Two. She's TWO! I can't believe you're already two Miss Thea. Of course I can't remember life without you, and I certainly wouldn't want to go back to life without you. You bring the family so much joy. But man, how can you already be two-years-old?
I just... this kid is so damn cute. I'm sure her older sisters were equally adorable, but Thea just gets to me in the best ways. She is still my best cuddler, kisses my booboos, lovingly plays with my hair, and is just all around awesome. Yes, she has her moments. Often trying to get clothes on her is like trying to wrestle an alligator. And her favorite past time is running into the pantry to steal food. Should you come between her and her quest, watch out. Definitely need to come up with a better pantry locking mechanism. She has just plain ripped the knob cover straight off the door.
Despite Thea's absurdly picky eating habits, the girl is still growing like crazy. She measured in at 35.5 inches (93rd percentile) and weighed 29lbs5oz (81st percentile). Seriously, her doctor asked if she loved eating (well yes) because she is growing so well. How she continues to get taller without getting wider is beyond me, the carb and chocolate fanatic. Last night she hurled herself at my feet and cried "I just want choc-wit!" I fell ya girl, I really do. This morning she was playing in her closet and wanted to try on all the shoes in one of the bins. They are fall shoes, size six, which I was expecting her to wear in the next two months, but not a single freaking pair would squeeze on her chubby little feet. She hasn't worn ANY of them! I know she is in opposite seasons as Ryann and Elsie, but I can't believe she just missed all of those. I need to pull out the 7's to see if we're going to have to invest in some new ones. Which sounds ridiculous when you're on your third child of the same sex. She is solidly in size 2 clothing, but size 3 pajamas certainly don't seem big. I have a feeling we'll bust out of the 2's before I'm ready.
Thea has absolutely ZERO interest in potty training. She still freaks out any time we attempt to sit her on the toilet.
(Ok I swear I just have to start typing the crap in a post and then she has to prove me wrong before I post. I thought I'd finish this post last night, but didn't. Today she has willing sat on the toilet twice, even though she hasn't done anything.) I ask her regularly if she wants to be a big girl and wear undies like her sisters and she pretty much just says nope. One day she looked at me and said "I not a baby IN-eee MOWRE!" So I responded, "Not a baby? So you're going to be a big girl and wear underwear and sit on the potty seat?!?!?" She pondered for a moment, "Ee-uh a baby. I wear diapers." Alrighty then. She also excitedly took a nap on a toddler bed at my Aunt and Uncle's house over the 4th of July. Went right to sleep and napped something like three hours. I asked her if she wanted a bed like that at home. "No, I sweep in my cwib."
In the sleep department things haven't changed much. Thea is incredibly easy to put to bed which is great, and something I never could have imagined a year ago when I was still nursing her to sleep. We read two books, since three very short songs, and into her crib she goes. She almost never wakes up in the middle of the night. There was one night last week that she was crying (in her sleep I'm pretty sure), and Chris and I just looked at each other like what on Earth do we do with that? I haven't had to tend to her in the middle of the night since I don't even know when. And she is still content to just play in her crib for an undetermined amount of time when she wakes up in the morning or from nap. There was one day when she was singing and babbling to herself, and after about 15 minutes I finally realized she was standing up yelling "Mommy I need you!" Whoops. She had a super saggy wet diaper and wanted it off. Lol. She generally sleeps from 8pm until 5:45-6:15am, and naps from 1-4pm ish. I've tried cutting her nap a bit shorter, but it hasn't seemed to make a huge difference in when she wakes up in the morning. Sometimes she'll sleep until 7:30am and there is no correlation. So we'll just roll with it.
Though her speech can still be incredibly hard to understand, she is stringing together pretty mature sentences. I've counted 7-8 words in a row, and really she can hold a conversation, you just have to be patient. The words do not come out in a fluid manner, her phrases are very staccato in delivery. And really sometimes I just don't have a freaking clue what she is saying. For the most part she doesn't get upset about it though. If it is something she can show me, she will tell me such, and direct me to whatever it is she is wanting, or trying to tell me about. Or if it wasn't important, eventually she just gives up and moves on. Sorry kid! Some of my favorite phrases as of late are, "Come on, let's do it!" and "I no want to do dat!", mostly because I can appreciate the fact that she can verbalize her likes and dislikes. She still throws incredible fits but she CAN use her words, especially if she is reminded to do so. And I still have a soft spot for her "Why you do dat?" I tend to use it with everyone in the family now, if they do something they shouldn't have. And a cute little conversation we had the other day...
Thea: "Where Dada go?"
Me: "Daddy had to go to work."
Thea: "I wuv Daddy."
Me: "Daddy loves you too girlie."
Thea: "Daddy wuv mama too!"
She occasionally tries to sing the alphabet, but just repeats a few letters over and over again. She can count to 13, but almost always skips 5 and 10. I think part of it is out of spite now, we correct her so often that I'm pretty sure she does it on purpose just to get a reaction. Her listening ears at dance class have improved. She is still often the ring leader of the not following directions club, but I can tell she gets enjoyment out of the songs and movements we do every week, and mostly just loses focus when we have to stand in a line and do things one at at time. Then she is hanging off the ballet bars like a monkey. I'm not sure we'll go every week throughout the school year, but thankfully her class would be during the same time that Elsie is in class, so it is something we can easily do frequently.
Yellow and purple are still her preferred colors. She is obsessed with the Disney princesses. We got her several little figurines that we found in the check-out aisles at Walmart for her birthday, and she carries around a ziploc bag with them on the regular. Actually one day she woke up from nap in tears and when I asked her why she was crying she said "I want my pwincesses!" Haha. Elsa and Anna remain the favorites, and we are now the proud owners of several Elsa dolls. Thanks friends, she is loving it. The day after Thea's birthday, my parents took the girls to the Toy Store because there were going to be some princess actresses there. My mom said Thea absolutely lost her mind freaking out when she spotted Anna. Her excitement over things is just the best. Ariel is her next favorite, and then Belle. Everyone else is just icing on the cake.
She says Elsie is her best buddy, but she really loves both her sisters and always wants to know what they are doing. Of course she is learning to fight back more and more when they take her toys, and has ripped out several chunks of Elsie's hair (karma). But she loves to hug tackle them to the ground and wrestle them and just play with them all the time. She gets sad when they go places and we're home by ourselves. "Where Ryann and El-ee go? I want dem come home and pway wit me."
Thea girl, despite our rough start and what seemed like months of endless screaming, I wouldn't change these last two years for anything. I love you so much and I'm so grateful that God chose me to be your mommy. I LOVE YOU.
