Adventures of the Eubanks

Julia,

You are such a delight to us! You give us giant hugs and kisses, often tell us "I love you" voluntarily and just because, sometimes ask to snuggle us while watching a video, scream with delight and run to daddy when he comes home, give us compliments, show compassion when we're sick, show excitement when one of us does something worthy of praise ("great coloring Mommy", "good job Jackson"), get the cutest closed-mouth grin on your face when you're proud of yourself, and generally have a joy for life.

Of course you struggle with many of the common toddler things: a love for the word "No!" spoken with attitude and defiance, sometimes ignoring us when we ask you to do things even though we know you heard us, getting totally distracted by three different things while on your way to accomplish the one task we asked you to do, sometimes playing tug-of-war with a friend who wants the same toy as you, arguing, etc. But oh my goodness...If I were getting told what to do all day long, I'm pretty sure I'd struggle severely with all those things too.

Overwhelmingly though, you really try to show love, obey with a good attitude, use your manners and share with others. You memorized the Fruits of the Spirit and we try to praise you when you show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. This has been a great tool to teach you the type of traits we want you to show. You get very proud of yourself when you willingly display a Fruit of the Spirit. But even when you show a bad attitude, you often do a good job of correcting yourself when we ask you to "try again."

Some other things about Julia over these past four months...

SLEEPING

Almost never takes a nap. When she does, you can count on her being up til 10 o'clock.
When she does sleep, she still sucks her thumb. She also loosens the fitted bed sheet enough that she can wrap her fingers around it and hold on to it.
July 26th: Julia has been fearing the dark more these past couple of months, and so she was always asking to keep her closet light on. We felt this disrupted her sleep because of how bright it was, so we finally convinced her on this particular night to try a nightlight instead. After going through our typical bedtime routine, Mommy, Daddy and Julia stayed in her room after the lights were out to let our eyes adjust to the dark and show Julia how the nightlight had a glow to it. I coached her that, if she still got scared, she could talk to Jesus and I prayed an example prayer of what she might say if that happened. She didn't say anything at the time, but a few minutes later when Jarret and I were leaving her room and closing the door , I heard her say "Dear Jesus" and she continued talking for a good minute. It absolutely warmed our heart to hear her talking to Jesus on her own initiative all by herself!!
Her bedtime routine:

Currently has no book readings because she chooses to play games instead, such I Spy and The-Three-Bunnies-Run-Away-From-The-Big-Bad-Cat game. Every night either daddy or I take 3 of her stuffed bunnies and pretend to have a quiet picnic in the middle of her floor. Julia is in charge of Precious, her Build-A-Bear cat turned evil who proceeds to attack the bunnies as they try to run and hide. Eventually, they all become friends.
Sometimes she still gets scared of the dark. We sing her the "I will not be afraid of the darkness" song by Phil Joel.
As dictated by Julia, we always pray in order of mommy, daddy, and then Julia. Her bedtime prayer is the same every night currently: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for the world and the sky, and Mommy and Daddy and Julia and Jackson, and for peace and welcome. Amen, God." (We taught her the Fruits of the Spirit, which includes "peace". The Fruits of the Spirit used to be part of her prayer and then she somehow shortened it to "peace and welcome". We tell her that "welcome" is not a Fruit of the Spirit, so now after she says "Amen, God" she tells us "welcome isn't a Fruit of the Spirit." Good to know, so stop praying for it!)

PLAYTIME

Things she loves to play and do:

Since turning three years old, the newest thing she enjoys doing is coloring. She used to color for a couple minutes here and there, but now she desires to color all the time and it holds her attention for a while. And she's gotten extremely good at staying in the lines!
She also enjoys pretending to be the baby. She'll pretend cry, get her diaper changed, talk like a baby...and as Jackson has begun trying to walk, she now tries to walk like a baby too, which really looks more like a waddle. She still enjoys all other forms of pretend, too.
She has learned the game I Spy. She's finally getting better at giving clues, but in the beginning it went something like this, "Mommy. Daddy. I spy something white with pink ears. Can you find the bunny on my bed?"
She took swim lessons in June, and she now enjoys putting her face under the water either in the pool or even in just the bathtub.
Upon getting out of our bathtub, she wraps up in her pink hooded butterfly towel and pretends to be a butterfly. She creeps along the floor like a caterpiller, then she curls up into a ball with the towel covering her, and then after a long while of us waiting patiently she finally emerges as a beautiful butterfly and flies around the room.
She has become very brave going to church and school, and she seems to genuinely enjoy both.
She loves learning. The child will sit down with us and a Preschool Workbook and she can easily spend 30 minutes with us going through different lessons.
She's a little OCD about some of the things she does: socks and shoes must always go on the left foot first, toilet paper needs to touch the white baseboard before she'll rip it off the roll to use,
She also insists sometimes on doing things herself, though what she chooses to do isn't consistent so you never really know if it's okay to do for her or not. Examples: turning on the lights, getting her clothes off the hanger, opening doors, getting out her silverware/plate/food, and on and on. If it happens to be an instance in which we did something for her but she wanted to do it herself, she will purpose to undo our action (even if it requires significant time/effort on her part) so she can redo it herself.

FAVORITES

Current favorites that differ slightly from her 3 Year Post:

Loveys - "Old Bunny" is still the clear favorite.
Songs - We have a Napster account that allows us to play full-length songs without having to buy them. We've used it to play the soundtracks to all her favorite movies and TV videos, and she absolutely loves it!
Videos - Jake & The Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Tangled, and Tinkerbell movies.

FUNNY SAYINGS

"That's ridiculous!" - A line she got from Mickey Mouse
"Oh yes! I forgot." - She says this all the time, even when it doesn't apply in any way to something she forgot. It could perhaps be that mommy or daddy come up with a fun idea of something to do, and she says, "Oh yes! I forgot!"
August 8: While entering a Whataburger, a man with a bandana on his head held the door open for us. After he'd left, Julia said, "Mommy! That man was a pirate!"

August 8:

Me: "Julia, I'm pooped."

Julia: "You pooped in your panties?!"

Me: "No!"

Julia: "Jackson pooped in his diaper?"

Me: "No. When people say they're pooped, it means they're tired."
Julia: "Well, I didn't poop and I'm not tired."

Some photo highlights, in order from June thru September:

Dress-up time with Haley and Shae

1st time to ride a bus (on our way to Allen's USA Celebration)

Giddy to ride the train

Showing off her Sand Art cross necklace

Making a frisbee with Daddy

Too tired to watch the Allen USA fireworks show. She first fell asleep while watching them, which meant she had the bright lights of the fireworks going off right in front of her and she still conked out!