Life with an almost 3 year old....

Well it's really hard to believe but Ella is just under two months away from being 3. Where has the time gone?! You always hear how fast they grow, but until you have children of your own you never truly understand. While I am excited for all her milestones and all the growing and changing she is doing, I wish it would just SLOW down....I want to enjoy her being little a while longer. In the last year she has really started to come out of her shell and be more outgoing. She has also learned so much! She knows her letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. She can sing a whole catalog of songs and even knows a few sight words. She also summersaults like a pro, or sumpersaults as she calls it. I think she is a genius, but well I'm partial.... She does love school and her teachers and they have done a great job teaching her. I have to give them credit, they are awesome :)
Every day she surprises me with something new and she is turning out to be quite a bit like her mom :), stubborn, and a REALLY picky eater! No matter what you offer her she usually responds with a " I don't like that ". I phrase I use a quite a bit as well. She would gladly eat Cheetos and cupcakes every day for every meal (I guess what kid wouldn't?!) and from time to time I have let her eat junk for a meal just to keep my sanity...I figure my sanity is worth a bowl of Cheetos now and then. When she was little it was so much easier, a jar of carrots, a jar of applesauce, and she gladly would eat it all and then somewhere around one and a half she started getting picky. This has made mealtimes pretty difficult and while I want her to have a well balanced meal it can be frustrating to prepare everything and then have her refuse to eat it! I hoping she learns to try new things and actually eat a meal, instead of wanting to constantly snack. And today I did get her to eat three actual meals, or at least part of three actual meals..although dinner is somewhat questionable as an "actual" meal...she is putting macaroni and cheese between saltine crackers and making sandwiches, Mmmm. Sounds like something her Aunt Beth would like :)