house to home: May 2015

Im so behind, so very behind but thats what having a feisty toddler and being 9 months pregnant will do to ya.

I have a couple of house things, recipes and fun stuff to post for now Ill stick to the big stuff - my little turns 2 today. How this happened so fast I dont know, ask any parent and they all tell you the same - it goes by so fast. Cliche but true. So what is my big 2 year old up to these days? Ill tell you but be warned its going to be long (ill mix in some pictures for your enjoyment)........

when we asked her to show us how big she is :)

washing her car "so clean!"

trying on her new headband from Gan "Charlotte ladybug, so funny"

Talking - Sister loves to talk, all the time, about everything, over and over. Her vocabulary impresses me everyday. She is talking in 3-5 word sentences on the regular and definitely putting together her own thoughts and not just repeating. Some gems from the past few weeks are
- "Maaaammmmaaaaa, I smell it! I smell Pellie's (her name for Penelope) stinky toot" while covering her nose
- "Dada's arm is soft fur like Bailey"
- I asked her to come to the table for lunch "first cut baby doll's toes then lunch, okay?" she then went over and pretended to cut her baby doll's toenails with a knife from her kitchen set
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craft after story time at the library

climbing up the bog kid playground

She has also started "reading" books to us. I absolutely love it and Im so impressed by her memeory. Her favorites to read are "Tip, tip, dig, dig" a book about building a playground and The Very Busy Spider.

Skills - Shes gottem ;) She can walk, run, jump, forward flip, eat with a fork and spoon, drink from a small open cup, do chunky puzzles, turn pages in a book, help make meals, throw her own trash away, clean up, go get her own shoes from the closet, take her shoes off and put them away, go up and down stairs while holding the railing, navigate simple Ipad games, sleep in a big girl bed, climb up and ladder and go down a slide by herself, hang on a bar, use a glue stick, hold a crayon and color, walk on a thick beam, wipe off her area after eating, and many other things that Im sure I am forgetting.One of her favorite things to do right now is help me cook, she is usually in charge of dumping dry ingredients, pouring wet ones and stirring. We make muffins, pizza dough (she also loves putting her own toppings on), pancakes and she got a cool fruit slicer so she now cuts her own fruit for meals too.

cooking in her apron

play-dough!

she told me "bear b hungry, eat taco"

Knowledge - As most 2 year olds are, she is a little sponge and picks up on soooo much. Some stuff I do "teach" her but a lot of it she picks up through our play. She knows how to count to 10, all her colors, about 100 animals and their sounds, half of the ABC song (she starts at round M), that Charlotte starts with C, her first and last name, all of her friends and families names, different weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy), tons of body parts, most shapes, and how to match things of the same shape or color.

filling up her bucket to come dump on my feet - my hilarious game ever if you ask Charlotte

showing me how fast she can be

Play - playing with her has gotten so fun! She is developing an awesome imagination. She loves doing things "like Mama" or "like Dada" and pretending to be animals. She also recently acquired a doctor's set for her birthday and has been practicing her M.D skills, mostly on Bailey who is too lazy to protest ;) She has also started playing with her friends not just along side them. They are repeating each other, sharing and trading toys with out adults facilitating, and starting to play games like throw and catch and building things together. It is so adorable but Little Brother be warned, she can be a bit bossy!

I could not be more proud of the super smart, super funny, super busy little girl she is becoming. Dont get me wrong she is most definitely 2 and working her way through big feelings and decision making (like the night I had to sit and wait her out to clean up her bath toys for 45 minutes while she sang, laughed, cried, stomped her feet, gave me the stink eye and just about every other tactic in the 2 year old play book). But every time I see her do something new independently and how proud she is of herself or show concern for a friend and how kind her heart is becoming, its worth a million bathtub stand offs.