2 Years Old!

On April 22, Ceci celebrated her 2nd birthday!

Ceci went to school as usual on her birthday since it was a Friday - she clearly received a lot of attention there because when I picked her up she kept saying "it's my happy birthday!", too cute!  That evening we went out to dinner at a local pub that has a soft play area - pretty much a weekly tradition.  Ceci had a blast.

Eating like  a big girl!

On Saturday, we had her Minnie Mouse party here at the house.  It was a small party with mostly family, and Ceci absolutely loved it!  She especially loved seeing her family, playing in the garden with Emily (Jay's coworker's daughter - she was so great with Ceci), seeing all the Minnie decorations and of course singing Happy Birthday and blowing out her candle!

 

She blew her candle out all by herself!

Mmmm, cake! Big thanks to Auntie Kayte for the gorgeous birthday girl dress.

We didn't open presents at the party because it was just a bit too much (Ceci also refused to nap before her party so we did an early bedtime), so when she woke up on Sunday she got to open all of her presents.  She had so much fun!  She's such a lucky little girl to have so many lovely, generous people in her life!

Over the past year Ceci has grown into such an amazing little girl and astounds us daily with her hilarious personality, sweetness and intelligence.

At 2 Ceci is...

- Adjusting well to her new school. She goes to nursery from 7:30-11am (altough we started extending to 12pm, which includes a cooked lunch, today) on Tuesdays and Fridays.  She's settling well and seems to really enjoy it! The nursery is on Jay's base so he takes her on his way in to work. We're finally at the point where she confidently walks in, gets herself breakfast and says 'bye bye dadda'. Though she has her tired/hungry/fussy time around 11, she's also happy when I pick her up.

All ready for school

- Consistently sleeping through the night!  This has been going on for months now, and hopefully will continue indefinitely.  She's even putting herself to sleep at night without us in the room.  It's pretty amazing, especially considering where we started. Since moving (an hour time difference) her bedtime has shifted to 7pm (this is lights out - she's usually not actually asleep until closer to 8pm) and she wakes around 7am.  On school days she leaves for school with Jay at 7:10 so sometimes has to be woken up at 7.  Other days she sleeps as late as 8am if she's really tired (or had a late night).  For the most part, though, she's up about 7-7:15am.

- Still napping for about 2 hours a day, usually from 1-3pm.  She's also now putting herself to sleep independently for naps which is a godsend given that I'm usually home alone with both girls.  She definitely still needs this nap, as evidenced by its length!

- Still in love with her paci. It used to be only for bed and nap time, but since Cali was born and then the move, we've let her have it a bit more since she was pretty unsettled with all the change.  The rule now is she has to be on the couch or in bed to have it, but she tests that a lot.  And it's also extended to the stroller and the car.  They've also let her have her paci at school while she's been settling there.  We're trying to slowly wean her off it, at least back to in her crib only, now that she's more adjusted.  She's pretty good about doing things when she's developmentally ready, so we're also trying to be understanding and follow her lead.  It's a tough balance.  It's pretty sweet when she says, "paci please?" as she climbs onto the couch but hearing her yell "I NEED MY PACI" when I've told her she can't have it while she plays makes me a touch nervous about the inevitable need to wean her off it completely.

- Is dabbling in potty training.  She likes to sit on the big potty and has actually peed on the potty once and pooped on the potty twice!  Spread out over the last month, though.  She's still quite young so we're not in any rush - we'll support her as long as she shows interest but we're not going to push anything.

- Eating really well.  She's a toddler, so of course there are random refusals and lots of use of her new phrase "I don't like it!", but overall she's not really a picky eater.  Her favorites are pretty typical kid foods: sausages, burgers, chicken, hot dogs, rice, pasta, cheese, any and all fruit, yogurt, chocolate chips (I blame Easter for her new chocolate obsession), tomato soup, smoothies, toast, cereal with milk, pizza, corn on the cob, raw carrots, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese...the list goes on.  She's not a huge fan of veggies but will eat them in things - pasta sauce, smoothies (we sneak many veggies into her daily breakfast smoothie!), etc - and doesn't care for potatoes in any form (not even mashed or french fries! though she does eat potato chips on occasion).  But other than that, she's willing to try just about anything, so long as she's in the right mood.  Some more unconventional foods she enjoys are salmon, shrimp, sushi (mostly just the rice and seaweed), tikka massala, korma, all "dips" (seriously, everything - ketchup, mustard, english mustard, bbq sauce, mayonnaise, buffalo sauce, even vinegar - if it's in a bottle on a restaurant table she wants it on her plate and she'll eat it with a fork, lick it off her finger, or dip weird things in it - grapes in ketchup, anyone?).  Hoping her willingness to try new foods sticks around!

