Samantha at 2 yrs 10 months

Here's what Samantha is like just before turning three:

• She is excited for her birthday and is always telling me what she wants for her birthday.
• If I tell anyone she's two she'll respond by saying, "And a half!! I'm two AND A HALF!"
• She loves, loves, loves dolls and playing babies. We never go anywhere without one of her babies. We also have to have her diaper bag, bottle, blanket, etc.
• She is really sweet and sensitive. She is always concerned that everyone is happy. If Paul is crying she'll come up to him and say, "it's okay buddy, I'm right here. It's okay, I'm here and I gotcha." She also told my mom today that she could have her baby "for all of the time" (I think she was afraid that my mom slept alone when my dad is out of town)
• She's talking really well and only says a couple words wrong; like "breas-quist" = breakfast, "flam-ly"=family, "pa-man-a" = banana, "bin-a-nin" = vitamin
• She goes to bed at 7:00 although she will almost always play for awhile before actually going to sleep. She wakes up around 6:30 and takes about a 2 hour nap, but it can be as short as 45 min or as long as 3 hrs.
• She loves to hold Paul and (unfortunately) does it all the time, even when Paul doesn't want her too.
• She is SUCH a messy eater and we can't get through a meal without making a HUGE mess.
• She is very polite, always saying please and thank you.
• She has had a hard time listening lately and I'm convinced it'll be the terrible threes rather than the terrible twos.
• She knows all her colors as well as what happens when you mix them (i.e. when you mix red and blue you get purple)
• She has one-to-one correspondence (when she counts 1, 2, 3 she can touch the objects as she's saying the numbers) but she still counts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
• She is learning her letters, but can only identify "s" consistently. She can also pick out a few other letters some of the time.
• Her favorite food is pizza and anytime I ask what we should have for dinner she yells, "I know, pizza!"
• She still misses her friends in Utah and will occasionally ask about them (although it's getting less frequent)
• Pink is her favorite color. When you ask what color of something she wants she will say, "I want pink, I looooove pink."
• Whenever she's doing something wrong, she tries to get out of it by saying that she was just teasing.
• She is really verbal and is able to express what's going on in her head. She can tell me what she wants and why, as well as why something is bothering her.
• She loves nursery. We spoke in church a couple Sunday's ago. She was running up to Adam during the closing prayer. She hadn't quite made it to him though when the prayer was over. She immediately turned around and started running for the door, yelling "nursery time, nursery time!"
• She is always kind and is such a sweet girl that we love!