2 weeks till 2 years old!

Everyone,

In 2 weeks my baby will be 2 years old. Where does the time go? Juice said that time was just plugging along before we had her, and then suddenly it grew up and got a real job. Now time just races by. I'm doing another picture slide show for her so look for that in about 2 weeks.

She talks up a blue streak, repeating everything I say and then some. She frequently asks to go to Nana's house ("Go Nana's house? Ride airplane! Play toys!") since we are leaving in 2 weeks for a visit to Utah. My mom told her on the phone that she has toys for Butterfly to play with. She asks for them. She also asks to go over to the house where I babysit or over to "Kebin" who is a friend of ours from our church.

Her favorite thing right now is to dance. She knows how to turn on the CD player in my room and will dance fast or slow depending on the music. The slower the music, the more arm movement is involved. Fast music needs some spinning on the ground and lots of bouncing. She wants us to join her and we do sometimes. But if we are the audience (which she says), then we're not even allowed to bob our head. There are rules people and you must follow them.

She has a few favorite stuffed animals (FINALLY) and will sit and chat with them in the mornings. I get a few more minutes in bed and she pretends with her toys. She asks them to "Cummon you guys" and "Drink, both hands". She has a few teddy bears which she calls care bears and has them do the care bear stare. She has a care bear dvd that we watch a lot.

She is also into books lately. She has always been a book worm but now she will sit and turn the pages by herself and explain the pictures to herself. She will often just burst out laughing and say "That funny!" when a picture catches her fancy.

She is a pretty good eater for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is a bit of a chore. She loves loves loves "jelly sandwich peanut butter" and will eat a few half sandwiches through out the day. She is also wanting to drink from regular cups and not sippy cups so I have started giving her small amounts of water at lunch in a small plastic cup. She loves hot dogs, black beans, ice cream, raisins, milk (she still calls it "nup") and meat. She loves meat of any kind. She does okay with green beans if you catch her on a good day, and also loves tomatoes, strawberries (any kind of fruit for that matter), and peas.

My favorite things she does is randomly she will come up to me and hug me and tell me she loves me. She will also ask me "What wrong Mommy?" if I'm trying to sleep or if I'm sad. She also knows she can't go in the street with out holding hands "Hold my hand!" She sings her own version of Twinkle, the Wheels on the Bus, and the Snowman song. She does all the hand actions to about 8 different songs. She also knows a few nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle. What I want to know is it too early for the whys to start. I tell her to do something and I get a "Why?" Ugh, it's getting frustrating to do things like dress her or put on shoes because every time I ask her to do something she asks "Why?" back. She does love to pick out her clothes so I've kind of given up on that battle. You want to wear this bright yellow shirt with totally clashing shorts? And different colored socks? Sure. Often she looks like her daddy dressed her, but really it's just her. I do insist on matching stuff when we are going out for a play date or something, but otherwise, she can wear what she wants.

We have discovered the joys of 2 minutes. Say if she doesn't want to go inside and will scream and cry and carry on if I make her, I ask her if she wants to go in now or in 2 minutes. Almost always she picks two minutes. And when I say the 2 minutes is up, she happily follows me inside. Or to get her diaper changed, or to take a nap. Sometimes she will even come up to me and say "2 minutes up!" before they are and we go do whatever it is we should have done.

I can't believe she is going to be 2 years old!

Safire