Having a "special picnic" when Dadda had to work late

She got herself a tomato from the kitchen and took a big old bite of it!

Mmmm...pasta!

- Speaking unbelievably well.  She amazes us daily. She speaks in full sentences.  She says please and thank you appropriately, and uses excuse me and sorry well too.  She's using me, my, you, your, her (she now asks to hold her, not it, when referring to Cali!), etc.  She's also recently started talking about how she feels: 'I feel tired' then rubbing her eyes or 'I feel hungry' while rubbing her tummy and then asking for a snack. And she uses a lot of phrases she clearly gets from me or shows she watches but sound hilarious when she says them, such as "oh dear", "is that nice, Cali?" when giving Cali a bath, "oh cute!" in regards to an outfit, "it's amazing!", "yummy delicious", "oh. wow.", etc etc.  She's just hilarious.

- Very clever.  She can sing the alphabet really well, count to 10 perfectly and to 20 with a little help. She can name and find most colors and many shapes.  She knows what many animals say.  And now she's starting to recognize letters.  It's amazing to watch her mind soak everything up, and her memory astounds me!

- Extremely assertive, confident and aware of what she wants.  "No mumma, no touch my hair", "I NEED it" if we won't give her something, "No. Mumma.  That's Ceci's" if I try to share her food.  "I'm ready to go!  Shoes? Coat?  Come on! Let's go!" the second we mention going somewhere...the list goes on and on.  We recently went to a new play group and while I was getting Cali out of the stroller, Ceci marched right in and started playing.  At the end of the session the leader told me she hadn't seen such a confident toddler in a long time.  I love that part of her, though it also scares me - she has no fear of being out of our sight!

- A fantastic big sister.  She is always so affectionate and sweet with Cali. She's still yet to show any jealousy or aggression towards her little sister.  She does occasionally ask for me to put Cali in her swing or on her play mat if she wants some cuddles herself, but mostly she just wants to shower Cali with kisses and hugs.  She'll also bring her toys, her paci or a blanket out of the blue. So thoughtful. And she's still incredibly excited to see her sister, each morning and when we pick her up from school we're still greeted with "It's baby Cali!" and after her naps there's an excited "Cali's waking up!!".  It melts my heart and I hope it continues!

- Loving being creative, especially painting and drawing.  Her newest obsession is drawing smiley faces - she's getting pretty good!  She has us draw "Mr Suns" and then she adds the "eye, eye, smile" to them.  

Painting is mostly done at school, but sometimes I get brave and set her up outside!

Here she is after dinner, 'drawing' in her yogurt.

- Probably a little too obsessed with the TV.   She adores Bing and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Thankfully I don't mind either.  We've recently watched our first movies  (just at home on the couch) that she actually sat through, Inside Out and Frozen.  For several days Frozen became a staple after nap request.  She also loves Hey Duggee, Doc McStuffins, Balamory and an adorable show called I Can Cook that's a cooking show for kids. Cooking is another obsession - we bake together at least a couple times a week and she's getting pretty good at actually helping.  Other standards in the line-up are nursery rhyme compilations on Netflix, Get Squiggling (all about drawing), and pretty much anything on CBeebies. We don't allow TV during or after dinner but the rest of the day it's pretty much fair game. So we do try to get out of the house every morning to avoid watching all day!

The spell of Frozen is real

- A huge fan of being outside, especially in our back yard and at the park in town with the toddler-sized climbing frame.

Water play in the back yard

- Still a huge fan of singing and dancing.  Her memory really shines with songs - she only has to hear a song once or twice to start singing it and after a handful of times she's pretty much got it down.  Favorites at the moment are Baa Baa Blacksheep, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Twinkle Twinkle, Ring Around the Rosie, Wheels on the Bus, Happy Birthday, Row Row Row Your Boat, If You're Happy and You Know It, ABCs,...and on and on.  Falling asleep she tends to sing to herself, in the car as well, and just randomly while playing.  And whenever she hears a song she says "oh music!" and starts dancing.  It's hilarious. She's now also into climbing and jumping as well - she's getting really good at jumping with both feet on solid ground.  We go to a music/dance/movement class once a week and she adores it.  I have her on a waiting list for gymnastics class now that she's 2, so I'm hoping we get a spot soon because I have a feeling she'll love it.  

We are so in love with this loving, generous, clever, and overall amazing little girl.  And we're so lucky to have her in our lives!