Zoe Louise | 24 months

I don't know how I have a 2 year old already, but here we are.  This stage really has been my favorite so far.  To see her language and understanding of things just explode, has been so much fun.

Some of the funny things she says lately...

We are working on manners.  She always been very good with please.  She's getting so much better with thank you and now will say "Tank you mommy, daddy."  For whatever reason, she always has to throw my name in their when she's thanking Aaron.  She only does it though when thanking him.  If she's thanking my mom, she gets it right ("Tank you Beeba.") 

She's starting to recite her books from memory now.  I've noticed it the most with Wheels on the Bus and Polar Bear Polar Bear.  Her cry for the babies on the bus is VERY dramatic and so cute to see her fake it.  She can only get through the polar bear and the lion pages in Polar Bear Polar Bear, but I still thought it was pretty good that she is starting to "read" to herself.  She can now read almost all of Knuffle Bunny too.  It's absolutely adorable.

She is starting to throw 4 into her counting lineup.  Most days it's still 1, 2, 3, 6, 9!!!!!  But some days 4 makes an appearance.  And she can somewhat sing her A, B, Cs.  Sometimes instead of saying P she says "pieces" which I have no idea where that came in but for only being two, she's doing pretty well :)  I've caught her twice counting to 10 and getting EVERY number, but that's definitely not the norm.

The "go away" has left her vocabulary for the most part.  She's now onto "need" though.  Ugh.  "Mommy, I need my yogurt."  "Mommy, I need peaches."  I love seeing her form sentences more and more, but I could do without the "need."  We are working on adding please to the end.

She doesn't watch much TV, but we do let her watch Elmo clips on You Tube every once in a while, and there is a Cookie Monster skit that is all about wanting something but having to wait.  This girl can pound her milk, so we've always given her water during lunch/dinner and then milk when she's done eating so that she'll actually eat solid food.  Well she would FREAK out when she was done and wanted her milk instantly.  Aaron would always sing the Cookie Monster song to her and then remind her that Cookie Monster says "Me want it but me wait!"  And sure enough, after WEEKS of going through this, she now says "Milk" and as we're getting it, "Cookie Monster want it but wait!"  And no screaming.  It's so fun to see things like this sink in.

She was obsessed with all things camping when we were up north.  "Beeba, I go back in the camper!"  Or "Fire pit hot!"  She very emphatically would tell the ducks that were on the shore to "Stop right there!  Go back in the wawa (water)!"  I love that she threw in the quote from her ballerina book :)

She loves to tell us when Wally is sitting next to her in the car.  Except she says "Wally sit next to you!"  She still mixes up her pronouns :) 

She'll also put on her sunglasses and walk around saying "Cool duuuude!"  I die with cuteness overload.

And probably my mom's favorite, she can FINALLY say Beeba.  And she is definitely making up for lost time and saying it a lot :)

The world still ended when most days when she had to leave the park or any source of water.  Although this has gotten a lot better too in the past few weeks.  I finally would sit with her and talk to her before we left about how we were going to leave, but we could come back again, and it's ok to be sad but we can't get really upset or we couldn't come back.  It's slowly gotten a lot better.  The first few times she was a little teary and whiny.  I repeated the talk every time.  Then the last few times she's left no problem.  Now, she does try to stall a little, but NOTHING like it used to be :)

She's starting to pretend play more.  She'll give her babies drinks of water, or have pretend picnics.

And she's starting to use a fake, high pitched voice for certain things.  Sometimes when she's talking to Wally.  It's almost like the voice people will use when talking to babies.  I remember my friend's daughter doing this when her little sister was born and it was seriously the cutest thing ever.

She moved to her big girl bed this month and is doing amazing.  She plays a little during naps but usually conks right out.  No problems getting out though.  She always asks to get down, so she hasn't gotten out on her own (yet).

This girl loves, loves, loves to help.  It may be because she's obsessed with stickers, but whatever the reason, she's still an awesome helper.  I can ask her to clean up any of her toys and she'll usually oblige.  Last night, I was trying to help Aaron clean up dinner and she wanted our attention so I'd give her small tasks with her toys.  And when she was all done I told her how great of a job she did, etc., etc. Then she looked right at me and said, "Sticker?"  I suppose it's a cheap reward system :)

I really could go on and on and on.  I just don't want to forget anything!  I do miss my baby but love seeing her learn and explore new things and have things we are trying to teach her actually click.  Maybe we are doing some things right :)