Another year down... and this one flew by just like the previous one! My last baby is now two, which doesn't make her a baby anymore, at all! Acelyn is still as wild and crazy as she was at one... and probably more so now that she is turning into her own little person, full of personality and feistiness!
Girlfriend loves to be on the move. She's always trying to keep up with Nolan and even though they fight like cats and dogs, he is probably her favorite person and she will always want to do what Nolan is doing. They love to wrestle together which makes Mommy nervous, but also makes them laugh like nothing else... so it's constantly a fine line between enjoying them bond and keeping them from hurting each other. She loves to play sports with her brother and the current favorite right now is playing hockey and soccer together, scoring goals on each other and cheering when they do. She can identify anything with a Vegas Golden Knights logo on it, and calls them the "Go Knights Go!" Since it's the start of summer, we've been outside a lot enjoying parks and splash pads, both of which are a favorite for Acelyn. She prefers the smaller sprayers instead of the large ones, and anything under her size is perfect fun. Even more than splash pads, Acelyn loves swimming in the pool. She wears a Puddle Jumper fine and takes off on her own, swimming comfortably and will even ask over and over to jump in from the side.
Acelyn loves to color, and will ask about 3-4 times a day to take out crayons and paper (or a book). She'll quietly sit and color and proudly say, "Mommy, MADE!" as to say, "Look what I made!" when she is finished. She also enjoys playing dress up with "Pretties" (bracelets and necklaces), and loves carrying around her "Babieeeeees". Play Doh is another favorite, and she surprisingly does well and doesn't make a complete wreck of a mess when I let her and Nolan play together.
The one thing that Acelyn will sit and relax for are movies and TV shows. She loves a good movie and will, most of the time, sit through an entire one to enjoy. She's gone to two theatre movies and has lasted for both, as well as multiple movies night traditions at our house, and simply enjoys watching them on her iPad during screen time. Some current favorites are Big Hero 6, Leap, Monsters Inc., and any of the Toy Story movies. Her favorite T.V. show is, by far, Daniel Tiger, and is usually the one she will ask for. She can name most characters from many Disney/Pixar movies and any Disney channel TV show (and Daniel), and has also started memorizing songs and some of the lines of certain movies, which is so funny to hear her recite.
She's always on the go and is definitely my "wild" of the two kiddos. In her second year, she's received two chipped front teeth and her first set of stitches in her upper left ear. Never a dull moment with this girl! She's a daredevil at heart, always wanting to climb up play structures at the park, jump in the water at the pool, or have the best giggles on any ride at Disneyland. She is constantly on the run and I'm always reminding her to "slow down!" or "Walk, Acelyn!" With all of her activity comes her independence, and one of her most used phrases is, "Do Self! Do SELF!" She is always wanting to do things on her own, with zero help from anyone and has a hard time accepting when Mommy needs to help (like brushing teeth, getting dressed, or buckling into the carseat). Fits and tantrums are becoming more common as we enter the "terrible twos", and can last a loooooong time, depending on what triggered them. She definitely only does things on her time, especially if it's something I ask her to show Daddy or another family member or friend that she can do- like sing the ABCs, say a certain word, or count to ten- she refuses to do it on command and typically won't "perform" for anyone. It's been a learning curve for both her and us as parents, because I've never dealt with a more strong willed child! Her stubbornness is the strongest in our family, which is saying a lot since Jason and I are the most stubborn people on the planet!
With all of her sass and feistiness, she still has a huge sweet side and is still my biggest cuddler. She asks for hugs and kisses before running off to go somewhere else, and I love our morning snuggles in bed. Acelyn is a huge animal lover, her favorites being doggies and birdies, and she will point them out (and typically dart after them if I'm not careful), whenever she seems them when we are out. She'll often say she misses someone as soon as we leave them (ie: Grandma, her friends, Target), and even though she can be hard to warm up to at first, once she's comfortable, she can also be full of hugs, high fives and fist bumps.
Acelyn is constantly learning and repeating new words daily, and her vocabulary and speech is getting better by the minute. She can put sentences together often and gets better at this daily. She can count to twenty, but mixes up a few numbers (usually 14, 15 and 17). She's still working on her colors, as everything is either "orng-a" (orange) or pink, when asked. She can sing a long to the ABCs and many other songs, but is still in that cute baby talk where not all the words are clear.
