Cecelia at Two

Two! My baby girl is two. So far two has been both terrific and trying. It seems like every day brings with it a new challenge and a new reward. Cece's verbal skills have literally exploded since her 20 month update. She is a virtual chatterbox. And she's clearly hit the stage where she'll repeat just about anything she hears. Lately, one of her favorite sayings is, "and I mean it". As in, "All done (with dinner)...and I mean it!" Oh boy. She must have picked it up from me. I imagine I used it as a threat ("Cece, get down from there, I mean it!) and now she has adopted it as her own (and really owns it). The best part isn't always the words she chooses but the tone of her voice. There is something so perfect about her squeaky little toddler voice right now I just want to wrap it up and keep it forever. I've been trying to capture it on video because someday that same voice will be a sassy teenager and I'll want to whip out those videos and play them on repeat.

The other day I glanced over at Cece and almost had to look twice because she just looked so big and grownup to me. I guess having a second baby will do that because until they came along, your first born was always the smallest human in your world, but man, it just seems like Cece sprouted in the past few months. And indeed, she has. She gained three pounds since her 20 month update - she's now up to 26 pounds. Not breaking any records to be sure but that has to be categorized as a growth spurt, right?

Cece loves books and lately, she's all about reading to us. Her favorite subjects are animals of all kinds (but more specifically, dogs, ducks and horses (yay!)), trains ("choo choos") and Dr. Suess books (specifically Green Eggs and Ham). Every night we take a bath and read for about 30 minutes. Every night she wants to read the same books and every night she goes to bed with the same two Thomas the Train books next to her pillow. Girl likes her routine, I guess.

She eats like a classic toddler. Seems to go through phases where all she wants to eat is mac and cheese or chicken nuggets but thankfully lately she's into spinach patties or veggie burgers - as long as you serve them with a side of sour cream. Don't ask me how she landed on sour cream but the girl LOVES it. Since she still won't drink a drop of milk, I guess it's fine. She also loves yogurt and of course, cheese (and cheese puffs). Just don't ask her to try anything new, even if you know she'll love it. Unless, of course, you slop sour cream all over it.

In addition to reading, Cece's working on her numbers 1-10. She's pretty good at 1-5 but needs some help remembering the order of 6-10. We did an advent calendar in December and practiced our counting, which really did seem to help. She starts a new class when she goes back to school next week, "Toddler II's" where she'll be with all two year olds. I expect being around older kids will spark a whole new set of developments. There's no doubt Cece will miss her Toddler I teachers, Ms. Brea and Ms. Cori but I think she's definitely ready to move up. This is Cece's school pic. Not sure what's going on with her hands. She was probably a bit confused by all the lights and fuss. I'm just glad her teacher did her hair instead of me!

Cece got a kitchen set for Christmas and a mini Dyson (girl loves to clean!) but her true love is trains. She is obsessed, literally in love with Thomas the Train. We had a small birthday party for her with a Thomas theme and of course, she has about 20 Thomas engines, including thanks to her godparents, a ride on Thomas. James has been working on updates to the model train set and the two of them visit the trains almost every night. She insists on reading the same two Thomas books before bed each night.

Cece loves her ride on Thomas but it doesn't go fast enough for her. She prefers her little red car ($2 at a thrift store!) because she can FLY around the house on it. Her favorite past time is to hide a pancake in the seat to entice Summit to follow her around the house. She gets a kick out of this and has really fueled a new found love for Summit (which is typically only reciprocated when Cece has food in her hands.

Lately, Cece's been really digging her artwork. Nana gave her an easel for her birthday and her cousins gave her a box of art supplies for Christmas. Her favorite thing to do is "pinting" or, rather painting. We do this for at least an hour every day. She also loves to color but markers definitely still require close attention or else she might just end up coloring the walls.

Cece loves her brother Sully. She rarely gets jealous, though I have noticed her asking to be picked up more since he arrived, likely because she sees us holding him all the time. She loves giving him hugs and kisses and always wants to hold him on her lap, especially if anyone else (besides James or I) is holding him. She's fiercely protective of him when he's with me during drop off or pick up at school and doesn't like it when kids get too close to his carseat. "No, my baby!" Little bossy pants. Truth is though I can't fully trust her alone with him. Nine times out of ten she'll be gentle and loving. The other 10% of the time she will launch a toy at his head. I have managed to block most of those so far but he's definitely been in the line of fire more than once.

A few other general notes about two. Cece's shown interest in potty training and will go "on demand" on the big potty for treats (MM's). Nothing like a good bribe. Her teachers focus more on potty training in her new class so I think once she sees other kids going potty more regularly she'll show more interest in it. She is still attached to her stuffed dog ("doggie") and takes him everywhere with him and squeezes him tight each night. She has three of them but only original doggie makes the cut. She still has her pacifier, "Bink" at naps and bedtime. We toyed with the idea of taking it away just before Sully was born but decided it wasn't worth the stress and tears. Plus, she likes to just steal Sully's from him so it probably would have just resulted in WWIII. We'll get there, soon enough. Cece's still sleeping in her crib but we spend a good amount of time in her big girl bed reading and playing. As soon as James makes safety rails for the bed we are going to start to transition her, I think. She sleeps and naps great in her crib though so I'm not keen to rush it. She has teeth, but definitely not as many as most kids her age. Thankfully though, teething has never phased her too much so I really don't ever know when she's getting a new one.

So, there you go. Cece is two and I can hardly believe it. Love you, little bug! Here are a few video clips that capture some of her silliness.