Happy 2nd Birthday, Caroline!

My sweet girl, HOW are you two years old?  This year brought so many changes for you, physically & developmentally!  You weigh a solid 33lbs…above average for your age.  People always comment when they pick you that you don’t look like you’d be that heavy!  Your daddy has always said he has a heavy liver, maybe you take after him.   

You got a sister at 15 months old and it rocked your world!  You suddenly went from the only attention hog to 1 out of 2 attention hogs!    You truly love her, though!  Now that she’s sitting up on her own you LOVE to sit down with her and play.  You two take baths together and you love teaching her to splash!

You used to eat anything we put in front of you – but now you are the pickiest eater I’ve ever seen.  You love:  bananas, apples, froot loops, goldfish crackers, gummi snacks, chicken nuggets, french fries (“fwies!”) salmon patties, pancakes, biscuits, pizza, cookies, and sometimes you’ll eat a grilled cheese.  That’s about the extent to what you’ll eat.  Bread is your favorite…you get that from your mama! 

You have really gotten into pretend play and I love watching you!  You “cook” on your kitchen and make me meals.  You’ll stir a spoon around on an empty plate then feed me (or Amelia!) a bite.  You grab my hand at all points in the day and say, “Pway?” and you’ll drag me into the playroom and proceed to cook for me.  I love it.  Your favorite toys are:  Dancing Mickey, fridge alphabet & farm, kitchen, tent, shopping cart, Vtech laptop, bounce house, learning train, balls of any kind, & color wonder.

 

You know your ABC’s and can count to 10.  Not only can you SAY your ABC’s, but you can identify the letters!  You know all the uppercase letters and most of the lowercase letters.  You’re so smart! 

You are talking up a STORM.  You always have something to say – and sometimes it’s all jibberish!  Your vocabulary has grown exponentially this last month.  You know so many sentences!  Your most common phrases are:  “Hey Mama (or other name!)” “Whatchadoin?”  “Let’s read!” “Mia’s crying? (HA!)” “I sowwy Mama”  “You okay?”  “A drinkawater!”  “Some milk, pwease!”  & “Where paci?”  You love to pretend to talk on the phone.  You’ll put my cellphone up to your ear and say, “Hey ___!  Whatchadoin?  Oh, okay.  Bye!”  Apparently you’ve heard me talk on the phone a few too many times.

 

You’re able to understand way more than you can say.  You follow commands very well! 

Reading is your favorite pastime.  You could read for hours!  Your favorite books are:  Llama Llama Red Pajama, If You Give a Pig a Party (which you call “Pigaparty!”),  Silly Sally, Wherever You Are, Goodnight Moon, The Giving Tree (which you call “Tree!”), & On the Night You Were Born.

You do love to watch television!  Sometimes I have to cut it off and tell you no more tv for the day because you would sit in front of it all day if we let you.  You love to watch:  Veggie Tales, Elmo, Olivia, Yo Gabba Gabba (which I can’t stand!), & Ni Hao Kai Lan. 

You would LIVE outside if we would let you.  You can walk around the yard and play for hours without ever really doing anything.  You do love to swing and ride your power Jeep!  Playing with rocks from the driveway also keeps you entertained for a long time.  You love Duke & Sassy!  You crack me up with them.  Sometimes you try to make them lick you and other times you can’t stand it if they mess with you! 

Every night before bed you say “PRAY!” and fold your hands together and smile so big.  It melts my heart.  We then pray for everyone you’ve ever met…ha!  We thank God for all those people and thank him for Jesus.  Then when I say “Amen,” you basically scream, “AYMEEEEN!”  You’ve also taken to screaming that out in church when someone leads a prayer.  We’ve started covering your mouth at the end of prayers because you scream it so loudly. 

You are such a joy in our lives.  It blows my mind that you are two years old.  It just doesn’t seem right!  I love you more than I know how to describe.  My heart just swells with pride.  You are such a sweet, tender little girl.  I can’t wait to see the wonderful young lady you will grow into…but until then…slow down a little and stop getting so big!  You’ll always be my baby.  I love you.

Love,

Mama

This is Caroline’s 2nd Birthday video!  Turn up the volume and enjoy!  (If you are viewing this post from an e-mail subscription or through Facebook, you'll probably have to come to the actual blog to view the video!) 

Caroline’s 2nd Year Video!