2 Years Old!

 

Our little lady is now two! She has been as much of a treat as she has been a headache this past year. Caroline has always been a tough child. I think she's had a hard go of it with all of her ear infections and tendency to catch every sickness that comes within a 5' radius of her. I don't think that's been easy and I think it has a lot to do with why she's a tough kid. Sickness means poor sleep on her end (and for us) and just being crabbier. I can't blame her for that! But couple that with her stubborn personality and she's just a challenge. I will say it seems that her last month of being one has been her best. She hasn't been as sick and didn't seem to have an ear infection in September. Literally probably the only month she hasn't had one, since she was a month old. I think because of it, she's been sleeping great. She had a good 4-5 night stretch of sleeping from 7:15 pm - 6 am. Then she got croup and had a stretch of bad nights again, but quickly got back into the sleeping routine. She is definitely entering two on a high note in that respect.

Notice Caroline's beautiful I'm-Smiling-Because-You-Said-To-But-I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Here smile

Like Bennett, towards the end of one she's become a lot more fun. She has more words in her vocabulary. "What's that?" is probably her favorite phrase. I think I am her favorite person to talk to, because I've noticed how chatty she's been for a while, but Joel just started to get a taste of it. I think it's more difficult for her to get a word in because usually Bennett will jump in with an answer before she can even process the question, so our mother/daughter reading time before bed have been some of our chattiest times. She calls Bennett "Ben" or "Brother." We've known of her love for dance for quite some time, but she, like her brother, likes to sing. Twinkle Twinkle was the first song I heard her sing. She'd say "up, up, up sky" in such a way I knew that's what she was singing, and when I'd ask, she'd confirm. She can sing bits and pieces of the ABC's, as well as Let It Go. It's all too cute and I'm hoping she and Bennett will be the new Donny and Marie, obviously.

Caroline is very headstrong and definitely type A. Given that, and as she's entering the defiant toddler stage, we have our hands full. She likes to be in control, but this makes me excited to see what she'll be like as an adult because she could be quite the force to be reckoned with.

Caroline's favorite things include cats and bunnies, but cats reign supreme in her world. Hello Kitty is queen. She loves dresses and looking cute. One of her favorite things to do is sit on the vanity as I'm getting ready in the morning, and go through my makeup bag. It's a little frightening when she wants me to put eye shadow and nail polish on for her. Caroline is curious and likes to chat. She is picky about foods still. I think she'd be happiest eating brioche, spaghetti, applesauce and all things sweet. She has gotten better recently and will lick foods she is unsure about, as opposed to outright refusing. Definitely making progress!


**I feel like I need to add a note that we had about 2 minutes to take Caroline's photos before she ran away and refused to come back. I wasn't at all ready, so of the ten photos I was able to snap, these were the ones that weren't super blurry from her wiggling, or looking outright angry because she didn't want to take pictures. Then we just never attempted them again...**



Joel and I decorated for the party after the kids went to bed, so Caroline got to wake up to the Hello Kitty explosion. She had a little smile on her face as she looked around, clearly satisfied. I can only imagine the through going through her head was, "Finally, they're decorating the house properly."

My happy little Hello Kitty girl. I was most excited for her rainbow tutu skirt. She was insistent upon wearing the sea green tutu dress for her birthday party. It was not what I intended her to wear under the rainbow tutu, but I actually wasn't too sure what she should wear under the rainbow tutu anyway... so yes, at 2 Caroline has a better fashion sense than me because the tutu dress was definitely the way to go!

The homemade Hello Kitty treats:

As usual, Caroline was pretty scared of all the people in our house. She spent most of the time cuddled up with me, Dad or Grandma.

We told the bakery we wanted a little girl with brown hair on the cake, as well as cats, bunnies and flowers. They delivered and Caroline was very pleased.

We let her open the gifts we got her, which she was very excited about. She wouldn't let go of the vacuum even as she was playing with the dollhouse. I'm sure her shrieks of, "MINE!" could be heard throughout the neighborhood.