Keeping up with MM

I have written about my son almost exclusively, something I am changing today. My daughter, MM, is an active and intelligent two and a half year old. I know that every parent feels that their child is smart, but MM is so very quick with things that I feel comfortable in declaring that she is quite smart. Let me share a few examples of her cleverness:

1. When we first moved to our new house in September, MM did not want to go upstairs to her bedroom, she wanted to be carried. My husband asked her "Is your leg broken?" but then carried her up the steps. The next night, I tried to get her to go upstairs for bedtime and she said "my leg is broken" and held her arms up for me to carry her. I asked her which leg was broken and she pointed to her right leg and said "this one." I told her it did not look broken so she started to limp across the living room!

2. She mastered opening all the doors in the house, including the refrigerator, cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, and van door.

3. She figured out how to latch and unlatch her car seat buckles.

4. She made the connection between Diego (Go, Diego, Go on Nick Jr.)saying climb in Spanish to a llama climbing a mountain and climbing the stairs to go to bed (when her leg is not broken).

5. She knows the following colors: red, blue, yellow, orange, green and purple. She can also count to 10.

6. She began putting together three word sentences before she was two. Now we are up to compound, complex sentences complete with proper use of contractions and some transition words.

7. She is able to mimic the dance moves she sees on Barney and Yo Gabba Gabba.

8. She does circle time with her dolls and "reads" them a story. If it is a book that she has not heard before, she will come to me and tell me that she can not read it and that I have to do circle time for her friends.

9. Other than small buttons and tights, she can dress herself and has been able to put on her shoes and socks for nearly a year.

10. She has been able to follow complex verbal directions for over a year. If you told her to look under something or behind something, she would follow the direction. She also can watch you do something one time, and she has it. For example, just before turning two, she saw an older friend at daycare climb a chair to access the microwave. An hour later, when we got home, she took the stool that she had seen me use to get to the upper cupboards and put it in front of the microwave to access the microwave. Now, she pulls out a taller stool to reach higher.

11. She can also out run many of the students (older ones too) at her daycare and can engage in complex imaginative play. She is so full of energy that I get tired looking at her!

But the one thing she refuses to do is be potty trained. She can control it like an 18 year old, but she refuses to use the potty at home. At daycare, she is A+ but at home she is a "baby." I just hope that she does not go to kindergarten in a pull up!