2 Years Old!

2 years old, wow!

You are getting better and better at communicating with us.  Over the past couple of months your vocabulary has exploded and you just have so much to say.  You are even starting to try to vocalize your feelings sometimes.  You don't understand all of the emotions and you certainly don't know what they are all called, but you sometimes tell us "be scared" or "be sad."  Which is very sweet, but also breaks my heart a little.  I think this comes from me saying "you don't need to be scared (or sad)" and that you just associate those things with times that you're feeling uncertain or upset.  I try to take these things to heart and really make time to sit with you and give you a big hug and kiss when this happens because it lets me know that you are really trying to tell me that something is wrong.

You like to practice your jumping skills.  Though it's not really a jump so much as a demonstrative step.  You like to stand on the edge of things (even if it's just a rug) and say "1, 2, 3, 4 jump!" and you sort of pick up one foot really high but then just step down.  You are getting better though and I suspect in another month or so it will be a valid jump.

You are improving your other skills as well.  Just this week I watched you successfully climb a ladder at the playground for the first time.  I was of course right there with my hands hovering at your waist for the slightest slip, but you pretty much did it all on your own.  Then you were feeling confident and decided it was time to figure out the little climbing wall as well.  And Daddy says you climbed a rope ladder at a different playground a couple of weeks ago, too.

A few weeks ago we were going to a park that has sand and I told you we could bring your Mega Blocks truck.  You were carrying it around before we left and had the little man out and I asked you if he had a name and you said "Jonfun."  Of course.  What else would it be?

Daddy was teaching you your full name awhile back but just recently you started saying it on your own one day.  It's kind of like "Kinney Wayne Britz" but you've got the idea.  Since you were having fun with it I decided to try teaching you Daddy's and my full names as well.  Now when I ask you our names you say "Daddy Andrew Britz" or "Mommy Britz"  Makes sense to me.

You ask to go to the playground every day.  Even if we've already been on that day.  In fact, you've been known to ask while we are actually still in the process of leaving the playground.

You have become fully capable of operating the sliding doors and screens in the living room, even the locks.  This means the patio chairs got moved to the garage.  Not going to wait until you start climbing those and try leaning over the edge of the balcony.

You regularly tell me "I need a hug" or "I need a kiss."  I am usually happy to oblige, though not so much when you are using it as a stall tactic to avoid going to sleep.

You haven't mastered them yet but you are trying to figure out pronouns.  You know that things that are yours are Kinley's and things that are mine are Mommy's.  So you say things like "mine water" when pointing to my water and "your milk" when holding your milk.  And you sort of get him and her, but you don't understand they are gender specific terms.  So you will do things like pick up Daddy's hat and say "take it to her."

You like having us change the clothes on your animals.  I got out a few newborn size baby clothes that you literally wore only one time each.  I figured we may as well get some use out of them.

One day I was looking for something in the toy storage drawers in your room.  You rarely get in these but since I had been looking for something they were obviously much more interesting that day.  I was in the kitchen making dinner and you were playing in your room.  I heard you come running to the kitchen frantically yelling "it's a bunny, it's a bunny, it's a bunny!"  You were holding a little pink stuffed bunny that's been around since long before you were born.  You found it in the drawers and apparently had no idea it was there before.  Since that day Little Bunny has been a welcome addition to your little family of animals.  He moved straight to the top with Bunny and Pendleton as one of your favorites.

You have taken to saying "hi" to strangers everywhere we go.  It's actually very amusing for me because in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, most people don't expect or even acknowledge a hello.  But more often than not, when a sweet little girl says "hi" they stop to smile and return the greeting, even if just for a split second.  It makes my heart smile.  I love that you are much more outgoing than I suspect I was as a child and I love that you have to be learning this behavior from someone, which makes me feel that Daddy and I must be more friendly than the average person and I'm glad that you are picking up good qualities from us.

You also repeat everything you hear.  This became quite obvious a couple of weeks ago in the grocery store when you repeated every single thing I said throughout the whole store.  So little things like, "excuse me" that I don't even realize I'm saying to other people in the aisles were then repeated over and over so that by the time we left any given aisle, you'd loudly declared something like "no that's okay, go ahead" at least 5 or 6 times.

There is a bowl of toy produce that has become a permanent fixture at your little table in the dining room.  This is Bunny's bowl and is complete with its own fork and spoon.

One day you were sitting on the potty after your nap and asked for Bunny's bowl.  You then held Little Bunny in your lap, looked him straight in the eye and asked "Bunny, do you want some strawberries?"  You then proceeded to ask him if he wanted every item from the bowl and "feed" each one to him, making eye contact before each time you asked "Bunny, do you want some....."

You also try to share your real food with your animals.  It's very sweet.  You like to put them in the spare chair (Bunny's chair) and hold your food up to their mouths before ultimately eating it yourself.  Daddy and I also watched you try to feed a chocolate chip graham bunny to a ladybug when we stopped for a snack in the grass outside the library a few days ago.

You seem to think that it's time to give up napping.  I am completely baffled and feel like I've tried everything I can think of but just can't get you back on a normal schedule.  This has been going on for at least 2-3 weeks and I've got to be honest, it's wearing on me.  At this point I would say you are only napping anywhere from 1 out of 3 to 2 out of 3 days.  I'm hoping it's just a phase and will work itself out, but right now I'm discouraged, to say the least.

Last week we started our first parent & me class at the preschool where you will be starting in the fall.  You had a great time.  There is a great playground, we sang songs and heard a story, and best of all, there are bunnies!  There are two bunnies and you got to pet and feed them.  When we were leaving at the end of the class you looked up at me and said "this is fun."