My 2 year old can read and other fun stories

I thought since things have been tough around here the past week, it was a good time to sit and reflect on how awesome Inara is, especially when she's not sick.

It's truly unbelieveable how much she talks now. The girl can carry one heck of a conversation with me now. And she's so smart. It shocks me all the time when she says things out of the blue. I know a lot of her smarts are due to things I teach her, but I really do see a big change since she's started school too. She's getting her colors down really well. When she plays with toys and reads books, she likes to label things by their colors and gets them right more often now. She's also learning her shapes. I was so impressed one day when she and I were reading this book with shapes and she started getting them all right. We've read this book a number of times before and she never got the shapes down. Now she knows triangle, oval, and circle. Yes, she's only 2 and knows soooo much! It's truly because I take the time every day to sit down and read books with her, talk to her when we are out and about and describe things to her non-stop. I've said it before and I'll say it again, people in stores probably think I'm a little loopy, but it has made a world of difference in what Inara knows. Talk to kids all the time and they will start to blossom like you'd never expected.

Inara is starting to become quite the music connoisseur. She's always loved music, but now she's starting to sing along with songs. Her favorite song to sing would have to be Ring Around the Rosies. She first started singing it at My Gym when playing on the trampoline after hearing another little girl sing the song while playing. Now Inara does Ring Around the Rosies all the time. I love hearing her sing the song too. She's getting better at singing along with Itsy Bitsy Spider now as well. She also dances a lot more. I know they have music class at preschool, so I'm guessing they encourage the kids to dance along. Instead of just bending her knees and turning in circles, now Inara moves her shoulders and bounces her head. She plays the Leapfrog Fridge Magnet toy that plays songs and will skip until she gets to She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain because it's her favorite song to dance to. It's so cute to watch.

Based on what she's been doing at school, I figured it's time to get her doing more arts and crafts things at home too. A couple weeks ago I introduced her to paint with water and she loved it. Today we painted for the first time. It was hilarious watching her paint because she is very slow and careful at it. It's also cute to watch her paint with her left hand, but when she wants to paint something on the right side of the page, she will switch the brush to her right hand. Hmm...I'm thinking she just might be ambidextrous.

Another big landmark was when Inara learned how to jump with both feet at the same time. For the longest time, when you told her to jump, she'd do more of a gallop since she couldn't get her feet to come off the ground at the same time. Now though, she's doing a lot better and bends her knees too so she can get some air. It's so cute, and she was so proud of herself when she finally got it. I love hearing her say, "I did it!"

Shawn and Inara have a lot of fun games they like to play. For the longest time, Shawn's been doing High 5 with her. Well, the other day she got Daddy good when they were playing High 5, and she pulled her hand back and said, "too slow Daddy." Shawn and I couldn't stop laughing. It was so cute. The other game they play is Red Light, Green Light. Shawn will say Red Light and Inara will say random colors like Purple Light. Then he plays along and says, "No purple light." She thinks this is so funny as if she's pulling a fast one on Daddy. It's so cute to hear them when they have their own inside jokes and games.

And if there was ever any doubt that Inara is a Daddy's girl, let me share a funny story with you. Shawn is a HUGE chocolate milk drinker. He loves it! I might even say that's his favorite drink. Of course, he had to introduce Inara to chocolate milk, and as to be expected, she loves it. The other day I asked her if she wanted some chocolate milk with her lunch, she got so excited and yelled, "Yay my favorite!" I looked at her and had her repeat it because I couldn't believe she said it. I don't remember teaching her what favorite means, but she picked it up somewhere and now uses it to describe her love of chocolate milk. Ahhh, just like Daddy.

It's amazing how kids pick up on things so easily and will use them correctly too. Usually when I have to go potty during the day, she must follow me into the bathroom and sit on her little potty while I go. The other day she and I were playing and I told her I had to go potty. She looked at me very seriously and said, "One minute." "Excuse me baby girl. What did you say?" "One minute mommy." "Do you want mommy to hurry and be back in one minute?" "Yes." This conversation cracked me up. I know she got that from me, because when I need to do something, I always say, I'll be back in one minute. Now she's telling me I can take a break, but only for one minute. I swear she's too smart.

Inara and I always have different inside jokes/games we play when we're in the car. She loves to point out cars, busses, etc. She also loves to point out UPS trucks. Yes, I've taught her what a UPS truck is. She also looks for cars that look like family member's cars. She points out Mikey's car, Isti's car, Grammy's car, etc. all the time. She got me the other day when she spotted a car that looked like Auntie Kristi's car, and she said, "Follow it Mommy." What? When did she learn follow it? So now at random times whenever we see a bus, a UPS truck, a mail truck, etc. she will tell me to follow it. Might I add when I don't, she gets a bit ticked off that I didn't do as instructed. Oh the 2's can rear their heads at some of the craziest times.

Another inside games of ours is playing chase. She now will ask me to chase her on purpose. In the past when I've started chasing her, I will call out Fee Fi Fo Fum. This morning while I was getting dressed while she was playing in my bedroom, I suddenly hear Fi Fi Fo Fum. Then she came running into the walkin closet and said, "I get mommy." So dang funny. Another chase related game we play is gotcha. There is an Imagination Movers song about Wherehouse Mouse and they sing gotcha. When we listen to this song in the car, I will reach back and grab her foot and say gotcha and she laughs hystericallly. The other day when we were playing, I was chasing after her. Suddenly she turned around and said, "Gotcha mommy." Seriously how can you not laugh all day long when you have a 2 year old in the house? She's so much fun!

A daily conversation we have is "Mommy a Daddy go?" "Sweet pea, where is Daddy?" She solemnly replies, "At work." Lately, she's been saying, "Daddy at work. Hane (Thane) at work. Greg at work. Marco at work." Then she pauses and says, "No, Marco golfing" and she laughs. Marco is one of Shawn's best friends who he plays soccer and goes golfing with. I think it's so humorous that she has started saying Marco's not working because he's golfing as if she's always going to associate Marco with golf.

Our nighttime ritual now involves listing all the things that are asleep. It goes like this. "OK sweet pea. Time to close our eyes and go to sleep." "Mommy, sun sleeping?" "Yep. What else is sleeping?" "Moon is sleeping. Stars are sleeping. Cows sleeping. Rhinos sleeping. Horses sleeping. Diggers sleeping." And so on and so on. Some nights this goes on for 30 seconds. Others it's at least 3 minutes. However long it goes, it never gets dull. I find it pretty darn cute.

I saved the best story for last because it truly is the best and most impressive story yet. Inara has started reading books. Well kinda. More like she's memorized a book. Of course, it's a Curious George book since that's what we read most. She got Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon Race for her birthday. Ever since we've had to read it every night before bedtime. In the book, George visits Mt. Rushmore and goes to see a hot air balloon race. One night she completely shocked me when she pointed to a picture in the book and said, "Mount Rushmore." Then she pointed to the presidents' faces and listed their names. WHAT? My daughter can say Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln? I couldn't believe it. I then started pausing when reading the story, and to my amazement, Inara started completing the sentences. I would read "Everyone had seen the rescue." And she would finish "George was a hero." I would read "The rope had come undone and there was only one place to go." She followed with, "Up up up and away went balloon. George went with it." This shocked me so much, and when I told Shawn, he didn't seem too shocked until he read the book to her one night, and she was looking through another book but was still tuned in enough to complete the sentences. Yes, the girl is awesome! I know part of this is the power of repetition, but it also shows to me the power of reading. She LOVES books and it shows how important it is to read to kids because Inara pays attention to the stories and has now shown how she can memorize things from books with repetition. I can't say it enough: Inara rocks!!!