I have often heard photographers say that shooting their own children is, by far, the most difficult.? I am so glad to hear it or I would feel like a complete and utter failure.? Two year olds can be tricky but Lil Miss Mind of Her Own makes my job exponentially more difficult.? A month ago, I did a few shots of her in her tutu outfit and I wasn’t quite satisfied.? I did a do over last week and…sigh…still not completely satisfied but better than last time.? SHE is adorable.? I just have trouble meeting my own agenda when it’s MY daughter.

I haven’t posted a personal update in a bit so I can’t remember now what I have and haven’t said – forgive me but I am bound to repeat myself.

So Tori…what’s going on with her….

She still weighs 22 pounds and is in the 2nd percentile.? :)? She is 28 months now.?? She still speaks in short sentences but adds new words all the time.? This week we were taking a bath and she wanted to wash my hair and said “Mommy relax”.?? :)? Cute.? I also love it when she says “Okay.? Awwwww white”.

It drives me crazy when she won’t answer a question (like Tanner) and then I finally say “TORI ANSWER ME – YES OR NO” and then she says “Yes No”.? Grrrrrrrrr.

She still doesn’t have a long attention span for shows BUT she did discover a new love.? ALICE IN WONDERLAND.? And no…she wasn’t a bit scared.? In fact, she laughed clear through the Jabberwocky scenes.? We rented it and she loved it so much Daddy bought it for her.? She asks me for it everyday.?? I guess she is going to love fantasy just like her daddy and mommy.? (I loved Alice too).

Her potty training is going so-so.? She RARELY has a number 2 accident (which is awesome) but she goes number 1 in her pullup frequently and on purpose.? Then she changes herself.? With the exception of finding wet pullups in random places, she is, at least, pretty independent with it.? One day when she did have a rare number 2 accident, I laid her down on her changing table and was reminding her that we use the potty and she said “Dadgummit!? Grrrrrrrr!”?? LOL.? Was she predicting what I was going to say or was that her own expression of personal frustration?? 🙂

When she sees me getting aggravated over something she will often ask “Happy Mommy?”? Which means “please be happy mommy okay”.? :)? Puts a grin on my face everytime.? How can I help it?? She still tells me she is happy all the time.? She is too.

She thinks she can write her letters.? She was sitting beside me yesterday with a pencil and paper writing chicken scratch and I heard her say the letters “T,? A,? I,? R,? H,? E , D”.??? I wrote the letters down as I heard them because I was curious as to how many she recognized.? I thought she was pretty smart until I remembered that Ty knew his alphabet and all the letter sounds by this age.? 🙂

I love that she can’t say her Ls.? It sounds so cute when she says “Daddy.? Mote.? Yowd”.? (Daddy get the remote and turn it down – it’s too loud).? Or “Mommy yap.? Kiss yips”.

And did I already post this?? I sometimes write stuff in a separate folder to post later and I can’t remember if this was ever posted or not.

Well, I am ashamed to admit it, but Jim and I have fallen into a habit of intentionally deceiving our youngest every night.? Here’s the truth of it – sometimes parents gotta do what they gotta do to curtail the drama in the household.? Sigh?just has to be done.

When Heidi was visiting, we got into the habit of putting all the kids to bed at the same time because the boys were waking Tori up at night when they would brush their teeth.?? Tori quickly realized that we had been holdin out on her for quite some time.? The boys got story time.? Once she realized our neglect, it was all over.? She refused to go to bed without sitting in on story time.? She would wail “DADDY DADDY DADDY” from her crib until the softy could take it no longer.? Turns out, bedtime is darn near her favorite time of day.? She loves to brush her teeth and when I announce bedtime I hear her from across the house yelling “YAAAAYYYYYY!”? She finds her brothers and says “NANNER… NOW!? TY?.NOW!” then herds them both into the bathroom for their nightly routine.? After that is story time, hugs and kisses, and off our baby bear goes to bed.

All was well and good until the boys realized that they shouldn’t have to go to bed at the same time as their two year old sister and circumstances rose to afford them later bedtimes.? What to do?? We tried putting Tori to bed without the routine and she would have none of it.? I mean NONE of it.? After a few nights of her terrorizing the household with her complaints that were lasting FORever, we went to plan B.? We are faking bedtime.? The boys PRETEND it’s time for bed and we go through the entire ritual and once she is laid down, they get back up giggling away.? Everyone is happy.? :)? I admit this sheepishly.? Heidi accused me of being totally and utterly wrapped by my two year old.? How can I make an argument against that in light of telling stories like this?? Jim and I are not sure how this has happened, how we just crumble at the very sight of her, but we both lack the emotional and physical energy to put our foot down in a serious manner with our little one.? Wrapped indeed.? As I told Heidi, she is only two and I have plenty of time to gain the upper hand with her and for the most part, she isn’t disrespectful she is just two?just a little bitty adorable two.

And what makes this whole thing all the more endearing to witness, is the fact that Tori believes SHE is putting her brothers to bed.? The last few nights I have noticed that after she climbs out of the bottom bunk bed (where Daddy reads the story), she immediately turns on their fan, then turns on the nightlight for Ty, then says “Ni-nigh Nanner.? Ni-nigh Ty”.? She hugs and kisses them and heads for her bed – completely in control.? 🙂

I was a little surprised tonight though when I attempted to enter the bedroom during storytime and she looked me in the eye and loudly said “BYE”.?? Guess? I need a special invite for the greatly celebrated bedtime routine.? Nah.? Daddy’s got that one and Mommy’s more than happy to leave it in his hands.? As long as I get my kisses.

Going to post more pictures now and then off to bed.

First – I think you need a joke for the day (as I heard on Happy Town)

One day a man was talking to God and he asked Him “God how long is a million years to you?” and God replied “only a second”.? He then asked “How much money is a million dollars to you?”.? God answered “just a penny”.? The man smiled and asked “Can I borrow a penny?”.? God smiled and said “in a second”.?? Hee hee.

Enjoy your day.

This is her “I don’t really care to do this your way thank you very much” look.

I’ll title these “Sweet and Sour”? :).? Sour is my favorite.