24 Months

Dear Annie,

Well, here we are, Miss Annie - we've reached the end of the line with these official monthly letters - and if how today's photo shoot went is any indication, not a moment too soon ;) I might still try to coerce you into sitting with Raggedy Ann on your birthdays now, and hopefully in a year you are much more receptive to bribery!

We had your 2 year well child visit yesterday, and you checked out just fine - still a peanut at 32.25 inches (14%) and 24lbs, 13oz (26%). Which means that strictly according to height and weight, you'd basically still fit in your INFANT car seat - ha! Zero concerns about your development in any way, and you didn't even seem to mind too much when you got a finger prick! This monthly letter is going to be a long one, because I feel like I have to get in ALL the details before these letters stop!

In the last month, your ideas of how your life should go just get more and more pronounced. You have developed some STRONG opinions - not the pink shirt, MONKEY SHIRT! No brown shoes, PINK ONES! No bow, ponytail! Usually with some immediate whines. We are trying to teach you to ask nicely for things, and you usually will when reminded - "Please, daddy milk!" Sometimes your Dad and I are truly baffled as to where you even get the idea that you CAN do certain things - but it's all about you testing your boundaries - usually it's just funny to us and we have to refrain from laughing most of the time during your tantrums! Your favorite phrase still seems to be "No, I'll do it" and more and more we hear that one about everything - putting on a diaper, brushing your own teeth, putting your clothes on, etc. We have been trying to be better about letting you at least try for awhile and waiting until you ask for help before doing it completely for you every time. Often, when you are in kind of a cranky mood, for some reason your Dad greatly enjoys pushing your buttons and making you even angrier - such as by saying that all your toys are his, or holding something JUST out of your reach. I suspect you will get him back for this tenfold in, oh...... 11 years or so.

Other times, you can be as laid back as they come - it seems that a lot of times when you are around other kids, especially when there aren't a bunch of adults observing closely and stepping in, you'll all figure things out yourselves and find a way to play together happily. With a lot of toys, except for new ones and your absolute favorites, you are willing to share still, especially if a kid asks you for the toy and doesn't just grab it. Adults, and especially your loving parents, bring out your whiny side BIG TIME.

This month brought a love for your stuffed animals, finally - before you could take them or leave them - now you ask for your bunny frequently, and like your stuffed animals to be just so in your bed. You have tons of them, so I'm glad you are enjoying them now! You mostly still rely on sucking your thumb while touching your belly button with the other hand for comfort though - you resort to it nearly immediately when you are sad, tired or frustrated.

You got a brand new bed this month, and took to it better than we could have hoped! You are still adjusting to figuring out that there isn't anything there to hold you in, but you have never once asked to get back in your crib despite it being in the same room. You also typically stay in your bed until we come to get you - lately you've been waking up and say "DADDY! Open the DOOR!" As soon as we get in there, you immediately ask to "play?" which is obviously your favorite thing to do.

As with any toddler, playing is your primary activity all day - you love your babies, and love all of your bags - you carry them around with you everywhere, and put random things inside of them. You loved playing with the brand new kitchen you got for your birthday today, and setting the table, pouring "coffee", and prepping soup. You bustle around all day long from one thing to another - rarely getting into too much trouble or getting into anything you shouldn't - just playing with various things and moving on to new things. You have started building more with your legos, and still have an intense love for all types of tiny animals. Singing is something you do more often now, and with some actual words too - the melodies rarely change, but you sing quite a few songs, and sometimes ask to play "pocket of rosies" with us :)

If I am in the kitchen doing ANYTHING, you pull over a chair to "watch??? WATCH??" and "help" me do whatever I'm doing - you LOVE watching/helping me bake most of all, but even something as simple as making toast or filling a cup with milk are worthy of watching, apparently. I love how much you try to imitate me and hope that I am someone worthy of imitation! My personal favorite for some reason is when you "help" me put in my contacts and pretend to put yours in as well.

Books are still a hit with you, but not quite as much as months past. You can fill in more and more words to the stories we read to you regularly. This month, you picked out a book of nursery rhymes frequently, and My New Baby and You and Me - books about having a little sibling. I have hopes that you will adjust fairly well to having a new sibling, but I'm not kidding myself that there won't be any bouts of jealousy. You had some adjustment time even with the new baby at daycare, but now you love her - so hopefully with time, you will come to love your little brother as well! Sometimes I do get a tiny bit sad thinking about how much your world will be rocked when your baby brother shows up - just because there is no real way to prepare you. But that is mostly a good thing in my book - in a few weeks, you honestly won't even remember what life was like before him! You have been QUITE a lucky little lady to get so much attention the past few years as the oldest child, and first grandchild on both sides - I know you won't realize that until far later in life!

Eating and drinking has been much more frustrating this past month - especially on weekdays you really don't eat much of dinner. With VERY few exceptions, we just offer you what we're eating for dinner, and if you don't eat it, you don't eat. Sadly, this doesn't excuse us from you trying to get something else or sometimes throwing a tantrum because you don't like what you see! We usually don't give you snacks on weekends at all, and unsurprisingly, you eat like a champion then. Most of the time, you seem to love soup, anything in a tortilla, and meat. You would eat fruit all day long if we let you, and are still a huge fan of smoothies. You love to help your dad make them, and put the handfuls of spinach in (consequently, you think any leaf is "pinach"). You don't drink much, which I try not to worry about - I'm not sure how much you drink at daycare, but on a day at home you MIGHT have one sippy cup of liquid over the course of an entire day. To my knowledge, you've only had milk and water, and juice maybe 3 times total - you did drink quite a bit more water in the summer, so I guess you just aren't as thirsty lately!

As much as you can be a sassy little ..... toddler... you also are quite kind. If you even hear another kid crying, you are quick to offer a hug - even to a stranger. We had to restrain you from going to another little boy in the doctor's waiting room and giving him a hug when you heard him crying. You usually say "Sad... what happened? Hug?" You aren't quick to offer hugs, as the girls at daycare well know because you refuse them almost every day when they ask for a hug goodbye (but you always remember to give Susan a hug, even if that means SLOWLY going back down the stairs and going over to her) - but if someone is truly sad (or pretending to be sad, as your Dad often does) you will always give them a hug. If you yourself are upset, you also request hugs and kisses frequently.

These first two years have been a blur - the days can be long, but the years fly by. I think of where we were 2 years ago - with this tiny newborn who couldn't even focus her eyes, and 2 parents without a clue what they'd just done to their easy lives. If only we could have known then what we know now - that our lives would just keep getting better and better with each passing day - and that even if we didn't immediately fall in love with you the second  you were born, that one day the love we felt for you would be so overwhelming that it wasn't even something we could comprehend before. You have grown into a beautiful, funny, gentle and kind little girl. Often I look at you and truly cannot believe how lucky we are.

Happy 2nd birthday, Annie! You'll always be my baby girl!

Love, Mom

****

Outtakes from this, the last monthly photoshoot :)

I asked to take a picture with you and Raggedy Ann - so you got THIS specific chair for her.

Happy enough to be alone

This is what happened when I tried to put Raggedy Ann next to you - "NO, Ann over THERE"

Right before you LAUNCHED yourself out of the chair

The only way we got a successful photo was to tell you to put a ponytail in Raggedy Ann's hair

One last "So big" for your Dad :)