Lessons from my toddler

When Beli was less than two years old she would wake up next to me and call my name in hopes that I would also wake up and get up from bed, "Mami? Mami!" She would bring me my shoes and tell me, "come on Mami , come on," then a few months later it was "Mama, Beli is thirsty or Beli has a dirty diaper" then months later she wouldn't wake me up, she would just come by my side and caress my hair, my arm, and quietly exit the room. This morning I saw the light on in the hallway and I wondered why hubby was awake so early in the morning, but then I heard little footsteps running down the hallway. It was Beli! I looked out the bedroom and I saw her in the living room, very content, playing with her toys. Can I say that my heart melted. How can this small child be so amazing? So considerate?

Yes, she is growing and developing her own personality. I know I have said this before, but I love this stage of parenthood. The part where she is thinking for herself and let's it be known when she is happy, upset or angry.

How she reacted when I mentioned that it was time to go take a nap. She screamed, "NO Mimis."
Then I told her I needed to change her diaper (yes still working on potty-training)  of course she runs a tantrum and screams and cries.

Getting out of the house is also a challenge. I have to plan hours ahead because she refuses to wear the outfit I picked out, so I choose two pieces of clothing and I let her decide, sometimes this works sometimes not.

"Beli, cual blusa quieres, la blanca o rosa?" She looks from the white shirt to the pink shirt and replies, "No blanca, no rosa." Neither one she replies.

Then she changes the topic and wants to know where I left the plastic cat she gave me earlier to hold in my right hand. (She is very specific which toy goes on which hand)

"Mami, donde esta gatito, Mami donde esta gatito?"

Here is the cat, now let's get dressed.

 And some days if it's not the shirt, it may be the pants. "Mami, caca je, estan sucios." Mommy the pants are poo-poo, they are dirty. ( of course since she is still wearing diapers,  the pants don't really have poo-poo on them)

Oh yeah, that's her new word. When she dislikes something she says CACA JE: a spanish-croatian word she made up: caca is Spanish for poo-poo and je in Croatian means is.

Another example: caca je blue pajamas! ( blue pajamas is poo-poo) or like today it was the socks.
So hubby asked her to go choose a different pair, and this is what she chose, a plain white sock and a red and white Dora sock.

This is her Fashion statement.

Still wondering how I was able to pull this outfit! 

She is actually wearing a dress! Ok, so I lied and told her it was a shirt, which she didn't buy and wanted to take it off then I layered it with a pink cardigan then I put on socks and her new red shoes and I told hubby, "please hurry and take her outside now before she starts undressing herself."

And you know what? Afterwards she didn't complain, she didn't even tug at her dress/shirt.

 I asked my Mom, "was I this picky with my clothes when I was Beli's age?" She replied that I wasn't. But  I do remember  that I didn't like wearing dresses, ha I still don't.  So I guess I can't really blame Beli, but  she looks so darn cute with dresses that I wish she would wear them more often.