I realize that with school starting, summer ending, and exploring new ways of parenting to tackle bad behavior, I totally forgot to do M’s “half-birthday” update. So here is a snapshot of what she’s like at the grand-old age of two-and-a-half!
M still likes to take things apart (and try to put them back together). Her fine motor skills have always been off the chart (like that time she took apart the screen door at age 18 months!) and she is more convinced now than ever that everything comes apart somehow, and it’s her job to figure out how!
Example: Got new light-up tennis shoes, had the “light” part out of the inside of the shoe in 10 minutes flat. Who knew those light doo-hickies even came out of there???
Example 2: Went on the ride at the fair that’s like a car going in a circle, but instead of happily “driving” the car, her eyes were glued to the levers and machinery up above her head, trying to figure out how the heck the ride was moving.
Favorites
Color: White
Movie: “Anna Elsa”
Clothes: Hawaii dress, “Anna Elsa” slippers, spider man pajama pants
Activity: dish washing, breaking eggs, swimming, swings
Books: Lion King, Mulan, or Hunchback of Notre Dame golden books
Person: (besides me and my mom) “Eli-bett” Elizabeth
Animal: “cock-cock” Peacock, “Roar” Lions, and spiders
Foods: chicken, broccoli, watermelon
Junk food: suckers
Dislikes
Sitting in her car seat
Eating breakfast
Getting dressed
When her mom sings
Babies
Getting her picture taken
Things she says a lot
“Stop it, mommy!”
“My do it!”
“What’re you doing?”
“Whaz-at???” (What’s that?)
“I doh wanna [insert activity]”
“Later?”
(and my least favorite, new one) “It’s hard, I caaaaan’t”
I can only imagine how much this list will have changed by age three. In fact, she’s going to be able to answer most of these questions for herself, I’m sure!
Mother of All Things 
Add “yet” to her can’t statement, solved all our problems around here. “I can’t reach it!” “You can’t reach it yet.” “I can’t read it!” “You can’t read it yet. What do you think it will be like to be able to read all of that?” 🙂
Great response, thanks for the idea!