celia's second birthday

Celia is two years old today. When we told her it was her birthday and that she was two now, she laughed and clapped her hands. She was very excited! A birthday card had come in the mail for her so we gave it to her and she carried it around all morning. It's fun that she now understands what a birthday means.

This post probably contains more pictures than any I've ever written. What can I say? She's had a long and illustrious life to document.

Two whole years have passed since this tiny pepita was born.

To get some perspective on just how tiny she was:

I don't have big hands. She was just that small.

Soothie binkies are also not very big. They dwarfed Pita's head.

How life has changed since those newborn days. She is a little girl now.

Stats: We've just moved into 24-month clothes and size 6 shoes. Her 2-year check up is next week, so we'll find out her weight and height then. She has been so healthy that we haven't been to the doctor since her 18 month appointment.

Schedule: The sleep schedule is a bit of a mess these days. Naps are sometimes very easy and she goes to sleep right away. Other days, she doesn't fall asleep for a long time and then doesn't want to get up when nap time is over. Celia has also been waking up for long periods in the night some of the time, and telling me she's "all done sleeping". Luckily she at least tries and doesn't complain when I tell her it's still night time and she needs to try going back to sleep. It still makes us all lose sleep though.

Speech and Language: Celia's speech still sounds like a toddler's speech, but it's also amazing how she can say multisyllable words clearly. She also says unexpected things that most kids her age wouldn't say, so it's hard for people to understand her because they're not expecting her to say what she is. Yesterday during lunch she started saying "Incognito! Incognito!" I really did a double take on that one. Pita is also understanding more complex language. We've started reading her real story books, rather than toddler level books, and it's amazing how much she understands. Her new favorite book is "Blueberries for Sal". She gets very concerned when Sal and her mother are separated. Also, we found out yesterday that Pita has more understanding of time concepts than we thought. Celia said something about time and I asked her if she knew what time it was. She said "Afternoon!" We were amazed that she knew the word "time" and that "afternoon" was a time of day she could answer with. Expressively, Pita's still using all kinds of words and long sentences. She's doing great.

Cognitive/Play: Celia pretends all day long. She always has a doll or stuffed animal with her. She loves to dress up, play in her kitchen, play with the dollhouse, and will dress up to take her dolls to the store with her. She takes a certain route around the house when she's pretending to go to the store. Recently she was getting ready to go to the store, and said "Oh no! Can't go store!" I asked her why, and she said "My car broken." Ha!

All dressed up and taking her baby to the store.

Pita also likes pretending to be animals, especially a cat. She really loves when I make her dolls talk to her, and she has little conversations with them. She now brings them up to me and tells me to make them talk. This is interesting because it turns out that I've enslaved myself to the job of following Celia around and making a Maisy doll walk around the house talking all day. Pita sleeps with Maisy now and wants to do everything with her.

Pretending it's raining outside and wearing a "hat".

Pretending to be a kitty.

She also likes to use objects as other things. This morning I was picking up her room and put away a book that was on the floor. Celia said "No Mommy, that's my ladder!"

Motor Skills: Celia's very good on stairs now, even going down. She's also getting better at jumping and getting both feet off the ground.

Self Help: Pita's newest self help trick is that she can lay her coat on the floor, put her hands in and flip it over her head to put it on by herself. She can also take off her clothes and can almost get her shirt and pants on by herself. Pita has been eating fairly well, though she goes through phases when it seems like she hardly eats anything. When she is eating well she likes all kinds of healthy foods, which is great. It's not often that you see a 2-year-old double fisting raw carrots or sugar snap peas.

Celia has also started enjoying baths again, in her little blue tub. And guess what? Last night she decided to take a bath in the big bathtub! Somehow her fear seems to have passed.

Behavior: This is similar to last month. Celia has her terrible toddler moments, but overall she's still a sweet, happy, easy going little critter.

In the last month we've seen Celia turn into a little girl. She's still small for her age and looks more babyish than other two-year-olds, but she has matured so much with her personality and behavior. There's a boy at daycare that Celia has been playing a lot with lately, and I heard that they're like little grown ups together. They're both so mature and serious when they play with each other. Celia talks about him all the time.

As it turns out every month, we love her more and more all the time. It's amazing to have created this little person and to have seen her grow from that tiny newborn into a real live little girl. There's nothing better than watching her, hugging her, and smelling her sweet little Pita smell. I probably won't continue with monthly updates now that she's two. That makes me feel like she's really getting old! There will probably be a post at 2 1/2, and then when she turns 3.