TWO YEARS

dear ana,
happy birthday our diva!  you are as feisty as ever.
- you call me "mom" half the time now, not always "mommy".  thank you big brother.
- you can open the fridge 9 times out of 10 by yourself now, and know what you are allowed to get (still with permission).
- you try to walk down the stairs without holding the rail.  kind of crazy.
- you enjoyed the ultrasound as long as the image was a profile or the face.  otherwise, you were confused what we were supposed to be looking at.  you talk to the baby all the time though, hugging and kissing baby throughout the day.  and you love to see the videos babycenter has that show the development.  i don't know how much really registers, but probably more than i think.
- you have been staying dry for nap time for about a week and a half now.  !!!!
- you would go down the slide for hours if i could let you!  however swings are not your favorite.
- for your birthday our plans got a little messed up, but you still enjoyed wearing your birthday tutu and spending time with miemie.  you also LOVE your new baby doll (mommy's from back in the day) and new stroller, as well as the "frozen" items.  you have taken your doll everywhere already!
- oh your attitude.  we have had little battles this past month.  i am still trying to figure out how to teach you.  hoping snuggles with daddy again will help.
- you are tiny.  i am trying to keep up with your caloric needs, but apparently we have to do some more work in this area.  which will probably not be a problem for you!  you do love to eat.  you just also love to run :)
- you have started to copy your brother's attitude when it comes to interacting with others, which is really hard for me to deal with.  you LOVED going to nursery, now you throw a fit when i drop you off (just like he does for primary).  you also firmly and rudely declare you "don't like them" when others talk to you, even friends or family we know.  hoping to turn this around!
- you have the best "cheese smile".  and you love to take pictures.  you also like to make silly faces.
- you talk to aaron all the time, using manners (usually), and often offer us all food that you've "made".  you definitely take care of those around you, living or not.  (except balloons, those are for beating up apparently.)
- you have milk first thing in the morning, snuggling with me and reading (often your favorite book, go dog go).  reading is the best activity to do with you, especially one on one, where all my attention is on you and your questions.
- you like to sing songs, especially "popcorn" and "frozen".  you often sing to yourself in bed if you haven't fallen asleep yet (which is rare).
- pink is still your favorite.  so is papa.  and cheese.
- we've been working on saying "can" instead of "can't".  i realized that for a good bit of your life so far i would let you try, and then if you got frustrated you would tell me you needed help.  but now that i know you can indeed do some, if not most, of those things, i'm trying to help you realize you can do a lot more.  i might regret this later ;)
- you talk in full sentences, and i can't get over how quickly you are learning everything.  your stories make more or less sense, and you remember details from the day or week to tell those we call.  your play is more vivid so far as vocabulary goes, and it's just crazy to see you pick up on everything so fast!

i love you so much.  you are so much fun to hang out with!
love, mommy