2

This girl is two.

She loves to run and jump and wrestle with her brother.  Her favorite person is Daddy.  

She is both fiercely independent and fiercely affectionate.  Her favorite phrases are “I did it!” and “Hold me!”  She refuses to hold hands when walking across a parking lot and upon being picked up, she thrashes and kicks and screams as though she’s been abducted.  But if any person other than me, Sloan, Henry, or her cousin Rachel should try to pick her up, she will climb up my legs.  If Sloan or I sit on the ground, she immediately comes to sit in our laps.  She also likes to arrange Henry’s Thomas blanket neatly around him when he is reading a book or playing on his Thomas computer.

She rarely goes anywhere without LaLa the pink poodle.  

She loves cookies.  A lot.  She was afraid of her birthday cake so we just let her have Oreos.  She prefers Double Stuffed as she mainly just wants to eat the cream.  We consider this to mean she has excellent small motor skills.  Her favorite toys are her baby dolls, purses, and to play trains with Henry.  She also loves the trampoline and the sit and spin.  And she can not only jump high off the ground with two feet, she began jumping repeatedly on one foot this afternoon.  Her favorite shows are Curious George and Sesame Street.  Her favorite book is Go Dog! Go!  Her favorite songs are Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, and “What I Am” by Will.I.Am.  She lets me know she wants to dance to “What I Am” by pointing to the Ipad, mimicking playing on drums, and chirping “I be strong.”  When I showed her how our new TV could play YouTube videos and she saw Will.I.Am and the Sesame Street gang in their full size glory, she began the jumping on one foot shenanigans.  She dances like she is Lord of the Dance.

She will only eat vegetables if they are in those uber expensive baby food foil squeezy things.  I don’t get it.  We offer her loads of veggies and healthy foods at dinner, but she ends up going to bed without dinner a lot.  Mainly because she won’t even let the plate sit in front of her if she doesn’t like what is on it.  Her favorite foods are cookies, sliced turkey, cheese, strawberries, and bananas.  She eats a lot of rice.  Which is to say I sweep up a lot of rice from the floor.  She also likes milkshakes. I’m going to start trying to make her some veggie smoothies.  So if you’ve got some recipes, link them up in the comments section.

She is at that stage where every day brings new words and phrases.  As of late, she really enjoys saying “Thank you.”  She thanks me for changing her diaper, which I appreciate.  She also likes to put her toes in my face while I am changing her diaper.  Then she says, “Kiss, kiss, Mommy.”  So I’m fairly certain that I’m ruining her for my future son-in-law.  

She has been known to throw a temper tantrum.  Or two.  Or thirty seven.

She is also great at shutting doors and putting things away.  She is the most helpful person in the family when it comes time to clean up the sunroom.  She excels in throwing items in the trash.  We often times cannot find our shoes because she has put them away.  

She laughs with her whole body.  She’ll do pretty much anything for a second (or seventh) cookie.   She lights up when her brother walks in the room, and they usually share a fist bump when they first see each other in the morning.  She is slowly growing used to being the prettiest girl in the room and can often be seen wearing giant sunglasses.  Even indoors.  

She is loved.  

Thank you Grace for rocking our world for the past two years!