Big girl stuff and little girl stuff

 My big girl.  She is so easy in so many ways, content to play by herself for hours, completely independent, my helper.  She loves crafts.  She loves potty humor.  She loves to play make believe games with her sister, she also loves to antagonize her sister.  But, as anyone that reads this blog knows, my sweet girl is not without her flaws, it is so interesting to see how she has changed over the years.  To see how some of her quirks have faded over time and some have stuck around and, i hope will always be a part of her.  She is fiercely stubborn, to the point of being bull headed and contrary.  It drives her crazy for me to tell her what to do (I feel like I'm already living with a 13y/o sometimes).  I tell her what to do every night to get ready for bed, "I know!!" is the response I get.  So I end up saying, "so why aren't you doing it?".
She is still a creature of habit, drinking her peppermint tea in her purple mug every single morning.  Having her routines in an exact order.  She has to have a particular blanket on the couch every time she watches tv or a movie.  She loves the show Wild Kratts.  She loves working in her little pre-k activity book and practicing writing letters and words.  She is my hard child and my easy child in so many ways. I love doing big girl stuff with her and just wish I could commit to more big girl activities...unfortunately a little someone often makes big girl stuff activities difficult :)

My Meena, my binky.  My lovable, squishy, huggy, and often clingy little baby.  I can't imagine ever calling Meena anything other than my baby because her personality is perfectly suited to be the baby.  She seems to get sillier everyday.  She loves to make people laugh, but it's more the stuff that she does just cause she feels like it when she is not trying to entertain that is the most funny.  Such as dancing around in circles making rooster sounds.  She loves to copy her sister...which drives her sister crazy, which makes her want to do it even more.
She hates to have her hands dirty when she's eating so we have to keep a wet washcloth by her plate so she can periodically wipe her hands.
She loves to sing, her favorites right now "Let It Go" and "Do you want to build a snowman" from Frozen.  but the title of the songs are the only words she knows, so she just sings that over and over again.  Snowman pronounced "noman".
Even though I haven't breastfed Meena in over a year she still seems to have this gut feeling when she sees me after we've been apart, for an intense need for milk. When I pick her up from daycare, after giving me a hug, she immediately starts asking for milk.  Or after she's been with her dad for an hour or so while I've been out, same thing.
She loves to love, one of my favorite things she does is, climbs on my lap, puts her face close to mine, cups my face in her hands and rubs my cheeks, then gives me a kiss, then gives me a big squeezey hug.  Then she repeats these steps a few more times.  She does this to me a few times a day and I can't imagine getting through my days now without this routine :)
Some of my favorite things she says:
betty button
she calls all chocolate-chocolate milk, and squeals with excitement "Chocolate milk!!"
her version of itsy bitsy spider: "the ippy bippy bider"
she likes to tell me how she is feeling all day long:
i'm tired, i'm cold, i'm itchy, i'm sticky.
My lovies keep me entertained and busy.