3 years, 2 months

One of Chlo's favorite things to say these days is "I'm a grown-up girl!" and that pretty much sums up my feelings about her lately.  The saying came about when I took her to the bank to deposit her birthday money awhile back.  It was just she and I, and I remember looking in the rearview mirror and seeing her sitting so straight and tall with a pile of pennies in her lap, and I just had to fight back a rush of tears.  We went in the bank, and she pressed the buttons and fed the machine her mountain of coins all by herself. Then she confidently carried the deposit slip to the teller, and we were on our way.  As we were leaving, I remarked, "Chloe, you're such a grown-up girl! I just can't believe it!" and she has been saying it ever since. 

 Here's a fine example of what a grown-up girl looks like... A couple of days ago Chloe asked to play Candyland by herself during rest time (I was SO glad she didn't invite me to play again... the game is about as exciting as eating cardboard.)  I usually let her pick an activity to do alone in her room, and after an hour I go in and tell her to hop in bed and nap for the second hour.  On Candyland day, I was quite exhausted, Eli was asleep, and I figured Chloe could take care of herself.  So I said, "You can play your game, but when you get sleepy I want you to get in bed and go to sleep, ok?"  I took a delightful nap, and didn't wake up until Eli was yelling for me.  To my surprise, Chloe's room was completely silent.  An hour or so later, her door burst open, she ran out, and said "I went to sleep when I got tired! I did it all by myself! Cause I'm a grown-up girl!"  I praised her and was just about to tell her that we need to go pick up her game before Eli got to it, when I looked in her room, and lo and behold, the game was sitting neatly in the middle of the room, all the pieces in the box, and every single toy was in its place.  That's my grown-up girl!

Let's see, what can I say about Chloe these days? She loves watching tv now, so I have to be diligent in trying to limit it.  She likes to color, cut, and do crafty things.  She's discovered the joys of chewing gum.  She loves trains and cars.  In the last two weeks, more fights have broken out over Eli's new firetruck and trains than over the holy land.  She jumps at every opportunity.  She loves to sing and makes spontaneous songs about everything.  It can be pretty hilarious.  I suppose she got that talent from my grandma who passed it on to me.  We've both been known to bust into song at any given moment.  She is so sweet to compliment people ("I like your sweater Daddy, you look handsome!" or "Pretty coat, Ella!" or "I like your ponytail, Mommy.  It's fun!") and she is always so sincere.  She loves chocolate.  I mean loves it.  Begs for it ALL.THE.TIME.  We are going through holiday detox around here, leaving the girls with some pretty intense withdrawal pains.  She is trying and testing me, pushing limits, saying no, asking why, but I know it's part of the package, and comparatively, it's still not so bad.  I'd say all in all, she's sweet, smart, funny, and pretty dang cute, and I couldn't live without her.