I've decided it is much harder to compare where a 2 year old has come in the last year, than it is a 6 year old. Her ECFE teachers talked about how the whole class full of kids has changed from playing independently to starting to play with each other. In that respect, Gwen certainly does not act her age. She has some of her own friends that are closer in age to her, although she thinks any friend, at whatever age, is her friend. You can always hear her talk about "my Sam", or even "my Bubba", or "my Derek". I know Trevor did it a lot too, in that he always thought whenever someone came over to visit, it was always to play with him. Perhaps we perpetuated this thought because that was primarily why people would come over to our house.
I also have to admit that Gwen's love of Tinkerbell and the princesses has happened mostly because of the things that I let her watch, or buy her toys, or surround her with activities. She has fairy and princess books, dolls, stickers, movies, songs, shirts, pajamas, and the list could go on and on. She will occasionally play with some of Trevor's toys that we got him for her age, but they don't seem to hold her interest like the traditional girl toys do.
Her sleeping pattern is very different than Trevor. Trevor still is an early riser. Gwen sleeps late and goes to bed later if she is well rested. She is also very difficult to wake up and get going. But overall her mood is always very loving and touchy-feely.
She has her own way of doing most things. Unlike Trevor, she has to do everything all by herself. While there are many things she can't quite do all by herself, she still wants to give her input. I am rather shocked at how her hair thing is going. I really like her long hair, so I can put her hair in pigtails for special occasions. But one day, when I did the pigtails, she asked for it the next day, and the next, and the next. This has been going on now for at least a month now. Oh well, it is giving me good practice. I never was very good at doing my own hair and didn't have a sister to practice on or teach me how to do it.
I wonder if she still remembers a time when she had a nuk. She has dolls that have them, and knows what they are, and pretends sometimes to put them in her mouth, and even one night she asked about them. I told her they were gone, and she was fine with that explanation, but I guess I was wrong about her security of needing them. Trevor still takes to his "blankie" although he never seemed to need it until within the last few years. It is pretty obvious now that Gwen's security object of choice is my LiveStrong yellow bracelet. I now have a stash of a bunch of them, for if they get lost, or broken, but she sure loves to talk about and rub them against her skin. She also loves to point out whenever someone has the same bracelet. "Look mom! He has mamma's bracelet too!" But what is really strange is that she doesn't need it to go to bed. If she sees it, she will ask for it, and there are times where I can tell she needs it before she can go to bed, so she will ask for it, but if she is tired, she can still get to bed fine.
I would say that she is like Trevor in that she is very confident in new situations. However, I do think she takes her cues from other people. If Trevor is involved in some way, she wants to be right there with him, having a conversation with anyone around. If it is a place she should be familiar with, she is completely fine. She loves anything called "school" and I know once we introduce her to things like dance or gymnastics that even though she hasn't heard or seen anything about them before, she will still love it and adapt quickly. The only thing I'm pretty sure she is hesitant about is the doctor and dentist. I'm pretty sure she still has memories of her previous shots, and associates those bad feelings with the doctor.
I think she feels like she wants to have someone to boss around like parents do to their kids and older siblings do to their younger siblings. So when she plays with her dolls and babies and such, she always makes the same whining noises she does for me, and then tells the baby that she will get a time out if she does not stop the noise. Or she will have to go to bed. While the act itself is hilarious to listen to, it is not fun for me. Primarily because when she is doing this, it is a LOT of the time, so I never get a break from actually not hearing the noise, whether or not it is directed at me. And also, hearing that noise immediately puts me on alert. I often hear it and wait to hear if it is accompanied by a painful cry or some other "danger" cry that can sometimes happen if a fight or something else is going on. I'm glad I have that mom-instinct, but it really stinks at times when it doesn't need to happen.
Because of her behavior it is so hard to remember that this little girl is only 2. She comprehends so much and is not even close to the deliberately disobeying stage, so I have to soak it in and let her be a little girl before she grows up too fast. She so wants the attention of Trevor and to be like him, so I know that I have to let her find her own way too. If she goes to preschool this fall, it will be interesting to see where that takes us. Right now, we just have to have fun in the sun, at the parks, and playing with friends.
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