The number of the day is 25

I don't know when or why it started, but Evie loves the number 25.  If we're eating toast, she wants it

cut into 25 pieces (we cut it into 5...). At the playground, when I tell her we have 5 minutes left she exclaims "25 more minutes!" and so on and so forth.  I have shown her what 25 looks like in objects (counting fingerling potatoes, for example).  She knows 25 is a big number and though it has taken me a while to figure out exactly what it signifies, I finally learned that she just wants more of something.  More time. More toast. More treats. More...  Unless it's vegetables.  Then just one will do.
At three and a half years old, this child keeps me on my toes more often than not.  She doesn't miss one single thing.  She watches it all.  She hears it all.  She absorbs it all.  I can't even imagine how much smarter the world would be if our brains continued to function like that of a three year old.  I can much more easily sneak something past an adult than I can Evie.

She also continuously tests my limits.   Since starting preschool she has been saying the word "poo poo" or "poopy" a lot.  At first I was ignoring it, hoping it would go away.  But two weeks later it's still there.  So, last night at dinner I said "Oh!  Do you need to go potty? Let's go!"  She scowled and said "no".  I responded that when I hear that word, I assume she has to go and next time I hear it I'll take her to the potty.  So, she said it again.  But she immediately covered her mouth and looked shocked like OMG, I can't believe I just did that.  Since she caught herself, I decided not to take her.  Big mistake.  She tested my limit and won.  She could tell I didn't want to leave my own dinner to escort her to the bathroom.  So she said it again.  And I took her.  No surprise, a meltdown ensued.  I ignored her and returned to the table.  But she then decided to continue psychological warfare by no longer eating dinner.  A button she knows she can always push.  And I button I keep trying to remove, but am just so hard pressed to get vegetables into this child that she often wins on keeping it a button.  And of course I've heard all that sage advice on letting your child decide whether or not to eat, and what they'll eat and that you're just supposed to sit there and ignore it and keep serving whatever you planned to serve.  And I try to follow it.  And succeed for a week.  Then we go back to our old game and I resolve to once again stop caring whether she eats and once again get annoyed because she won't eat dinner but then asks for snacks/dessert/etc.  To which I say, sorry, you didn't eat dinner. At which point she says "but I will!!!" and takes one bite of everything on her plate and then goes back to asking for whatever she really wanted.  What the hell is one supposed to do in that situation?  I'd like to just take all the "junk" (yes, by many standards we don't have REAL junk, but I still consider a granola bar or organic gummy bears "junk" seeing as they're nothing but sugary filler) out of the house.  Then I could honestly say that we don't have any of that to eat.  But I feel like then it just becomes even more of a forbidden fruit.  Sigh.  Still at a loss on this one.

At any rate, when we're just hanging out we have a grand old time.  She's funny and smart and able to
do a lot.  Just this morning I went upstairs to brush my teeth and returned to her having cut a kiwi in half and giving some to herself and Cora using a small spoon.  More often than not I find her doing things I wish she wouldn't but am often impressed by her industry when it comes to getting what she wants.  For example, she will push a chair over to the counter, climb onto the counter and grab a treat from the upper cabinets.  I ought to just put them in the lower cabinets and relinquish the illusion of control I'm holding onto. 

Trying to teach Cora to drink from a cup

I love listening to her playing with her toys.  I was worried she didn't have a very active imagination but recently she's been having her dolls and animals roll play.  She also uses her magna-tiles to build dance floors and apartments for her little dolls.  She does play very well by herself.  She'd like Will or I to be in the room, but doesn't seem to care whether we actually participate in whatever she's doing.  That is often nice for us, but one thing I need to help her with is building solid friendships.  She is very content to do her own thing, and if that bothers whoever she is playing with then she'd just as soon not play with them as do what they want.  How do you walk the line between encouraging her to be a nice friend and yet not be a follower?  I suppose she'll just be who she is, but I don't want her to push away potential friends because she doesn't care (right now) whether they're

her friend or not.  And again, I find myself sighing because I don't quite know what to do.  I love this little girl so incredibly much, and like any parent, want her to lead a happy and fulfilling life.  Of course she'll have adversity--and I can only hope that will make her a better, stronger person--but it is a constant challenge to allow her to experience those minor injustices rather than whisking in and making it all better.  Once she's 25, I just pray that I'll have done my job well enough that she's happy and that she'll want me around as much as I'm sure I'll want to be.