lou at two

+ You know a handful of letters and their sounds. Teaching you has been vastly different than teaching your sister. You are a multi tasker. Unlike your sister who likes to focus-focus, you love to move from thing to thing, picking up little bits of information as you go. 

+ You can count to sixteen. I think this is mostly from Leap Frog's number DVD. You learn FAST when it's done with song. In fact, you learn songs instantly. You sing along to the radio when I don't even know the song. If you've heard it, you've learned it. You know a truckload of Primary songs , everything that plays on the radio, the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle.

+ You know a handful of colors. I think you know white, pink, green, red, blue, orange, and "lellow." Then again, sometimes I ask you a color, and you say, "Meowwww." You love to be silly, and you know that when you give a silly answer, you'll make me laugh.

+ You know what a circle, heart, crescent and (sometimes) a triangle are. The other shapes are a crap shoot.

+ You are a people person. You love to make people smile and laugh, and you know how to do it on purpose. 

+ You throw tantrums. Boy howdy. If you don't get what you want, the neighboring county hears about it.

+ You love your binky and your blanky. We've started and stopped the Binky Extraction Program several times with you. Mostly because we keep going on vacation and I feel bad to the other airplane passengers listening to you scream. So out the binky comes. It's going to be a bad day when we get rid of it. I don't even like to think of it.

+ You FINALLY hold your bottle. This sounds ridiculous. I'm fully aware. Because I was the one holding the dang bottle all these months! But with practice and determination, I finally got you to hold your bottle. We'll switch to a sippy pretty soon here. (Yes, I know I'm late on this one. :) )

+ You almost have all your teeth. Let me tell you what, it will be a good day when you do! You love to eat, but you pretty much refuse when your mouth hurts. At least that's what we assume. You love "chicken," which is all meat. LOovvvve. You also love corn. Depending on your mood, you'll eat most anything, but things you usually like include watermelon, bananas, noodles with red or green sauce, Little Caesar's Crazy Bread, hot dogs, oatmeal, hamburgers, bun on the side, rice (any kind), peanut butter on a spoon.

+ You love to play with dolls and toys. I don't remember Annabelle being as in to imagination as you are. It's fascinating to watch, because I can see you creating little worlds with these friends of yours. 

+ You love fairy tales. Loooovvvvee. You beg to have them re-told to you all day. And you sit and LISTEN. Then you often spit them out again in the most words you can muster. 

+ You love your mama. You and I have some sort of special bond. I sure hope it sticks around forever. Because I predict a little craziness from you as you grow. As long as you can still be my friend, I can handle the crazy. :)

+ Daddy is your protector. You run to him for safety. You also run from him when you're playing games and wrestling. You use him as a human jungle gym, and he truly is the brightest part of your day.

+ You love your sister. She is your best friend. She is your example and your teacher. You two couldn't be more different in personality, but you still want to be just like her. You mimic almost everything she does. I absolutely love that you love each other so much.

+ You aren't a huge fan of obedience. You like to test us and push us. You hit and yell and say "NO!" when you don't get your way. You are so very different than Annabelle in this way. I don't mean that rudely either. Watching you negotiate the world in such a different way is fascinating (albeit often frustrating). You are your own little soul, and we love it.

+ You hate hang nails on your fingers or toes. You're always picking them off. And you like to do it yourself. When we offer to help, you usually say, "No, I do it!"

+ You love movies. You are such a junky. We have to be careful with you because you'll just sit and watch and watch and watch. It's yet another reason we're so grateful TV isn't an option in our house! (We don't have cable or satellite or even rabbit ears.)

+ You have a little bit of a lisp. Or a lithp. Your S sound is a little of a TH sound. And I love it. Already I hear you correcting it. Which makes me a little sad. Because it's just so dang cute.

+ You abandoned your Japaspanglish months ago. It was rather devastating for me and Daddy. That said, your mini English is pretty awesome. You piece together the best little sentences. 

+ You love to say prayers. And you always say, "Lolly do it!" And then a few seconds later, "I need hep!" :)

NOTE: The top photo is from your actual birthday. We were in Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival and took a trip up to Cedar Breaks. This was on our tiny hike. And the other photos are of you in all your bedhead, Nutella face glory. Aunt Whitney sent you and your sister the most adorable sticker sets with dress up outfits. You both played for houurrrrsss with these dress up stickers.