30 Months...Almost

Shelby is almost 2 and 1/2 now. I can't believe how fast that time has gone by. Since I haven't done any monthly updates for her lately, and I have a small window of time, I figured I would go ahead and do one now, before things get too crazy with Christmas and I don't have time to do it later.

Shelby is such a big girl. She talks so much and so well- she really surprises me with things she says. For example, we were just walking into the other room and she stroked her hair and said, "My hair's a hot mess!". Another thing she says that makes us laugh is an expression she came up with. If Shelby puts a spell on you by saying "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" or "Expecto Patronum", you have to fall asleep. Then, she will come and kiss you to wake you up, just like Sleeping Beauty. She'll say, "I kissed you up"! Or, if you put a spell on her, she'll say "Kiss me up! Kiss me up!".

She also LOVES to sing. You can often find her playing her guitar and singing "Once Upon a Dream", or making makeshift drums and singing "Jingle Bells". She gets it from her daddy, not from me. She loves to dance, as well, and really loves when Jeremy "dips" her.



Shelby also has a deep love of Walmart. I have raised her well. I have always said that if I could, I would live in Walmart, just like Natalie Portman did in that movie. I think Shelby would too if she could. She is always asking to go to Walmart, and the other day, she informed me that she has a friend, Stacy (a boy), that lives there. She will get out her phone to call Stacy and ask what he's doing and say, "Oh, you at Walmart? Ok, we'll come."

Over the past couple of months we have been working on potty training. I definitely know now that we will be doing things a little differently with Joey. For example, we will never buy another Pull Up again. I think that is what caused Shelby to take longer than we thought, especially considering she had been wanting to sit on the potty long before her 2nd birthday. Anyway, she is finally fully potty trained. Well, I say fully, but we still put her in a diaper at night, just to be safe. But she is doing great with telling us when she needs to go potty, and will only have an occasional accident if we have been out in the car too long and don't stop in time.

I love listening to Shelby talk about "Baby Joey". She is going to be such a good big sister. She likes to feel Joey kick, and she talks about her as if she is already here. The other day she came into the office with a handful of Little People, and said, "This is daddy, this is mommy, this is Shelby, this is Baby Joey, and this is Roxy!". She had pulled out all the correct people - the dad, the mom, the girl, the baby, and a dog, and was playing with them. So cute!

Shelby is really excited for Christmas, and I have loved doing all the fun little things with her this Christmas season- looking at Christmas lights, going to see Santa Claus, going to see "The Nutcracker", the advent calendar, and of course, looking for "Buddy" (our Elf on the Shelf) every morning. I cannot wait til she gets to open her Christmas presents. I have been SEVERELY tempted to go into the garage and get her "big" gift out already because I know she is going to have so much fun with it.

Anyway, that is about it for my update. Hopefully after the 1/1 things will slow down a bit so I can resume my regular Shelby updates, but I won't hold my breath!