Mia At Age 2.9

She loves pizza, Swiss and cheddar cheese, and strawberries. Goldfish crackers and dried apple slices are in. She adores "the spicy Triscuits", namely the Rosemary and Olive Oil variety. Smoothies are out, "Dad juice" (a little bit of Fresca added to her watered-down V8 Fusion) is in. Chocolate milk is in. Vegetables are hit or miss - she rejected roasted red peppers on Saturday then devoured raw and roasted orange peppers on Monday. Any food is more attractive if it is on Mom or Dad's plate instead of her own. The mention of McDonald's makes her whisper "french fries" in a tone that could only be described as reverent.
She insists on wearing dresses most days and prefers going bare-legged rather than wearing tights or leggings. She doesn't like dressing in layers. If we put a jacket on her on a cool day, she must remove it before we can buckle her in to her car seat. She rarely seems to get cold.
She loves making funny faces. She has perfected wrinkling her nose as if in disgust, then laughs when I match her. She just learned how to stick out her tongue and practices this skill frequently, despite any consequences we have inflicted to date.
She sees a time out as a chance to practice getting Mom and Dad's attention by jumping out of her chair, running to us, and giggling. (We try not to take the bait.) If we are so dumb as to ask, "Do you want a time out?" when she is misbehaving, there is a 50/50 chance she'll say "Yes".
She recently discovered Mother Goose rhymes and demands them several times a day. Favorites include Humpty Dumpty and Sing a Song of Sixpence. She is fascinated with the scene where the blackbird snips off the maid's nose, and loves re-enacting it. She thinks Jack (in Jack & Jill) looks like a girl. Her other current favorite books are Curious George Goes To The Aquarium (still) and Over The Moon: An Adoption Tale (new).
She has an impressive (in my view) vocabulary with words like camisole and veterinarian and Jarlsberg, but she generally has trouble pronouncing K and R sounds. She can do it when she concentrates.
She has started taking ballet at school. At home, she sings and dances a lot. I recently concluded she can carry a tune. (I'd been wondering.)
She is perfectly capable of using the toilet but still wants to wear diapers. This morning when my back was turned she put on a fresh Pull-Up for the express purpose of pooping in it. Oh, and she likes to wear panties over her Pull-Ups. (My mistake - should have kept the panties hidden.)
She frequently asks to go to Starbuck's, which in her mind is the place you get chocolate milk. We go there a couple of times a week and she is always disappointed if her favorite server (aka "the lady") isn't there. She loves Kroger because they give out free balloons. She prefers Home Depot over Lowe's because HD offers father/child workshops on the first Saturday of the month, and Lowe's has a scary automated monster on display for Halloween.
Her favorite toys are her Color Wonder markers and blocks. Bristle blocks, wooden blocks, cardboard bricks. She refers to every structure she builds as a "castle."
We don't let her watch TV very often, to the point that when we do turn on a cartoon in mid-show, she insists that we "start over" as if it is a DVD.
She has rediscovered her love of ASL and amuses herself in the back of the van by practicing her signs. We are thrilled to have a respite from constantly listening to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom CD in the car. She sometimes makes up a new sign and innocently asks, "Mom, what is this sign?" When I say, "Mia, you made that one up" she laughs, apparently delighted that I got the joke.
She has a lot of empathy and if she hears another child crying it rivets her attention. She has recently demonstrated a propensity for pointing to people in stores and saying things like, "He's big." (Not so bad if a tall person overhears her, but embarassing if the individual is overweight.)
She loves her Dad and her Mom and has become really very snuggly.