Here's what else our big girl is up to these days:
Height, Weight and Sizes:
At her two year well-check, Acelyn weighed in at 24 pounds (9th percentile), and measured 34.5" tall (60th percentile). She's petite, but also tall, which follows Nolan's height trend and is so strange coming from Jason and I! Her head still measures super tiny at 45.25 cm. around, clocking in at the 6th percentile, but still following her growth curve from the very beginning. Her hair has grown a ton and has the best little baby curls after a bath, but is otherwise stick straight and thin like her Mama's. She loves her bow clips and loves to ask to choose which one every morning, often reaching for her Sully bow that hardly matches anything (so Mom makes a quick switch a few minutes later). She is still behind in the teeth department, as she just cut her last incisor before her 2 year molars start making an appearance (none yet). She's definitely lost all of her baby fat and is a skinny, yet healthy babe. She's in most 2T or 18-24M clothing, and a size 5/6 shoe or moccasin.
She is still in diapers and in a size 5, but hopefully we can attempt potty training in the near future and cut them out completely. We've introduced the potty in the recent month, and although she thinks it's fun to sit on the potty seat, I've only had one good result of pee in it! We've tried many different seats/potties and a few different reward systems... and I just don't think she's quite ready yet. We will start to really buckle down and train in the next few months, but for now, we'll just let her do her own thing in her own time (the typical Acelyn way)!
Feeding:
Acelyn's eating has turned into the typical two-year old, with pickiness rearing its head in the last month or so. She used to try annnny food I put in front of her, and now it's mostly, "No, Mommy! No try." She sticks to her favorites, which consist of fruit, fruit and more fruit. This girl can put some fruit away, bananas being the top favorite, but she also loves strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apples, watermelon, peaches, pears, and mangoes. She loves fruit pouches, so much that I have to limit her to one or two a day. Cereal is a favorite for breakfast, and Honey Nut Cheerios are a staple for her. Grilled cheese, quesadillas, pizza, mac and cheese, (cheese cheese and cheeeeeeese), PB&Js, yogurt, cucumber and avocado sandwiches, turkey roll ups, chicken nuggets, and lots of veggies (peas, carrots, broccoli, cucumber) are her most eaten items. She loves her cups of milk with every meal and dessert is always a must... so much that we've tried to use it as a bargaining tool recently when she has her picky days. She definitely has a sweet tooth like the rest of the family, and of course if Nolan is having something, she has to, too (ie: cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. for dessert). We try to keep both kids on a healthy, yet realistic intake of what they eat, and even though they both are a little picky, we survive!
Sleeping:
Acelyn recently switched to her big girl toddler bed, and made the transition easy peasy on us. She was often waking during the night in her crib and calling out for us, and since the switch, has slept through the night on most nights, up until early morning. On her typical day, she wakes up around 5:30-6AM and comes to her door (we have a baby gate on it so she doesn't wander), and I quickly cuddle her up and take her into bed with us for another hour or so in hopes of falling back asleep. Most days she will. We're all up and awake at 7AM, and she goes down for her afternoon nap around 1:30-2PM. She continues to nap for a solid 1.5-2 hours, and back down again for bed around 8-8:30PM. Most nights, I lay with her in her room for a bit before she falls asleep.
She still uses her pacifier ("P") at nap time and bed time only, which will soon be the next thing to transition her from in the next month or so. She loves her gang of stuffed animals, and her favorite go-to is her Jellycat bunny that is super soft to snuggle. Other favorites that she keeps on her bed are her flamingo, Sleepy Bunny, Winnie the Pooh and always one of her many cow stuffies.
Likes:
Snuggling
Hide and Seek
Coloring
Swimming
Eskimo kisses
Minnie Mouse dress up toy
Choosing her shoes and bows
Movies (Big Hero 6, Leap, Boss Baby, Toy Story series, Moana, Sing, Shrek current favs)
Sports and wrestling with bro
Freeze dance
Animals
Teasing Harley to make him bark
Dress up with "pretties" and her purse
Desserts, sweets and ice cream
Making a mess!
Dislikes:
Getting strapped into the carseat without "helping"
Potty training
Getting her hair done (brushing, pony tails)
Not being able to do it her "self"
Being told "No"
Getting cleaned up from a meal
Staying in the stroller/cart while out
Happy second birthday, Acelyn!
We love you SO much and will be our baby forever, no matter how big you get!
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