Now that we have welcomed and celebrated Elliott’s arrival, we are now prepping to celebrate Laurel’s Birthday in exactly one month. Ahhhh!!! So much to do, but I think I have a plan, so we’ll see if I can pull things together.
Laurel is growing so fast and continues to amaze us. Her vocabulary is growing every day and she is quickly learning to communicate (and boy does she have a lot to say!!).
Here is a few quick facts about Laurel at 23 months
1. She LOVES books. Her favorite is her “Otis” book, which is random because it is a book about a tractor, but we read Otis every night… twice… because she enjoys it so much. Fortunately, there is a shorter “Otis Loves to Play” book in the series that she has become fond of, so William and I are thankful for the shorter story since it’s only in addition to the 3-4 other books we usually have to read at bedtime. Of course, it is time well spent.
2. Despite the fact that she loves her Otis the tractor book, she is into girly stuff: jewelry, make-up, shopping, clothes, shoes, handbags, dolls, etc.
3. She still loves to eat and wants to eat as soon as she walks in the door from school, but has become much pickier lately about what she eats. One day she will eat chicken and the next day, she completely dismisses it. It’s my biggest challenge and I am sure a challenge for many toddler moms. She enjoys her snacks most: graham cracker bunnies and goldfish, but also loves strawberries and watermelon, so we try to find a balance.
3. I think oatmeal has replaced waffles as her favorite breakfast food.
4. She loves to spend time outside on walks or in her wagon or most recently, stroller rides with Elliott 🙂
5. SHE LOVES MUSIC. She cannot get enough music. She usually dances to the music and demands William and I dance too! When the song ends, the next song cannot start soon enough and she is already asking for “more music”. I think that is the number one phrase we hear out of her mouth besides, “eat”.
6. She seems to have hit the terrible two’s about a month before Elliott was born. She randomly began having tantrums and being much fussier when she doesn’t get what she wants, but it’s a work in progress and is slowly, but surely getting better…. I think.
7. She is on night #2 sleeping in her “big girl/big sister” bed. We took the front rail off and put the toddler rail on. I was panicked abut her waking up and destroying her room by pulling all her books and toys off the shelf and on the floor or that she would escape her room, but she did great last night/this morning and again tonight. When she woke up this morning, she actually sat in her bed until I went in her room to get her ready for school. She sat there looking tempted to explore, but is not used to the freedom yet, so we’ll see how long it lasts.
8. Elliott has a wonderful big sister! She is still learning to be gentle and share the attention, but she enjoys singing to him and trying to help when she can.
I’ll try to get some photos of her in her big girl bed later this week.
