This year zoomed by so fast! It’s not been without challenges of steering a toddler, but it’s been more joyful and fun than we could have ever imagined.

Remington is funny, compassionate, bull-headed, strong, adventurous but also cautious. She’s full of love for people and animals. She’s creative. She’s just the best.

Here are some updates to remember:

She’s now 35 inches and around 28 lbs (well-child checkup is in a couple of weeks), wearing size 2T in most things, moving up to some 3T in a few things that are more fitted. Can still wear some baby-sized dresses. She wears size 6 shoes. Still a petite girl! 25% for weight and 10% for height.

She LOVES being active. Playing outside, gymnastics, dance (she’s doing tap and ballet at school this year!), running and racing.

Still a fabulous sleeper. She goes down pretty easily for naps and nighttime. She sleeps from 8ish until 6 a.m. on school days. On the weekends, she will sleep until 6:30ish. She takes a 2 hour nap every day.  Her bedtime routine is a couple books, praying, and a song. She sometimes asks to “snuggle” where we lay sort of on her bed with her or to rock and sing. She’s not at all attached to a particular blanket, but she still sleeps with her lovey. She occasionally asks for different stuffies to be in bed with her. Poppy from Trolls and Dory have been in there for a while (gifts from our friend Lillian).

She’s hit and miss with teeth brushing. Some nights she fusses that she has to do it, but when it’s time to do it, she’s good. We use an electric toothbrush mostly, and she likes to floss. She still loves bath, but we have to bribe her to wash her hair without crying.

She is still a HUGE helper. She loves to help me cook, help feed the dogs, help clean up her trash and take her plate to the sink after meals. She’s a good girl (most of the time).

She still is social and loves people, but occasionally she will act shy. She still likes to hug, give high fives, talk to people. She is compassionate- when she hears or sees someone crying she wants to go hug them.

She also LOVES mascots and people in costumes. She loves to dress up, but if she sees a mascot, we GOTTA go say hi.

Some of her favorite toys are pretending and building. She LOVES Play Doh and making things with her blocks. She loves to figure something out and do it herself. She is very imaginative- Play Doh becomes pizza dough and blocks quickly become robots. She also loves to pretend with her babies and her play kitchen. She’s always cooking up something. She’s also SUPER into storytelling play with her Paw Patrol pups.

She likes to play games, but sometimes loses patience. But cooperative games are her jam (we aren’t into competition yet). We like to play this silly little dance game and our Snug as a Bug game. We also make up our own games a lot- especially outside with the sidewalk chalk. We make up sort of little relay games. She also LOVES to paint.

She’s still a fantastic eater. Not picky. Prefers veggies over most things (we hear a LOT when we’re out because she will finish her green beans first and ignore fries!). She still loves soup. Now, don’t let her love of veggies fool you- she prefers a hot dog over just about anything. And she loves blue colored foods (Popsicles, cake, etc.) but she’s not picky and will eat most things I give her. Breakfast still isn’t her fave, but if I give her snacky foods (like carrots and a cheese stick) she usually does better than a typical breakfast food. Some of her favorite foods are cherry tomatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes, supreme pizza (“pizza wiff all the tings!”) and lunchables (she takes lunch to school on Fridays and she LOVES a lunchable).

She is mostly drinking water and 1% milk. She isn’t big on drinking, so when it’s hot we have to push. She likes to supplement with popsicles and homemade slushes in the summer.

She can fully dress herself (sometimes needing help with shirts/dresses) but she likes to choose her clothes some days (most days she doesn’t care). But I usually offer her a few choices and let her pick. The funniest change has been in her pajamas. Some nights she wants typical night dresses or PJS and some nights she asks for just a T-shirt. Whatever.

Her favorite foot wear is crocs. Thanks, dad.

You can bribe her pretty well these days with Paw Patrol videos on my phone (though she prefers to watch people playing with Paw Patrol toys, not the actual show). She also likes to watch Blippi and some Kids Bop. She gets the phone halfway through our drive to/from school (I make her have conversation first!). She hardly ever gets it other times, maybe if we are waiting at the doctor…but we don’t do it eating out or anything.

Her hair is SO LONG and she likes it up most days now. When it’s down, she usually wants a blue bow.

She often tells us what a good job we are doing. “Good job making dinner, mom.” “Good job putting on your shoes, dad”

She is BUSY. Hardly ever stops. Even if we are watching a movie, she’s usually playing in the living room.

She still loves her family. From us and her grandmas to her cousins, she LOVES being with family. She is also obsessed with her dogs. She LOVES them and Pippin is great with her. Mikey loves her too, but he’s a bit more skiddish when she’s loud and crazy. Both dogs will sneak into her room at night and lay with her.

She loves to experience new things, but sometimes she has to warm up to them. She needs to watch and see first. She can be cautious. She’s adventurous when it comes to things she’s doing herself (jumping/climbing/etc.) but can be scared of things like rides at the fair or SDC. But she’s trying to be brave.

She is a pretty positive, easy going kid. And our biggest struggle at the moment is defiance. A mix of toddler normal and her strong-willed self. But we’re working on making better choices.