Two Years Old

Well, it is official.  Gabriella turned two years old on Saturday!  It feels too soon for her to have grown so much, but that doesn't change the fact that it is true.

Gabriella is a bright, lively, funny, fearless, energetic little girl.

We have had a lot of big changes over the past month and she has settled into our new home and environment beautifully.  She barely skipped a beat with the move and you would think that she has lived here her whole life and not just a week or so.

Never would I have imagined that Gabriella would seem so grown up at this age.  Already, she is very opinionated on what she likes and does not like.  Her likes list includes bagels at "Palella" [Panera - she inserts her name with a sly grin every time], M&Ms, milk, coloring with markers, shoes, her babies, Monsters, Inc, painted toenails and presents (which she told Michael was her favorite part of her birthday).  Her dislikes list includes getting her diaper changed, wearing dresses, food that she doesn't want to eat at the moment, and anything she does not want to do at the moment.  She is also becoming more assertive and on at least three occasions in the last few days she has uttered the words "Mama, stop doing that!"  Seriously...Already?!?  I thought I could make it at least one more year before I started to do things that embarassed her.

Overall, she is able to communicate pretty much everything she would like to/need to and surprises me daily with the words and expressions that she knows.  My favorite thing that she says right now is "I right right back [I'll be right back], Mama" as she walks/runs away.

A fly on the wall might think she fancies herself the narrator to her own life as she describes all of her own actions and those of others.  She especially likes to point out what people are wearing and has an incredible memory for these things.  She has a pair of shoes that matches her cousin's and when we unpacked them she squealed "just like Ada!"  Also, when I unpacked a pink pair of rainboots that she will grown into this Spring, she immediately reminded me that "Iba" had the same pair (which she hasn't seen in easily 2 months!)

She loves to sing and will constantly make up her own little songs.  Often she sings them to tunes she knows (i.e. "Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell, Tinkle all the way..." to Jungle Bells).  She is quite imaginative and will pretend to be a puppy or talk on the phone (video below).  She pretend plays so well with her babies and still takes turns taking them for walks, changing their diapers, feeding them, and taking them out with us as we run errands.  Currently, all of her babies have names: Abby, Emily, Mike, Tiana and Polish Baby.

Gabriella has unlimited energy and I find myself exhausted at the end of each day with her.  Despite that, she is still a fabulous sleeper, going to bed at 7 each night and sleeping until 6:30 the following morning and taking a nap (which she often asks for) around 12/1p and sleeping for about an hour and a half.  We're hoping that this birthday gift will help her jump out some of her pent up energy on occasion!



Food is still a challenge with Gabriella.  She ate chicken earlier in the month which I though was a turning point but she has turned her nose up to it ever since.  She would, however, eat 4 cartons of raspberries and a block of cheese a day!  We have a list of tried and true snacks which we always have on hand.  Had we not brought them with us to Disney earlier this month, I don't think she would have eaten anything but ice cream!

I mentioned earlier that she is fearless.  Truly, I think she would try almost anything - the tallest slide, the steepest climb, the highest jump...She is certainly a thrill seeker.  While we were at the pool in Disney World, she jumped right off the side of the pool into my arms without a second thought.  Teaching her to swim is on the top of my to do list this summer.

Gabriella loves other kids.  She has an knack for attracting 4-6 year old boys and girls who take her under their wing and she follows their lead.  Her love of other kids extends from her cousins to her best friends to strangers.  It is super cute to watch her with them but we have to keep a sharp eye out or she will follow them anywhere.

Gabriella has been asking to wear big girl underwear for weeks but we had packed it away along with her potty while we packed up and moved.  Now that we are settled in she has worn her big girl underwear for about 2-3 hours in the afternoons/early evenings.  She starts out running to sit on the potty about ever 5 minutes (with no results after the first trip) and then settles in to playing until she truly needs to go again.  I'm still not committed to any strict potty training regiment but I'm happy to let her have the practice periods with her big girl underwear.  I laugh whenever she wears them because they all come in size 2/3 which are ENORMOUS on her trim little frame.  She is constantly hiking them up, essentially giving herself a wedgie.

G has her ABCs pretty much down pat with one exception - LMNOP is more like "Ella, Emma, Pee."  Her counting is also quite impressive, to me at least.  Each night when I put G to bed I will ask her how many kisses she wants.  She always answers "two!" and after I give her the second one, she'll say "three" and so on and so forth until she reaches, "13, 14, 17, 19, 29" (almost always in that order before she jumps back down to a random teen).  She hasn't quite figured out how to actually apply her memorization of the numbers to counting objects.  Any time we ask her to count, there always seems to be six items but her measure.

The song "you're so vain" just may have been written about Gabriella - she loves looking at pictures of herself...on the computer or Ipad, on my phone, in her albums.  And she gets a kick out of looking at herself in the mirror.  Then again, she loves looking at photos of her family and friends as well, so maybe she is just a picture person.

We're looking forward to another exciting year of changes and growth and developments.  I still can't believe that the little person who chats me up all day every day is the same 19 inch, 6.5 pound baby I brought home two years ago!