This year has been fantastic. Evie has learned so much, developed such a sweet, fun personality, and truly is the light in our lives. We are excited to see her develop into a big sister this coming year. It's crazy to think that at this time last year, so was only doing a couple of signs (all about food) could say "Mama" and "Dada," and only take a couple of steps on her own. Now she is running all over the place, putting together full thoughts/sentences when she speaks, and has a fantastic memory! Seeing her learn and grow is incredible. Starting fun traditions with her, especially surrounding Christmas, has been a blast as well.
Her 2 year stats from her doctor's appointment: She weighs 28.8 lbs (85 percentile) and is 2'9.75" tall (43 percentile). She did great at her appointment and didn't cry one bit (not even when she got her shots). I'd say that going to the doctor with me all the time (and her great book from Usborne, Going To The Doctor) has really helped!
Today to celebrate we had a special breakfast (orange rolls) and she opened her present from us (alphabet puzzle). We went down to my in-laws house for the afternoon and had a fun time with them. Evie has been joking for days about being 5, not 2, and this morning she looked up at me and said, "Evie five?" to which I replied "no, sweetie, Evie's two!" and she said "oh, yeah!"
Here's a walk down memory lane from the past year. First three photos are from December 2015. After that I narrowed it down to only ONE measly photo per month.
We had a birthday party for her on December 17th (her birthday is December 20th). We invited a few of her friends to our apartment and kept it very low key. She loves monkeys right now so we did a monkey theme. And by "theme" I mean I put out all of her books about monkeys, we had bananas and garlic cheese monkey bread** (and cupcakes...that were not monkeys, but did have monkey cupcake toppers), and I put out her ball bit for the kids to go crazy in, like the little monkeys they all are. We ended up with 6 kids and 12 adults in our apartment, so we were full to the brim! It was so much fun to see Evie playing with her friends though. She had a blast!
**For anyone interested, here's the recipe I used for the monkey bread. It was a big hit! The only thing I did differently was that I used jumbo flaky biscuits and cut each one into 6 pieces, instead of 4.
Some of Evie's favorites, at age 2:
Food: applesauce, tomato soup, waffles, cheese, oranges, broccoli, venison (she especially loves jerky), mashed potatoes, spaghetti, pizza, "egg milk" (eggnog), sour cream, fruit snacks, graham crackers, raisins, and I'm sure I could keep going, but those are the top of the list I'd say.
Places: Camp David (the property my in-laws have that we go to when Graham goes hunting), library (especially for story time), park, Amazeum (Children's Museum), and church.
Activities: reading books (with us or by herself), playing "night night," helping me with chores (dishes, laundry, sweeping), coloring, and helping Nana in the garden (she is very disappointed that there is nothing left to pick now).
Words/Phrases: okay, thank-you, no, Evie do it, Mommy cover toesies? (with blanket).
Songs: Cecilia and the Satellite, I Am a Child of God, I Love To See the Temple, Away in a Manger, and Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam
Toys/Books: Bee-boo (her special bear), her scriptures (we got a pocket-sized Book of Mormon for her that she loves and flips through while we read from the scriptures each night), her sticker books at Nana and Papa's house, That's Not My Monkey (book), Touchy-Feely The Nativity (book), Peek Inside Cinderella (book), golf balls (that we collect outside and bring back to the athletic club), ball pit, cars, balloons, bubbles, and her birthday presents (shopping cart and food/dishes, baby Cinderella, and bike)
Life has a way of moving quickly (time stops for no one, right?) and I'm so grateful for all of the precious moments we get to experience as we raise our beautiful Evie girl. She is the sweetest girl I could ever imagine. I'm blessed to have her call me Mom (rather, "Mommy").
Have a fantastic rest of your week and a very Merry Christmas!
xoxo, Marissa