Happy birthday to my sweet, feisty, beautiful daughter, Katherine!
Kate at age two is a bubbly, curious, chatty, opinionated, sweet, bossy, caring, helpful, stubborn, creative, constantly changing child. She brings both more joy and frustration than I ever could have imagined. From one minute to the next her moods and mind can change. One second she is screaming for her green socks and in the next when you attempt to place the green sock on her foot she is yanking it off and throwing it across the room declaring "Nooooo! Pink sock!" She definitely keeps us guessing. She wants to help with everything- unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry, anything to do with Luke, buckling her own car seat, choosing an outfit and dressing herself, etc. I love how enthusiastic she is about the smallest task, she takes pride in throwing a tissue in the trash, and beams with a sense of accomplishment. Her helpful attitude has been wonderful when I'm tied down feeding Luke because she will happily get things I need.
She loves her baby brother like crazy and is always eager to bring him a new outfit, a diaper, a pacifier, whatever she thinks he needs. She kisses him all the time and we often use him as a bargaining chip ("Kate, Luke wants to see how you use a fork to eat your pasta"), because for the time being it has instant results.
Since Luke's arrival she has become even more of a Daddy's Girl because Matt is the one who does everything for her (he dresses her, fixes her hair, her food, does the bedtime routine, takes her to daycare, etc. He is her best friend and she is so lucky to have him and makes sure he knows it by clinging dearly to him). This has led to her giving Mommy the cold shoulder quite a bit, and while it does sometimes hurt my feelings, it is true that I am quite busy with Luke right now and can't always play with her or help her. I do love the special bond her and her Daddy share.
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| Daddy's Girl- He is her favorite person in the whole world. |
Kate likes her daycare and continues to amaze us with how quickly her vocabulary and comprehension is advancing. It's really fun to suddenly be able to carry on a conversation with her and ask her what she wants instead of trying to decode her cries. She is still an early riser (between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning) and takes one nap in the middle of the day (anywhere from 1-2 hours) and then is rubbing her eyes and exhibiting very cranky behavior by 7:00 most nights. Her eating habits and likes/dislikes are as fickle and ever changing as her moods. What she devours one day she refuses to touch the next. So basically... she's a typical toddler.
Likes: her Daddy, her brother, sleeping with a herd of stuffed animals, oatmeal, anything with a monkey on it, wearing her pink hat, music, peek a boo, running in circles inside our house, guzzling milk, Goldfish crackers, sucking her thumb, playing with the remote control, reading books over and over, and being outside
Dislikes: When milk spills out of her sippy cup, messes in general or when something is out of place, the doctor's office, meat, having to wait for meals to be prepared, having her hair washed and rinsed, when Luke cries, and most songs on Pandora ("Next sonnnng!" is a frequent demand)
I stopped taking the official monthly pictures halfway through this year but that doesn't mean there are any shortage of pictures of this little girl. I picked one of my favorites from each month of 2014 for a fun look back on how far she has come since last January:
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| January, February, March |
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| April, May, June |
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| July, August, September |
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| October, November, December |
Precious girl. She is adorable and I love that she is loving Luke and being helpful.
ReplyDeleteI love the monthly photos done this way - it shows more of her personality! This will also be what I will have to do with Caroline :-)
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