She's Two!

Our little Cecelia turned the big 2 last Friday! She amazes us everyday with how much she is growing and learning and changing. We planned a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party on Saturday (which I'll get to in a future post), but for her actual birthday, we got her a giant Minnie Mouse balloon (which didn't stand a chance against Maddox's SpiderMan web slinger...poor Minnie), the kids had macaroni and cheese for dinner, we had cake and Cece opened her present from Maddox...a ladybug dream light. 

In no particular order, here are some things Cecelia has been up to and is interested in at this stage of her life:

1. She can't count to 2! So when she tries to copy her brother by counting everything, it goes "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2"...you get the idea.

2. Speaking of copying her brother, she copies everything Maddox does: if he's eating at the counter, she has to eat at the counter, if he jumps off the couch, she has to jump off the couch. Problem is, Maddox is keenly aware that she loves to copy him, so he plays it up to try to get her to do naughty things. 

3. Cecelia eats constantly! The first thing she does after Maddox gets on the bus in the morning is run to the pantry, pull on the doorknob and plead "hunny" (hungry). Mind you, this is at 7:50 in the morning, and after she has just eaten breakfast. 

4. Cece's favorite snacks are fruit snacks and raisins. She typically eats cereal for breakfast, and is pretty good about eating whatever we eat for dinner. She definitely is less picky and eats more than her brother. 

5. She's not a big milk drinker, but loves water. She insists on having "wa wa" with her in bed as well.

6. Speaking of bed, we just moved Cecelia into her big girl bed on Sunday. It's night two in her bed, and so far it's going great! I'll have a future post devoted to her big girl bed.

 7. She loves princesses, playing with her dolls and playing dress-up. But don't let her girly-girl side fool you; she'll gladly play with Maddox's Power Rangers and Transformers when he's off at school. Shhh...don't tell Maddox!

8. Cece says new words every day and is getting really good at putting together sentences. My favorite thing she says is "Mommy, where are you?" in the most adorable, run-on words way. Another one of my favorites is "Come on, Guinness!".

9. She insists on doing everything herself. She says "I do it, I do it" and tries her hardest to get dressed on her own, brush her hair and put on her own diaper, sometimes with mixed reviews.

10. She's becoming interested in potty training and has pooped and peed on the potty several times. We are not pushing anything, but she knows when she has to go. Sometimes she'll just want to sit on the potty, and even if she doesn't do anything, she gets down, sticks her little tushy in the air and expects you to wipe her and then heads to the sink to wash her hands (I think she's watched her brother a few too many times).

11. Cecelia loves to hide. She's constantly saying "hide!" and wanting to hide under blankets, in the closet, under the bed, under the table. I love hiding with her under blankets because she'll cuddle into your lap, get really close to your face, and say "Shhh" and then wait quietly for someone to find us. 

12. Although she's good at being quiet when she's hiding, Cece also has a loud side. She has learned how to turn on the waterworks and can be quite dramatic when she wants to be. In a turn of events, she no longer lets Maddox walk all over her. Now, when he steals a toy from her or tries to boss her around, she just flips her switch and throws a tantrum. The other night, she did something so funny: we were in Maddox's room playing with his miniature Thomas and Friends trains. Maddox assigned the "lame" vehicles to Cece - the bus and the helicopter while he hoarded all the good trains to himself. Cecelia wouldn't put up with this, so she stole one of his trains and threw it on the floor. Of course Maddox freaked out and started crying and screaming. As he bent down to pick it up, Cece quickly scooped up his other trains and pulled them into her lap...she was asking for trouble.

13. It's a little harder shielding the second child from t.v., especially with a 4 year old in the house. Cece watches her fair share of Sponge Bob, but her favorites are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora, Caillou, and Super Why. We were scrolling through Netflix the other day and the pictures of all the characters are on there, and as she saw them, she said clear as day "Caillou!", "Super Why!", "Dora!". Oh, such good parents are we :)

14. Cecelia recently started swimming lessons, and we affectionately refer to her as the "problem child". When Maddox started lessons on his own, he was so mindful of the teacher, always waiting his turn and never getting up from the steps without being told. Cece, on the other hand, is the class troublemaker. Numerous times throughout class you will hear, "Cecelia, butt on the steps.", "Cecelia, can you sit down?", "Cecelia, can you keep your bottom on the steps until it's your turn?". She does great with the actual swimming part...I guess we just need to work on the listening to authority part. 

 I'm sure there are a million more things I could say about our goofy, hilarious, adorable, loving Cecelia, but I'll just say one more thing: Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! We love you!