Faith August - 35 Months

My baby's last post as a toddler!  Next month Faith will officially be a child! 

Eating:
Faith continues to eat well, especially breakfast.  I think when she turns 3 we are going to start enforcing the fork and the no talking with your mouth full (I guess I'll have to do it to!) as she is getting to be a bit too old for not complying with these table rules.  For 2 weeks of this month Frank and I were in Australia and both sets of grandparents watched the girls, so I know there were more desserts offered during this time but to Faith's credit, she has yet to ask me for any :)
Sleeping:
This week her naps have been great, and I am actually laying her down at 2 but last week she didn't hardly nap at all.  It didn't seem to affect her attitude during the day though so I just made her be quiet while she was laying in bed.  I am sure it will continue in this manner until the naps move fully to rest time but I don't anticipate that happening for another year.  Her nighttime sleep continues to go well although now we are in reminder mode about not screaming at night to let me know she needs to go potty. 
Play:
Faith really enjoys helping me cook, both "reading" the recipe cards and the actual mixing of ingredients.  She also likes to do her pretend cooking.  We had the Melissa and Doug Cookie Set on a toy swap this week and she had the best time "baking" her cookies.  Unfortunately, one day she left her cookies in the oven and later that I day I began to pre-heat the oven without checking it first.  Yep, I baked her cookies.  Fortunately, the cookies were fine, it was just the cookie tray that became a little warped and nothing a 3 year old would really care about but I felt like an idiot.  All the toys that were in Utah came back home with my parents this month and Faith was happy to see them, especially the School Bus Gym, which has become an outside toy (eventually next winter I'll move it back in the house).  She enjoys being the doctor with her Critter Clinic but she doesn't really want to be a vet to the animals, just a doctor to her sister and Daddy.  She continues to love to be read to and her favorite stories this month were anything about Noah's Ark!  She has also really enjoyed tea parties with her sister.
Skills:
Faith knows all her numbers by site now (1-10) and we have started working on counting and she does really well up to about 5.  She is a jumping fool on the trampoline at the tumbling gym now and she can do the balance beam all by herself.  She enjoys practicing at home on our little garden boarder as well.  Rebekah also has been inspired by this!  Faith is improving in dressing herself but does still need a little help with shirts.  Part of that is probably because she really needs more 4T shirts but I don't want to buy more winter shirts when summer is coming in full force and if I can just hold out for Rhea Lana's!  During this past week, Faith's best friend Mackenzie and her brother, Brock stayed with us for the week while their momma was on a mission trip with the church youth group.  Mackenzie is very well mannered and although Faith usually is, she has picked up a great deal from Kenzie that I appreciate!  We have two areas of improvement (other than table manners), one is obeying right away, and the other is being silly at the table.  Part of the silliness may go away when she no longer has a friend to impress, I hope :)