What's Annabelle like at 2? The quick answer: She remains a sweet, laid-back, go-with-the-flow, loyal child. Although she is beginning to show her two-year-old colors through temper tantrums and "NOO!", those are still the qualities that still describe her best. Her tantrums are a riot though - throwing herself face down on the floor, but only if its carpeted. She literally stopped herself mid throw-down the other day when she realized she was on the driveway, straightened back up and continued to cry in an upright position. Kinda hard to take her seriously on that one!
She is a cuddler. Just before bed each night she gets "pacis" (her pacifier) and "bwanky" (her blanket) and curls up in the "wap" (lap) of whatever loving adult is putting her to sleep. She snuggles in, turns her head and balling up her blanket to make a little pillow and hangs there as long as you let her. She would prefer the same treatment when she wakes in the morning and after nap, but our schedule doesn't always allow it. But you can be sure that if I accidentally make a lap at any point in the day she will push her way onto it and stay until asked to move or Sam distracts her, whichever comes first.
She mimics everything that we do. If I kneel down to look at something, she kneels down next to me (which, of course, is unnecessary since she is so short!). When we play on the floor, she copies the position I'm sitting in. She follows Sam around copying all of his play. She spanked her own hand the other day after throwing some food on the ground. She looks at me to hold her hands in the same position that I do. Yesterday I was attempting to lay down the law with Sam and she sat down next to me and start wagging her finger at Sam, just like I was doing. I couldn't contain my laughter and lost that opportunity to train Sam's heart. Sigh.
(Sitting quietly, listening to story and instructions at a Little Lights service event with mostly elementary schoolers. Later she found a group of 2nd grade girls and sat herself down in their little circle.)
She is still mostly indifferent towards tv, but that may be largely due to the fact that we are often watching Sam's shows, which are a bit over her head. She does love Elmo and Thomas - to the point that she calls out for each of them if they are not on the screen for more than 10 seconds of their respective shows.
(First Princess Movie, Little Mermaid, for Family Movie Night)
Fortunately, her love for Elmo is helping us in her Potty Practicing. We have an Elmo doll that has various potty-related phrases, a cup and a potty of his own. He lives in the kids' bathroom, and he is often the motivation to get her to sit on the potty. Well him, and of course the nini.
She is into trains, insists on a "Choo Choo Nomas" (Choo Choo Thomas, or Thomas the Train) at dinner every night. She loves to push Sam's cars around and steal his trucks of his shelf.
Lest you think I am raising a total Tomboy, let me detail her girly side for you, too. She loves shoes and has an opinion on which pair she wears on most days. She frequently points out her shoes to people we run into throughout our days. She loves to have her toenails painted. She likes to wear "ju-wee," particularly necklaces when Mommy has a noticeable one on. She loves to take care of her baby dolls, and is trying to sing them "Rock-a -Bye Baby" but she doesn't yet have enough words so she just says "rock-a-baby" over and over again. She is newly-fascinated with princess.
When she runs, she almost always yells. Not in a mad or annoying way, just "ahhhhhh" as she hustles along. You add the bounce of her toddler run to the yell and you get an adorable sound. Recently, though, she prefers to gallop than to run. Really, she gallops almost exclusively in the house.
She loves to jump. Occasionally she hops around the room chanting "jumps jumps jumps jumps." She steals away to the trampoline in Sam's room whenever she can, often resulting in a fight. She has started jumping off of her new name stool, first announcing her pending feat with "Watch-ah Mama!" or "Watch-ah me!" She still needs work on her two-footed jumps, but what she lacks in skill she makes up for with enthusiasm.
Her talking is improving, mostly in the past month. She is making an effort to repeat many of the words that we say and does so on command when specifically asked. She can speak in two to three word sentences and generally communicate her wants and needs through combinations of words and gestures, but much of what she says still require translation by me and Sam. There is also plenty that she says that the two of us still don't understand. She makes many of her words unnecessarily plural, and leads into many phrases with "ah." We are encouraged at her progress, but I do still feel she is a bit behind compared to some of her peers. We will re-evaluate in 6 months. In the mean time, some of my favorite Annabelle-isms:
-"Sam, No!"
-"Stops, Mama"
-"I Okay"
-"Wuv You, Mama"
-"Pwim-Pwence" (Princess)
-"Nini" (Candy)
-"Weady, Gooo!"
-"Bye, Sam Oood Day!" (Bye, Sam. Have a good day!)
-"Onne, Twoo, Onne, TWOOO!" (she can't really count past 2 yet, but loves to count down to an exciting moment)
She is still petite. Today she weighed in at 24lbs (16%) and 33.5 inches (34%), which puts her at a BMI of 15 (14%). Her 18 month clothes are too short (except dress, which we turn into tops with leggings!), so she is mostly in 24 months or 2T. She wears a size 5 shoe. Her hair is filling in and is still as curly as can be, but still relatively short. Even when its wet it doesn't stretch beyond her neck. Everyone comments on it, and it looks so much better in humid weather. She has multiple hair products just for her. She has her Daddy's eyes - blue-ish green with a blue ring around the outside - and her Mommy's baby cheeks. I find her to be absolutely beautiful.
We're still hoping that some day she gets all her teeth. Neither the pediatrician nor the dentist is concerned, and she doesn't let it hold her back from chewing anything. Interesting tidbit - when your two-year-old is teething, she tells you "mouf ouchy" instead of crying inexplicably. Handy!
Likes:
-Animals
-Playing with Sam
-Being Included in Big Kid Activities
-Cuddling
-Candy
-Choo Choo's
-Shoes
Dislikes:
-Most Vegetables
-Being Left Out
-New People, turns out she's a bit shy. She is braver if Sam is with her.
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