Elizabeth is 2!

Happy birthday!

It's hard to believe but Elizabeth is 2 today! She thinks she's 4 and she acts like a 4 year old. She wants to be Nathan and does EVERYTHING he does.

I find her so cute I just want to squish her all the time. I spend my days hugging and kissing her. Yes, this might seem a bit ridiculous but I just can't help myself! It starts in the morning when she's in her crib in her footie jams saying "Hi Mama! Morning! Good sleep." I just can't wait to hold her and start talking to her about our day and all the things she's excited about. She always wants all her stuffed animals out of her crib.

She loves going to preschool. Nathan is technically the one in preschool, but I bring her with us so she gets a lot out of it. She can sing her entire ABC's and counts to 16. She knows all her basic colors and most of her basic shapes. She can sing and dance to the hokie pokie, twinkle twinkle, patty cake, the chicken dance, and head shoulders, knees and toes. She loves to sing songs and repeat nursery rhymes. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me. She can say any word. Anything. She speaks in sentences and can string together pretty nice paragraphs too!

Her favorite foods are burritos and noodles with cheese. She likes to eat apples and grapes too. And of course she'll devour any cookie or marshmallow put before her if she eats a good dinner. Luckily, we've still not found any other food allergies besides the sunflower seeds. I hope it continues to stay this way! I haven't given her any peanut butter yet as we don't keep it in the house but her blood test says she's ok with it.

She LOVES to laugh at Nathan. She always has. She loves to play with him. He still doesn't play with her as much as she'd like and he doesn't always treat her nicely, but he is improving. Now that she can converse with him, they have cute little conversations in the car and at home sometimes. Tonight they both complimented the others pajamas. Elizabeth said, "Nice jams Nathan! I like footballs. Very nice." Then Nathan said, "Thank you Elizabeth. Your piggie jams are nice too. Cute."

All in all, she's a very good little girl. Yes, she has her moments, but for the most part she's very cooperative and a pleasure to be around. I wonder if this will change now that she's hit the magic number of 2? Uh oh.

She doesn't seem to be interested in potty training yet. She tells me when she goes, but isn't interested in the potty. She does like to make her stuffed puppy use the potty. She makes him go potty and then she wipes him.

She has a Mommy Obsession and it's pretty bad! She doesn't want Daddy at all right now. She only wants Mom. She wants me to get her dressed, change her diapers, get her food, play with her, etc. I guess I don't mind too much as I am kind of obsessed with her too. I remember Nathan was the same way around this age except that he had a Daddy obsession.

Her hair is getting longer and longer! She won't sit very still for me to trim it though...I love to put it in ponytails. She always yanks them out though. I wish she'd like the bows and ponytails but she just doesn't.

Eczema is still a big problem. Hers is HORRIBLE. She would scratch all day. I've used all kinds of steroids, hydrocortisone creams, powders, lotions, and ointments. She often scratches her legs and feet until they bleed. We often have to tape her socks on so she doesn't yank them off. She has to take naps in her footie pajamas too. We don't know when it's going to get better. Nathan's was much better by 2, but hers is still a daily problem and hindrance. You can see her hands in the top picture. She just scratches and scratches.

She say the cutest things when she hurts herself or bonks. She'll cry for about 5 seconds. Then, she'll tearfully say, "Getting better." She'll cry for 2 more seconds and then say with a smile, "Happy now!" She does not cry for long.

When she does something that she knows is naughty or if she just wants to be by herself, she'll go off to her room crying and say "Baby time out." She'll shut the door and cry for 4 seconds. Then, she'll start talking to herself and playing. Then she'll be perfectly happy when I go in.


Here's her daily routine.

She wakes up around 8. She eats breakfast (usually cereal and a bottle of milk) in her high chair. We get her dressed and brush her teeth. During the week, we usually leave the house by 9:30-10 to go to various activities. Preschool is Tues/Thurs, Library Storytime is Wed, we do our shopping on Friday mornings to beat the weekend rush, and church is Sunday morning. She's used to doing morning activities.

We usually come home around noon and she has her lunch. She likes to have hummus, sandwiches, burritos, or noodles and cheese. She also has fruit and a bottle. We play together until 2. We read a lot of books and just play silly games.

She usually naps from 2 to 3:30 or sometimes even 4. She's a tired girl! This is my break for the day so I spend that time exercising and playing with Nathan.

We play some more from 4-6. We like to try to get outside after her nap now that it's not dark and we can walk around some as a lot of the snow is gone! She likes to play around in the shop and with the gravel in the driveway. She likes to explore the fort and sometimes she likes to swing. She LOVES going for walks around the neighborhood.

We eat dinner around 6 and she sometimes eats what I cook. We eat a lot of meat due to Nathan's protein problem. Elizabeth doesn't like meat very much. She eats a lot of her starches and will eat some vegetables.

At around 6:30, the naked runners show up. Both kids strip off their clothes and run in circles around the kitchen while I clean up. They like to turn on classical music. Gosh do they run! Sometimes they run for half an hour! It's so funny. She likes to skype with the grandparents and Aunt Laura during this time.

7:00 is bathtime. She enjoys bubble baths and likes pouring water in cups, playing with little bath toys and pretending to "swim." She loves to have her tube towel after bathtime. Then, we get on her overnight diaper, LOTS of Aquafor on her horrible eczema, and then her cute footie jammies.

She's very good about letting me floss and brush her teeth. She takes her fluoride drop just fine. Then, she likes to help me set out the vitamins for the next morning.

After this, we read books. Jeremy reads Bible stories to the kids just before bed. Then, I get her her water cup and we do LOTS of hugs and kisses (she could hug and kiss all night to stall for bedtime) and I put her in her crib at 8:00.