24 months, a.k.a. TWO YEARS OLD!
It feels like Little Miss has been "almost two" for long enough already that actually having a birthday is a bit anticlimactic. But now it's official.
My mom was here visiting all that week, which was very fun but tiring. I took off four days from work. Sunday we drove into Chicago to visit her sister, my aunt Judy. Monday we went to the library; Tuesday we hung out at the mall while I got my car a/c fixed in the morning, and got Aria's 2-year-old pictures taken, which came out very nice.
Wednesday morning, for the big birthday, we went to the county fair and walked around the animal barns, which I thought would thrill Aria, but she was more interested in kicking around the dirty straw on the floor. :-) We ate carnival food for lunch -- they had two different stands with all-beef hot dogs, for which I was grateful. She zonked out in the car on the way home, around 1pm -- which meant she only got half an hour of nap and refused, per usual, to settle down for any more nap once we got home. But that was OK. My dad met us at our house, my mom borrowed the car to go back to her hotel and freshen up (we all stank of sweat and barnyard), and once she got back we had cake and opened presents. Then we went out for dinner to the Lighthouse, which is one of my dad's favorite restaurants (his treat, his choice).
Presents included: money for Montessori school tuition from Grandma, Great-Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Rick; money for college from Grandpa and Great-Aunt Judy; pajamas and a mermaid-head bath towel from Great-Aunt Carol; a stuffed panda from Grandma; a Baby Einstein "Look and Find Book" from Mama, an heirloom Star Wars "Darth Tater" Potato Head set from Dada; and a Fisher-Price doctor kit from Grandpa. I had suggested this last one because, based on roughly 1,000 viewings of "Elmo Visits the Doctor", she's lately begun using anything in the house with a cord to "listen" to her heart ("Ba-bum! Ba-bum!"). And, indeed, it proved the biggest hit. "Stefscope, Mama! My stefscope bwoken!"
Thursday was her pediatrician appointment. (I had also hoped having the doctor kit in hand would help ease the trauma here; it didn't really, she howled as miserably as ever, but she did take an interest in the actual stethoscopes of the doctor and nurse. And there weren't even any shots this time.) Vital stats: 35" tall (exactly as predicted) and 26 lbs 10 oz. Head circumference still over 90th %ile. They also took her hemoglobin count at this visit (which they've never done before but is apparently SOP now): 13.2, right in normal range.
The nurse doing the initial intake asked "Does she know at least three words besides Mama and Dada?" and I just laughed. The doctor, subsequently, asked me to estimate how many words she does know, and I was stumped at first and said "At least 50? Wait... she knows at least 10 colors and 10 shapes... and 20 animals... hmm... probably more like 100. At least." I was hoping she'd show off more of her verbal skills in front of the doctor, but alas, most of the visit she was too freaked out to do more than whimper. But the doctor did catch her putting three or four words together, so she got the idea.
Based on roughly 500 more viewings of "Zoe Loves Rocco" (from Sesame Street, about Zoe's pet rock), she has taken up a fascination with rocks. Every time we go outside, she finds a new one that she has to pick up and bring inside.
bluepapercup, you will be so proud. She has also picked up "jump in muddy puddles!" from watching Peppa Pig. Fortunately we don't have too many muddy puddles, at least as long as she stays out of the septic drainfield (!).
She has recently reached the toddler stage of Everything is Mine. Sometimes it's a simple descriptive, as in "Where my bunny?", but then as soon as you try to take something away from her, it becomes a protest. "Noooo! MY cup! MY book! MY tabwet! MYYYY toofbrush!" Classic.
The instant she sees me do something new, she immediately says "I do it, I do it, I do it, I do it!" until I let her try. etrace has also discovered that she can not only identify and open the cookie drawer, but pull out the package of Oreos, open the package, and consume most of a cookie before he even knows she's gotten to it. She is, in short, as smart and determined as ever, and getting more accomplished every day.
