The Little Loop: Yep! She's Two.

If I only end up posting twice a year (soon to be three times) on my kid's birthdays, that's okay with me... being a mom doesn't afford me much extra time to blog about the children I am always chasing. It means I've got more important things to be doing. Also, I'm super unorganized and quite often unmotivated :)
So this post is all about my little Birdie...
Sweet Birdie. I would like to say "How are you two already?!", but I feel like you are every day of two years old. You have been quite a trip since birth. You do one thing amazingly well (many things, but this in particular is an art form): you keep us on our toes! We never know what to expect from you....if you are going to hit, kiss, jump off of something, smile the biggest crazy smile, or go from barely speaking to complete sentences. You do everything in your own time, that's for sure. Here is what you currently do:
-Talk. A lot! You repeat everything, and literally went from saying a handful of words to speaking in sentences. You love to say "NO NO Doggie!" every chance you get, "Westie!" (or "Baby Westie!" You take that 8 week age difference seriously), You sing Taylor Swift "We are Never Getting Back Together" and have perfect timing when she sings "Like........EVER." You also love to sing "Happy To you!" (happy birthday to you), "Thank you God" before meals, "Cold Ousiiiiiiiide" (Baby It's Cold Outside...in fact, you don't ever say something is "cold"...It's always "cold ousiiiide"),
-You LOVE your Yi Yi. If she gets in trouble, you run over to me, yell "NO! Yi Yi!!" and run back to your sister, shush and pat and hug her, then run back to scold me again. Repeat 10 times. You are also a typical little sister. You love to terrorize Lorelai, and will hit her, then kiss her and love her, then five minutes later bite her, etc. You're lucky she's so passive or you'd be getting a beat down quite often :)
-You also love your Westie and Baby (Norah) and LOVE to mother them. You treat Weston like he is years younger and needs your help with everything. You constantly bring him his sippy cup and ask if he needs help. You're also doing your best to show your Auntie up as a mother. You are always bringing Norah her blanket, trying to take her from Auntie L, and shushing and patting her. You are doing a lot better at obeying commands so I'm getting less scared about you smothering your baby brother.
-You have no idea what's about to happen in your life, but you always kiss my tummy and say "baby!" and if I ask where brother is, you rub my tummy. I have some of Baby Lex's blankets and clothes in your closet, and you love going in there and holding "Me-me brubber!" (brother's me-me blanket). You are no doubt going to be over the moon for him. I've had some people say that you're probably going to have a hard time not being the baby or getting as much attention once Lex is here, but I know for certain you won't miss a beat. I'm betting you won't even realize anyone in the world exists besides him once he's here. You will finally have your own baby.
-Speaking of babies, you LOVE baby dolls. You carry them around, shush them, rock them, check their diapers for poopoo (not kidding) and use real wipes to change their diaper. You stroll with them in their stroller and put them down to go "night night" in their pack and play. You really, really love playing with most any toys, but babies are certainly your absolute favorite. You even play "airplane" with them the way Beeeeeen (Ben) plays with you, flying them around the room and making whooshing sounds.
-You are a fairly good eater. You really, really love cheese and will eat that anytime. Other than that, you're a little hit or miss, but not too terrible. You'll usually eat at least half of whatever we give you.
-Although you seem to be slowly outgrowing it, for a while we swore you had pica. You wanted (REPEATEDLY) to eat soap, hand sanitizer, wipes (you still love to suck on wipes), and deodorant. You're old enough to understand that you shouldn't eat these things now, but sometimes you will still sneak off for a snack. Gross. :)
-After probably the most exhausting year of my life, as I've mentioned, you are finally starting to understand obedience and consequences. It has really made my life easier. Instead of being totally crazy and out of control, you will for the most part obey yes and no commands. I remember with Lorelai thinking that it wasn't "two" that was hard, it was right before two. So hopefully we are settling into a less psychotic time period :)
-You have almost all of your baby teeth, minus your second molars. All four of your canines are coming in right now, which has been fabulous. You've had some SUPER cranky days, but who wouldn't. That's a lot of sharp teeth to come through at once.
-You love your "Dat!" SO much. when he gets home, you dance and scream until he picks you up. Most mornings, you wake up and say "Where Daddy goooo? He seepin? He wake up?" and I love it. You are perfectly happy with him and just being with him and letting momma rest.
-You of course love the rest of your family, also. They know you love them and think you're so funny when you say their name and want to be with them.
You bring us so much happiness, and it totally outweighs the exhaustion that accompanies taking care of you (thank goodness, or we'd never get babysitters! :) Happy second birthday, Birdie!
A few snapshots from the past year...

First time to pull up in the crib:

Playing on the iPad...

In Tennessee!

In Hot Water Springs, Arkansas (on our way home from TN):

First wasp sting (from crawling in Lance's dog igloo) :(

Waiting for BBQ outside at Franklins (Austin, Tx):

After busting your nose by falling in the fish pond in our backyard (that Yi Yi both caused and rescued you from...she moved the gate and let you by the pond, but dragged you out when you fell in head-first):