IN 22 DAYS WE'LL HAVE A 2 YEAR OLD!!
Hard to believe.
I honestly never thought I'd be a mother. If you'd have told me even 4 years ago that I'd have a 2 year old by now, I'd have laughed at you. Yet now I can't imagine life without this amazing little girl. She has changed everything, in the best way ever.
This age is fun. Challenging at times, but more fun that I could have ever imagined. And I never knew she'd be this smart at such a young age. And silly. And funny. And goofy. And beautiful. And have such a kind heart.
For her age, I feel she has really good manners. She says please, thank you and excuse me all of the time. If she forgets, we remind her, but often times she is reminding us. She's pretty polite. Possibly overly polite at times. And if anyone sneezes, even if it's the neighbors dog outside, she always says "bless you."
Everything is NEW. No matter what she does in a day, she says everything is NEW. She'll run to her toys, pick up an Owl and say "new owl." Or get her dressed in the morning and she'll say "new shirt" or "new dress." Even if she's had it her whole life, she says its new.
When she's being naughty or crabby, we ask her "where is our good girl?" She points to herself and says "there she is!" It's always with a smile on her face and it quickly changes her attitude. When we ask her to go find something or show us something, she goes over to it and says "there it is!!" This happens dozens of times in a day.
All of her "I love you's" have now turned to "I love you too." And she blows lots of kisses. She's pretty generous with them and doesn't only keep them for mommies. We'll be in a store or restaurant and when we leave, she'll turn to everyone and say "bye," blow kisses and on really smoochy days, she'll say to everyone "I love you too." You can imagine how many "ahhhhhhhs" we hear. What a suck up!!
We are definitely at the "what's that?" phase. Eventually we'll say "enough" which is her cue that mommies are ready to tape her mouth shut, so now she'll tell herself "enough." It's pretty funny.
Today she used her "enough" word for a completely different purpose, which had us laughing. We were all outside playing and Pyper (our dog) went over to give her kisses. She laughed and giggled and seemed to be enjoying it but then stopped short, looked directly at Pyper and said "ENOUGH." Clearly kissing time was over and she had enough. We laughed.
She has also recently gone through a real whining phase which drives both of her mommies crazy. Not knowing how to handle it, we started telling her whining is yucky. Now when she starts to whine, she'll either catch herself and say "yucky" or we'll tell her she's whining and she'll say "yucky," which in turn makes her stop. We really encourage her to use her words and remind her than whining will not get her what she wants. When she stops and uses her words, we respond.
We have been working so hard at teaching her colors, numbers and letters. She can easily count to thirteen because that's how many stairs we have. And she knows to use one and two when referring to something. For instance, she'll get two of her owls and say "two owls" or if she has snacks she'll take two in her hand and say "two apples." She also does the same with one but she seems to use two more. She will also attempt to count things out, but is not always completely successful.
She knows her colors fairly well, but will pick a favorite of the week (although pink has been her favorite for a while now) and when you ask her a color, she'll just say pink without even looking at it. Then we'll tell her "no, look at it and tell me what color." After she focuses, she'll not always get it right, but often she will.
And she loves the Alphabet Song. She can't say all of the alphabet in order perfectly, but she's learning more and more each time we sing it. We write her name and spell it out as we are writing, on every piece of paper, coloring or artwork she does. She loves to write her name, as well as an almost 2 year old can. She says B-I-E-I-E and attempts to write the letters as she's saying them. Makes my heart sing that she's trying and is always so excited about it. What more can a mamma ask for?
Since spring is in full swing and we've been spending so much time outside, we've really noticed that Brielle loves creatures of every sort and wants to hold everything! It started with a ladybug one day when we were garage saling. She held it on her hand the entire way home and has been hooked on wanting to hold every little creature that moves! Everything that flies is a bee to her and she will chase it and say "hold it in hand." Last weekend when we planted our flowers she got to hold earthworms for the first time, which she calls snakes. She loves snakes!! Tonight she had to give the snake (worm) a kiss before we brought it "home." We've taught her that the dirt is the worms home; it's where he lives. So after she's done holding them, she brings them home and puts them back in the dirt.
It's tough being a strict mommy when your kids do funny things for the first time, that catch you off guard. For instance, the other day I was working on my computer and she was playing in the living room (which is steps from my computer). The next thing I know she walks up to me, hands me her pants and panties and walks away bare-bummed. I started to say "hey, get back here and put your pants on" in a stern voice but ended up laughing out loud at her because it was so cute and funny and completely innocent.
Recently Rhonda was telling her to do something and she gave mommy the sideways eye roll which had us in stitches because of her expression in the moment. Laughing once is okay, as long as we don't make a habit of it. But when kids do something that tickles your funny bone, you just have to laugh sometimes. That's what keeps parenthood light-hearted and enjoyable, even during some of the more challenging times.
Today, out of the blue, she started saying "I don't want to." When she said it for the first time this morning, both Rhonda & I looked at each other, wondering where she learned it from? We still don't know but it kinda makes me laugh at times. Not out loud, but inside. because clearly if it's something she's supposed to do, she has to do it if we say. And she's not saying it in a naughty, demanding, defiant way. She has more of a sad tone when she says it.
I'm not afraid of the terrible two's, partly because I don't really believe in the term the way many do. No matter what age, kids are kids and they are always going to be testing and learning what they can get away with, and with whom. Every age has their challenges. It's what we do with those challenges that makes it worse or not. So far, we've been fairly successful with ensuring Brielle behaves and has manners both at home and in public. We've had endless compliments on how well behaved she is, so as long as we continue to stay on the same page with our parenting, two will be just another number with a lot of fun times ahead.
Seriously love this kid to the moon and back and can't wait to celebrate her 2nd birthday!!
It means we've all survived!!
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