And OF COURSE she is also the most beautiful child that ever childed. :-)
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.
My mom was here visiting all that week, which was very fun but tiring. I took off four days from work. Sunday we drove into Chicago to visit her sister, my aunt Judy. Monday we went to the library; Tuesday we hung out at the mall while I got my car a/c fixed in the morning, and got Aria's 2-year-old pictures taken, which came out very nice.
Wednesday morning, for the big birthday, we went to the county fair and walked around the animal barns, which I thought would thrill Aria, but she was more interested in kicking around the dirty straw on the floor. :-) We ate carnival food for lunch -- they had two different stands with all-beef hot dogs, for which I was grateful. She zonked out in the car on the way home, around 1pm -- which meant she only got half an hour of nap and refused, per usual, to settle down for any more nap once we got home. But that was OK. My dad met us at our house, my mom borrowed the car to go back to her hotel and freshen up (we all stank of sweat and barnyard), and once she got back we had cake and opened presents. Then we went out for dinner to the Lighthouse, which is one of my dad's favorite restaurants (his treat, his choice).
Presents included: money for Montessori school tuition from Grandma, Great-Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Rick; money for college from Grandpa and Great-Aunt Judy; pajamas and a mermaid-head bath towel from Great-Aunt Carol; a stuffed panda from Grandma; a Baby Einstein "Look and Find Book" from Mama, an heirloom Star Wars "Darth Tater" Potato Head set from Dada; and a Fisher-Price doctor kit from Grandpa. I had suggested this last one because, based on roughly 1,000 viewings of "Elmo Visits the Doctor", she's lately begun using anything in the house with a cord to "listen" to her heart ("Ba-bum! Ba-bum!"). And, indeed, it proved the biggest hit. "Stefscope, Mama! My stefscope bwoken!"
Thursday was her pediatrician appointment. (I had also hoped having the doctor kit in hand would help ease the trauma here; it didn't really, she howled as miserably as ever, but she did take an interest in the actual stethoscopes of the doctor and nurse. And there weren't even any shots this time.) Vital stats: 35" tall (exactly as predicted) and 26 lbs 10 oz. Head circumference still over 90th %ile. They also took her hemoglobin count at this visit (which they've never done before but is apparently SOP now): 13.2, right in normal range.
The nurse doing the initial intake asked "Does she know at least three words besides Mama and Dada?" and I just laughed. The doctor, subsequently, asked me to estimate how many words she does know, and I was stumped at first and said "At least 50? Wait... she knows at least 10 colors and 10 shapes... and 20 animals... hmm... probably more like 100. At least." I was hoping she'd show off more of her verbal skills in front of the doctor, but alas, most of the visit she was too freaked out to do more than whimper. But the doctor did catch her putting three or four words together, so she got the idea.
Based on roughly 500 more viewings of "Zoe Loves Rocco" (from Sesame Street, about Zoe's pet rock), she has taken up a fascination with rocks. Every time we go outside, she finds a new one that she has to pick up and bring inside.
bluepapercup, you will be so proud. She has also picked up "jump in muddy puddles!" from watching Peppa Pig. Fortunately we don't have too many muddy puddles, at least as long as she stays out of the septic drainfield (!).
She has recently reached the toddler stage of Everything is Mine. Sometimes it's a simple descriptive, as in "Where my bunny?", but then as soon as you try to take something away from her, it becomes a protest. "Noooo! MY cup! MY book! MY tabwet! MYYYY toofbrush!" Classic.
The instant she sees me do something new, she immediately says "I do it, I do it, I do it, I do it!" until I let her try. etrace has also discovered that she can not only identify and open the cookie drawer, but pull out the package of Oreos, open the package, and consume most of a cookie before he even knows she's gotten to it. She is, in short, as smart and determined as ever, and getting more accomplished every day.
And OF COURSE she is also the most beautiful child that ever childed. :-)
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.