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Ariana is TWO!!!

I had class in the morning, so I picked her up around noon from preschool so we could spend some Mommy-Daughter time. She helped put the icing on her cake (made from scratch by your truly!)


2:30pm August 31, 2010- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!!


She was so excited. I really think she understood the concept this year! For weeks she had been singing "happy dirday" after going to our friend Kylia's first birthday. She was asking about presents and cake for days as well!

She had her first poop as a 2 year old around 2:35pm


And at 2:40 we did the same thing we were doing exactly 2 years ago




when everyone got home from school and work we swam


we ate


and most importantly... we sang and ate cake!




This is the only present she was interested in last night. We had a table full of wrapped, enticing presents that she ran right by! Good pick Nanny and Pop Pop! It's fits her personality perfectly: a tool bench on one side and a kitchen on the other. It has a picket fence on either side that she can take apart with the play screwdriver. She LOVES it!





Ariana says over 200 words and says 4-5 word complex sentences. For example, Aunt Lala was talking about Ariana coming to meet her new cousin soon and Ariana said very adamantly "I need sit on airplane, Mommy."
She's amazing!
She loves to jump, swing, slide, run, ride (or attempt pedal) her trike, color, EAT, swim, read and pretend play. She is the most nurturing toddler I've ever seen! When someone gets hurt or is crying Ariana is the first one to them, rubbing their backs and asking if they're ok. She snuggles and nurses her baby dolls and loves to tuck them into bed.

She's been in preschool for a month now and after about a week of an adjustment period she started to ask to go to Mrs. Cindy's house to play with her friends. The first week was hard to leave her- there were many tears, and I was informed that she would ask for Mommy and cry on and off throughout the day. There have been no tears since then and the greeting, oh the greetings I get when I go to pick her up!!! She bolts over to me squealing and jumps into my arms. It makes my heart swell for sure!

We haven't had any temper tantrums (knock on wood) save the sleepy meltdowns at bedtime. I try to explain things to her on her level, but so she can understand it, too. She has tried a few times in the past to run ahead of me in a parking lot. Both times I had to show her how big the cars are and we felt how hard they are as well. I explained that they can give her big boo-boos by accident and she'll have to go to the doctor. (she grasped this better after her check up a month ago for school. She hadn't been to the doctor since she was 4 months old, so she didn't like having a stranger prod her belly and be in her face). She now takes my hand and tells me "hold hands, mama. cars boo-boos!"

She also loves getting choices and getting to make decisions whether it be over cold cereal or waffles and fruit for breakfast or what she wants to wear for the day.

This not-such-a-baby is growing up in the blink of an eye, and I couldn't be more in love with her.