year as a member of our family. Unbelievable.

To say we are enjoying our little lady would be the understatement of the year. Everyday, it seems, she cracks us up with her bigger-than-life personality and impresses us with her observations or empathy. I have thoroughly enjoyed being at home with her this summer and will miss her like heck when I head back to work next week.

Tabby is a big girl in so many ways. She made the transition from crib to bed with nary a hitch. The binky is long gone. We’re going on a full year of feeding herself with proper utensils. And she talks in full and complete sentences. Some of the observations she makes absolutely delight me, like when I showed her the cauliflower I was cooking for dinner and she commented that it was “like broccoli.” And she absolutely slayed us this past weekend when, while trying to figure out how something went together, exclaimed “What the devil?!” Another favorite Tabby “thing” is that she gives select loves names. Her Pound Puppy is named “Rocket,” presumably after Rocket from Little Einsteins. And her Alphabet Worm is called Traycee, presumably after my aunt. When he is turned on, he says “Hi! I’m alphabet worm.” And Tabby corrects him, “No, you Traycee!” I am overall very pleased with her progress in socialization. She has a few friends who she’s very comfortable with and seems to do well with kids who she is not entirely familiar with. Sharing is not her forte. And she has been known to act out when she is (or thinks she is) getting a raw deal, but overall, she seems to play nicely with others. She is hugely fond of her little brother and loves to help me with him. She is also excellent at distracting him with a song or funny dance to buy me an extra couple of minutes while I make up a bottle or finish cleaning up a mess.

In the eatables department, she remains an excellent eater. I am keeping my fingers crossed that our luck holds on this one. She doesn’t always eat a LOT at every meal, but then she’ll put away a ton all of a sudden, making up for lost time. She eats a huge variety of food and you never know what she’ll scarf down and what she’ll turn her nose up at. She will almost never refuse a meatball, though, be it one from the Indian buffet or one from a sub sandwich. Sweet treats are almost always enthusiastically accepted.

In the realms of play, she is still my little TV addict and requests her favorite shows (Dora and Little Einstein) by name … and frequently. It is excellent because she can be completely entertained for the duration, but of course I have guilt about letting her watch them. So we limit. It does make me feel somewhat better that she really seems to learn things from them. She knows tons of instruments and musical terms from Little Einstein and she could count to 10 in Spanish correctly before she could in English, thanks to Dora. Away from the tube, she hugely enjoys reading books with us, coloring with her crayons and playing pretend with all and sundry. Laundry baskets are cages, boats, cars, cribs, space ships. She brings me all manner of pretend concoctions from her little kitchen, including a “potion” and a “mint banana milkshake.”

I love her feisty personality. I love her gentle nature. I love her silly side. I am so lucky to be her mommy. Here’s to 2.5 my sweet girl.