Look Who's Two

Our little girl, the last baby, has turned two this week.  Such a bittersweet feeling watching children grow up, isn't it?  I love having a daughter and I thank God for her every day, and her brother too.  It's fun watching her explore and learn new things.  She has a sweet personality but she's also a tough girl too.  She's not afraid to make demands and if she doesn't get her way she'll throw a fit.  Typical toddler for sure and we'll work on that.  Her tantrums are few and far between though and that is great.  She's a happy little girl who loves to play, dance, run, climb and just about anything a two year old can do.  She's also very smart.  Already knows most of her A B C's and can count to 13 (missing a few numbers here and there).  She loves to sing and her favorite is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and she loves ... I mean LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba.  She's obsessed with the show.  They only show the episodes on the weekends but thanks to DVR we have a ton recorded.  So every day she asks to watch it and she would just sit and watch them all day if I'd let her.  No, I don't let her.

She also loves Disney Princesses but she also likes to play in the dirt and steal her brother's toys.  She already knows and uses her manners quite often saying, "please, thank you, no thank you," and "excuse me."  She also asks to "pway" before eating every meal.  Her big brother learned the "God is great, God is good ..." prayer in preschool and he recites it before dinner every night.  She has learned most of it and wants to say it before she eats.  Sometimes even in the middle of a meal she will say, "let's pway!"  She can't recognize her colors but she does say "yellow, geen (green), boo (blue), pinked (pink) and red."  She can say many words and speaks in sentences.  And everything is, "mine!" even if it's not.  Of course, I'm not bragging.  Jotting down her accomplishments is for my benefit.

I'll find out her height and weight at next week's doctor appointment but I know she is short for her age, just like her brother.  She can still fit into some size 18 months clothes, most 24 months and 2T clothes but still a lot of 2T sizes are too big.  She picks out her shirt every morning.  At this point she wants to try and do everything like putting on her clothes and things like that, but she's unsuccessful.  Of course, she will get there.  I'm just so happy to see her wanting to be independent. 

And she loves to smile just like this. 

My husband took off work for her birthday, as he does every year for all our birthdays.  We met with my parents and some friends at the amusement park we like to go to.  The weather was beautiful but the park was too crowded.  Brianna doesn't do well in crowds so after riding on a few rides she was starting to get cranky.  It was also lunch time and her usual nap time at the point we decided to leave.  I hated to skip out like that since we had friends there.  We ate lunch at Applebees and we considered going back to the park but as we passed we saw the parking lot was full and decided against the idea.  Too bad.  We'll definitely be there again before the season is over.  We stopped at my parents' house so she could open her gift from them there.  A Barbie Jeep and a Barbie and Ken dolls.  

Then we headed home so she could open all the gifts from us.  We spoiled her!  She loves her new play kitchen, which in my opinion, is something all little girls should have.  She also has pots and pans, plates, silverware and lots of food to go with it.  And of course, more gifts too.  

After presents we enjoyed a delicious cake.  And since our little girl loves Yo Gabba Gabba and wanted a special Yo Gabba Gabba cake my very creative husband made one for her.  

If you're familiar with the show you'll know exactly who this character is.  Rob did a fantastic job!

It was a good day for our little girl; however, while we celebrated her birth we learned that a good friend went Home to be with the Lord after battling cancer.  He was my father-in-law's best friend and someone my husband knew since he was a little boy.  He was a good man.  Very funny and always joking.  He was loved and he'll be missed.