At two and a half, Eve is turning into quite a little scallywag. She tells me all the time that Jackie is her best friend. Doesn't that just melt your heart? Unfortunately that translates into Eve having it in for Jackie. She steals toys, draws on her pictures, and basically plays the annoying toddler role to a tee. Jackie puts up with it pretty well, but she will be happy when Eve grows up a bit more.

And she is growing up. A couple of week ago she climbed out of her crib (something she could have done a long time ago, but whenever I saw her try, I would tell her firmly - and a little loudly maybe- that doing that WAS NOT SAFE! My goal was to convince her that climbing out of the crib was as dangerous as playing in traffic. I wanted her in that crib. It worked for a while, but no more (yes I will make sure she doesn’t start playing in traffic). Anyway, she is in the toddler bed now, and the crib is disassembled. She only spent a couple of nights on the floor, and now she falls a sleep nicely in the bed. I think she is feeling pretty empowered by her big girl bed, since she told her babysitter that she was “bigger than Alice, and bigger than Jackie, but Mommy and Daddy were really big.” You can tell that our “big girl” propaganda machine is working overtime lately. I just realized that she will be three in 4 and a half months. My mom always said “Life begins at three” (life: swimming lessons, dancing lessons, pre-school), but not if you are still in diapers.

Alice and Jackie are in swimming lessons right now (on separate days – you have to register BEFORE the day it starts to get that!) Each time we go Eve says, “My turn to swim?” and cries that it is "no fair" that it is Alice’s or Jackie’s turn again. We always say when she has panties she can take lessons. Same goes for dancing. (Though last week she got to dance a long with Alice class, because it was parent observation day. She did pretty well. )

Anyway, in the next few weeks, expect to see a post about her giving her sousou to the sousou fairy. And in the spring, expect that exciting potty training post. My guess is that like the move from the crib to the toddler bed, the transition will be easier than I expect. She does want to be a big girl after all – and she doesn’t always realize that she will always be my baby.