Nell, 28 months

My Nellie Bell. What to say about my dear sweet Nell? I love her so much. She was never a snuggle-er, not even as a baby, but once my belly had an undeniable bulge she started insisting on snuggles. I relished in the new found desire. On a few occasions I even plopped Reid in front of the TV and took naps with her.

With Coraline's arrival she has continued to want snuggles each day before her nap time (and she fake cries when I have to leave). Lately I find myself just laying above her tiny body, brushing my fingers through her fine-ragged hair, and wishing I could freeze the moment and love on her forever. I can not get enough of her snuggles. Making up for two snuggle-less years I suppose.

She still twirls her hair (thus the ragged-ness) while sucking her thumb. She has a bald spot on the left side of her head due to all the snarls. It drives me a little crazy (hair styles are limited -- not that she keeps them in anyway), but I'm hoping she'll grow out of it in time.

(picture of weird ponytail)

But I'm also hoping she'll never grow up.

I just love the two-year-old stage. And Nell does two-year-old cute with a bit of 11-year-old drama. It's adorable. When I asked Ben what he'd say if he were writing a blog post about Nell his response was "Mruugghh." I laughed for a few solid seconds. She has the cutest disgruntled growl.

"Nell, take a few more bites of dinner."

Drops shoulders and lets out an "mruugghh!"

"Nell, can you put this in the garbage please?"

Picks up diaper and stomps off toward the bathroom with an "mruugghh!"

I know where she gets it from, and it's the one bad habit I don't regret passing on to my children. I could listen to her "mrugghh" all day long (especially since she always still does what is asked of her).

As expected, there are a few little hiccups with Coraline's arrival. Before most feedings you can find Nell crying "Don't feed her Mommy! Don't feed Coraline. Mruugghh," and then she throws her head down on the nearest surface.

I remind her I feed her and take care of her and now it is Coraline's turn. And she always responds with "It's dangerous mommy! Your boobies are too dangerous for Coraline!"

Dangerous is her new go to word. She still loves spicy. Everything use to be too spicy. Paper, clothes, car seats -- whatever she didn't want to eat, touch, or do was always "too spicy."  Now half of them are "too dangerous" and the rest are still too spicy.

Which reminds me that all her pants and winter outerwear are "too big" (they use to be too spicy). I noticed she started requesting her "tiny pants" each day; tiny pants are leggings. She always wants to wear t-shirts and leggings or dresses with leggings. Sweaters are "too big," snow clothes are "too big" and regular pants are "too big." Lucky for her I have to do laundry everyday so her tiny pants are cleaned regularly.

Luckily we've gotten her to stay in her snow suit for more than two minutes lately. She loved sledding. I loved her giggles.

She also loves Daniel Tiger. A bit too much, really. Whenever I show a hint of frustration she sweetly reminds me to "take a deep breath mommy." It usually works, so I shouldn't complain. However, when I remind her to take a deep breath it doesn't work. She just gets more upset.

She loves being naked. The poor Elders, they may have seen a naked toddler last night. I started drawing their bath while Ben was seeing them out the door and before I knew it Nell had all her clothes off and was running out to get daddy!

She's already pretty famous around Church. I know our pew is the most entertaining. Our kids aren't exactly reverent. They're usually pretty quiet, but they don't sit still. Or, if they are sitting still they aren't quiet. This week for example, in complete silence she and Reid kneeled up on the pew and then she proceeded to wrestle him flat onto his back. I caught the Bishop laughing from the stand. Later, she sat on Ben's lap but insisted he practice his emotions. "Be happy! Be mad! Smile! Be mad! Be silly! Be Grandma!" The Bishop's mother, who was three pews back, heard that and thought it was hysterical. Ben didn't really know how to be Grandma, so the game ended there.

After our services we had a little pot luck (but before that Reid had a bloody nose disaster, anyway). Reid and his other little four-year-old buddy were flying paper airplanes while we waited for the set up, and Reid's little buddy hit her with his paper airplane. She was upset and screamed at him, like any two-year-old would, and he thought that was great, like any four-year-old would. So he kept pointing his plane at her and scaring her. In his defense, he didn't hit her again and had no intention of doing so, but he did love making her upset. His mom and I both kept reminding him to stop, but finally she just hauled off and whacked him. Hard. His face was red and a bit swollen for minutes later. I'm grateful his mom was understanding. He was obviously upset, but she just reminded him he should have left her alone and she's too little to know better. I made her apologize and the two of them avoided each other for the next hour. Yesterday my visiting teacher came over and said "I heard Nell can handle herself in primary!" I quickly referenced the incident and then asked, "or is there something else she did?!?!" Thankfully that was it for now, but my friend hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she heard about it as the story spread.

My strong willed, stubborn, sweet, lovable, holds her own Nell Belle. Gosh, I love her.

There's still so much more I could say. Like how much she loves to dance. Her obsession with the color pink. Her constant "hold me daddy, hold me!" There are just so many things to love about my little Nell Belle.