Lilly - 2 years old

It seems like yesterday that we were bringing Lilly home for the hospital.  I can't believe that it has been 2 years already!

Lilly has really seemed to change a lot in the past few months.  It is apparent that she is no longer a "baby" (although she will ALWAYS be my baby girl!) but she is really starting to become a little girl.  It is hard to believe that she has gone for the tiny 5lb 15oz baby to a silly, sassy, loud, cuddly, sweet, loving little girl!

September 2, 2011

September 2, 2013

She loves to dress up, wear anyone and everyone's shoes, and is VERY opinionated about what she is going to wear everyday.  I have given up on the fight long ago and have decided that as long as the clothgin she chooses is appropriate (covers appropriate body parts and is weather appropriate), she can wear whatever.  For her birthday, we got her Cinderella dress up shoes and Matt's parents got her Minnie Mouse jewelery (necklace, ring, bracelet, and earrings).  She LOVES all of it so much!

A little blurry but still cute - princess crown, broom, and Minnie Mouse jewelery

She also loves to push her baby around in the stroller and is starting to play more with her baby dolls (feeding, loving on them, etc).  As a kid, I spent countless hours playing baby and have wonderful memories of this so I hope Lilly enjoys playing baby as much as I did.  Other favorite birthday gifts were a bed (pack-n-play style) for her baby dolls, play food, and a cooking set

New tea set from Ms Elaine!

Putting her baby to sleep - the pats are a little on the hard side though

As much as she is a Diva, she can stand her ground with Brayden.  She does not take anything from him which is great!  Actually, they love each other very much and are still very close.  I love seeing them play together.  It melts my heart each time!  I pray that their relationship continues on the same path as it is right now.

Riding the tractor at Lowe's - a favorite for both kids!

If we go outside, Lilly likes to walk around carrying a baseball bat, baseball, and has to have gloves on because, well, you can't play baseball without gloves, right?  Even though they are really bright blue kids gardening gloves!  Sometimes a small fight ensues over who gets to wear the gloves, but typically Brayden concedes and let Lilly have them.  Lilly also loves to go for walks - stroller, pushable tricycle, or her Cozy Coupe car are all favorite modes of transportation. 

Lilly also really enjoys the park, especially the big slide and the swing.  She loves to climb on the big kid equipment which makes this momma's heart skip a beat but overall, she manages just fine. 

Last week, Lilly had to stay home from school because she was "sick".  Thankfully, my dad was able to come for 2 days and keep her so that Matt and I could work.  Because she acted and felt just fine, they went and did a lot of fun outdoors stuff.  On Sunday during lunch, Lilly talked for a full 5 minutes about everything she and Paw did.  I didn't understand it all, but she was very excited and animated about it all!  So cute!  I know they went for several walks, walked around in the back yard, went to the park, read lots of books, and who knows what else.

Developmentally, Lilly is probably right on track.  I feel like her speech is a little behind but maybe that is because Brayden was so advanced.  Just in the past 2-3 weeks, she speech has become clearer and she saying more and more and has started saying 2-3 word phrases.  I had the kids in Target on Sunday and we were looking at all of the Disney princess stuff.  Brayden wanted to see if she could say any of their names, so I started pointing to each princess and she would try to repeat them.  For the most part, what she said sounded the same regardless of the name, but she was definitely trying where a month ago, she probably wouldn't have even tried.  She is also trying to count, say a few of the ABCs, and just tonight while they were watching Umizoomi, she answered "yellow" correctly when they asked a question on the show.  I was amazed!  According to the Dr today, Lilly should be saying between 50-100 words now with about 50% of what she says understandable to us.  I would say that she is right on track based on that information and perhaps a tiny bit ahead.  While the Dr and I were talking about things that Lilly did/didn't do, Lilly was playing with some books.  All of a sudden she looked at the Dr and said "play baball Bayden" (translated "I play baseball with Brayden").  The Dr and I were actually talking about how she likes to play with Brayden outside and even though it appeared that Lilly wasn't paying us any attention, she totally knew what we were talking about and was able to add her 2-cents worth!  The Dr was impressed!

Coloring - another favorite activity for both kids

Lilly has absolutely ZERO interest in doing any type of puzzle or sorting shapes into the correct hole.  I have no doubt that she can probably do it correctly, but she is beyond that I guess.  I asked that Dr about this as well today and she said that as long as Lilly is doing "pretend play" type stuff and putting items in/out of a bag, etc she was fine.  She never has had any interest.  She continues to warm up to books and generally will bring a few to you to read if you are sitting still for any length of time beyond 30 seconds.  At bedtime, we typically read 3 books.  Each night, she will pick the books and if I ask her "Do you want to read 'Pajama Time'?" for example she will adamantly shake her head No if she doesn't want it.  You never know what books she is going to pick, there doesn't seem to be any favorites that I can tell.

The Lilly Bug is still attached to the paci (or pafi as she lovingly refers to it) but we have been good the past month or so about really only having it at naptime and bedtime.  I do typically let her have it for about 5 minutes post wake up just to get past the wake up grumps but after that, we are done!  Unless they Dr tells us otherwise, I am not going to fight that battle quite yet :)  She is also very attached to "bankie" from Aunt Suz and Aunt Renee.  She will go to sleep without it, but is definitly a happier camper with it in hand.  "Beah"(or bear) that Brayden made her the week before she was born has also become a favorite sleeping companion as has Elmo.  *Interesting side note, but both my kids said "bear" early on with a distinct northern accent. *

As far as size, her are the stats from her 2yr well child check up this afternoon:

26.4lbs (48%)
32" tall (14%)

As a comparison, Brayden was 33.5" and 25.2lbs at his 2 yr check-up.  I am finding it difficult to find winter/fall clothes that will fit.  Her legs are really short, but her torso is long and very round :)  She needs a 12mo in the length, but a 2T/3T in the belly!  Quite a difference!  Dresses and skirts (if you can get them past the belly) that are supposed to be knee/calf length are ankle length.  The bonus is that some stuff fits much longer.  I am hoping that she will grow UP and not OUT anymore this winter and maybe some of her stuff will fit again next summer (just a bit shorter).

At the Drs office today - "No cheese Mommy!" (which means I am not going to smile for you!)

As far as foods go, it is hit or miss these days.  In general, she eats most stuff at daycare so I don't worry too much but at home, sometimes she won't touch her dinner and only wants banana or applesauce.  She continues to love all fruit (except for melons) and some veggies on occasion (asparagus, mushrooms, spinach, carrots, peas, potatoes, green beans, salad, and corn she will eat sometimes).  She also loves pizza, ice cream (who doesn't!), cheese, yogurt, chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, milk, water, and pasta. She certainly doesn't starve that is for sure!

In the past few months, we have had to start doing time outs occasionally when redirection doesn't seems to work.  They seem to work for now and after her minute is up, we have a little "talk" about what she did wrong.  I hope that for now, redirection and time outs continue to work for us!

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