Grace Like Rain: My Sweet Finley Girl

My sweet, sweet girl is growing up way too fast. She will be THREE in July...how on earth did that happen? I've decided I need to do a better job of capturing each stage/season of what we are doing and experiencing together. Therefore, we are resurrecting this blog yet again :) Maybe I will be able to keep it up????

In no particular order, these are some of Finley's fun little quirks and some of the developmental milestones she is hitting. I want to write it as if it were a letter for her to read someday.

My precious Finley girl,

You are an absolute joy to be around, even when you are being a typical toddler. I am loving life with you, and thoroughly enjoying this season we are in. Here are just a few of the things you are doing right now, just shy of three years old :)

You pronounce your name Fimme.
Shammich = sandwich (kind of reminds me of Godwin on Duck Dynasty).
You know your entire alphabet, and will sing it most of the time you are asked. However, you insist on leaving out the E, and on occasion, you simply end it with T, U, V, then finish with "now I know my ABCs."
You are definitely my daughter when it comes to some OCD tendencies. You line up your toys, and you have to have things a certain way. While I love seeing you have these little quirks, your daddy finds it scary :)
Some of your favorite TV shows right now include Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, and Daniel Tiger.
You are currently obsessed with dinosaurs, and I attribute that to Peppa Pig's little brother, George, and his Dine-saw!
You are a professional staller. You really know how to work us when it comes to delaying certain things, especially nap time/bed time. I have to hand it to you though...you know your audience well...you ask Daddy to read more Bible stories, you ask to pray for the entire neighborhood, and you ask me to sing "Sunshine Oway" just one more time. What can I say, I'm a sucker most nights :(
Speaking of bed time, you are a night owl. It doesn't seem to matter what time nap starts, when it ends, or if you even take a nap. Some nights, you lie in your bed until almost 11 pm just talking to yourself or to one of the fifty toys and stuffed animals you take to bed with you.
When we pray at night before bed, you include the following people/things on your prayer list:

Mommy, Daddy, and Mimi Brudge/Bruddah (Mimi = baby, and it has for quite some time)
Womma (Grandma), PaPa (Grandpa), Womma Fimme (Grandma Finley), Priss (Chris), Kay (Kelly), Ehen (Ethan), Audin (Austin), Isaac is shockingly clear, and Aundrew (Andrew)...you refer to them as "the boys."
PawPaw (grandpa Dave), Jojo (Jolene), Buyer (Bryer), Ensawee (Ensley), Pawks (Parks), Harr (Harlyn), Bo-dee (Brody), Bysty (Brystol), Oo-ee (Lou Lee).
The Disney Princesses...all of them. If we leave one out, you are upset.
We pray for our favorite dogs (and their humans): Sairy (Sherry), Deev (Steve), and their dog Woxy (Roxy); Tona (Devin and Veronica's dog, Kona), and Sam (Uncle Rob's dog).

Your favorite songs to sing at night include:

Sunshine Oway (You Are My Sunshine)
Let It Dough (Let It Go, from Frozen)
Itsy Spise (Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Jesus Wubs Me (Jesus Loves Me)
The ABC song
Just recently, you have started to request the pointer song (Where is Pointer, where is Pointer, Here I am, Here I am).

****It must be said...Daddy isn't allowed to sing any of the songs that Mommy typically sings, which is most of them.

Sometimes, when we ask you to stop doing something or we tell you no, your response is, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just..." ending with whatever you are doing that you aren't supposed to do. For example:

Me - "Finley, please stop putting that in his face."
Finley - "Oh, I'm sorry. I just showing him."
Me - "Finley, that's not how we use that keyboard."
Finley - "Oh sorry. I just typing my paper."

You have recently become obsessed with the Disney princesses. I honestly don't mind, and actually rather enjoy it. You have a particularly large place in your heart for Cinderella. We now own the Little People Disney Princess Castle (tassel, in your case), and you LOVE IT!
Sleeping Beauty is currently pronounced Sleeping Booty.
Like I mentioned before, you know your ABCs. You also know your numbers and can count to twenty on your own, higher if we help. You went through a phase where you counted like this: 1, 2, 5 10. Everything was 1, 2, 5, 10. You also say eleventeen...
You talk...a lot. So many people used to tell me to enjoy your silence while it lasted because soon you would never cease to speak. But I honestly love listening to you. You're hilarious...intentionally and unintentionally. I understand about 95% of what you say. Sometimes though, I'm just at a loss. You have a few phonetic hang ups, but they're cute :). For example:

You are able to say the sounds for C and K, but for whatever reason, when you talk, they come out as T or P. Cat=tat, cup=tup, climb=plimb, crying=prying
The ST combination is a tricky one. Stinky=dinky, stick=dick...which can be problematic when you are yelling it through our neighborhood :).
Snowman=noman, sneeze=neeze
Okay=otay

When you want something, or "need" something, you tell us that you miss it. Like, this morning, you missed your Teddy Bear (mommy's old bear), so we had to run back inside for your bear.
You are typically a great eater, and you love your chocolate milk. Sometimes, however, you get so distracted by what you are playing with that you just can't sit still to eat.
You love to read, but have mostly been using this as a stalling tactic lately. You still love the Mouse books (Merry Christmas Mouse, Happy Birthday Mouse, and the rest of the titles in that series).
You love to be outside. One of your favorite places to go is the park, whether it is the smaller park in our neighborhood, or the larger parks in town.
You enjoy going fishing with daddy, and he even bought you a princess fishing pole. Currently, there is a tall glass of water on our bookshelf with your "fish" that you caught. I believe it is a lure or a bait.
When it is time for a nap, you tell us that you're not tired and that you can't take a nap because the sun is still out.
You are definitely into playing by yourself. You are at that wonderful stage where you are imagining and making your characters talk.
You love to make pretend phone calls to people, probably because you have been playing with phones since before you were one.
You do not like Beast, from Beauty and the Beast. He is always left out, or left alone in the living room while all of the other characters get to play in your room.
You love to play with bubbles outside.
You have repeatedly told daddy that he can't watch baseball or basketball because you do not like to watch it.
You love to go check the mail, and you are now super interested in playing with pieces of mail. I had to go out to the garage and gather up various sizes of stationery and greeting cards for you to play with. You walk around with one of them, stating that it is an invitation for a party.
You LOVE your baby brother. You pronounce his name Tenton (Kenton), and you are always telling us, "him so toot (cute)." You love to be in his face and hold his hand. You ask me to take your picture with him. You always want to see him and hold him. So grateful that this transition has gone this way so far.