TWO

Dear Pea,
You are TWO! We spent your second birthday playing in the snow with friends, baking cupcakes and going out for a special dinner with Daddy.  We planned two birthday parties for the two days after your special day: one a yoga party for all of your fellow toddler buddies and another the next day for family and special friends. But you spent the day after your birthday throwing up, so parties were called off. You seem a bit better today, so we're hoping to reschedule the yoga party, which you're really excited about.

Despite missing your parties, you had a great day on your actual birthday:

Almost TWO

Dear Pea,
Clearly this is a VERY long overdue post. In the 6 weeks since I have last written, you have taken control of language, going from knowing many words and having some phrases to simply talking. You narrate scenes and activities, you report on past events and talk about future outings. You keep special people in your head and will talk about Seattle family weeks after seeing them.

You sing all the time. You can't carry a tune in a bucket, Sweet Pea, but you love to sign. Daddy and I often can't quite tell exactly what you're singing as your lyrics are sometimes a tad creative, but eventually we catch on.  The toughest one to date was "Ah-LLLLLL AWAY!" complete with a head bop. Hmm. That took almost a week until we realized you were signing it when a Sesame Street character was in sight, either a book or a stuffed animal. Aha! The Sesame Street Theme Song! "Sweeping the clouds away" is what you were getting at.

Another favorite song is "Let's Go Rangers!" which you will yell out whenever the mood strikes. You are also an avid Penn State fan, insisting on wearing your PSU t shirt whenever possible.

You insisted on changing your outfit into this once you saw the shirt on your drawer

You are also expanding your letter knowledge from only E to H (for Harper) and R (for Unlce Rossy). You particularity like the sign for R and try to make it often. Also of note is F for F train which we take most frequently, G for Gary (you love to call Daddy by his first name, especially if you want something from him). You are completely uninterested in M for Mama. Maybe I should try M for Muppets...

 you and Harper in the bath with all the letters. Apparently S and U are particularly delicious

We finished our first semester of Forest School last week and played in the snow! You happily wore your mittens because you were miserable with your hands cold. This is not typical for other kids your age, but you were crying from discomfort without them. And once we decided to sign "Where is Thumbkin?" every time we put them on, well, it's a no-brainer now. You love your mittens! Except that you call them mitts. (You also call buttons butts. Pretty awesome.)

You got to spend some special time with your boys after Thanksgiving, playing in the park by our house and going to the Museum of Natural History a week later. You loved the museum and can't wait to go back, but the draw wasn't the dinosaurs or the big whale or the taxidermy. Nope, the best part was the stairs by the planetarium. Best. stairs. ever. We'll have to go back soon!

 Dinos are alright, I guess. But nothing compared to snacks!

You're going to be two in a couple of weeks. My mom has been dead for over two years. Life is barreling by, full speed, full steam, no stops. We laugh a lot, Sweet Pea. We dance a lot. We eat a lot of chocolate. We snuggle a lot, we play, we read lots and lots and lots of books. We bake muffins every week. You are amazing. This is a good life.

RIGHT NOW

Dear Pea,
Your latest request is "right now." Whatever you want, you want it "right now!" It's a bit disconcerting, because Daddy and I are fairly certain that we don't demand that things be done with that amount of urgency. I will sometimes tell you that we can't do x y z right now, or that it's not time for x y z right now, but you have taken that phrasing to new levels.

22 months old!

Dear Pea,
Your 22nd month saw autumn in full swing. It's been a glorious fall this year, we've been playing outside a lot!  We've also been very social, having play dates almost every day. And on days where we don't have a formal arrangement, you run into your pals at the park

impromptu pretend nap at the park

your awesome sitter getting mobbed by her current and past charges

We've been working really hard on sleep weaning the past few months and it's slow going, but rewarding. You have gone from only nursing to sleep to falling asleep in your own bed with Daddy sitting next to you while I work. You have little rituals as you're falling asleep, sometimes you like to count, sometimes you like to list all of the people who love you ("Mama loves Eliza. Dada loves Eliza. My boys love Eliza. Uncle Chris loves Eliza. My boys love Eliza") sometimes you like to just have one of us touch your head. You still come to our bed, but it's later and later. And you wake up in the morning singing. This morning I woke up to your rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: "Twinkle! Twinkle! How I wonder! You ARE!" And then on to the ABCs "A! B! C! E! E for Eliza! Next time sing with ME!!" I just wake up laughing.

Speaking of E for Eliza, you now point out all E's-on signs, on Daddy's t shirts, on other people. You insist on having them drawn on the bathtub while you're taking a bath. In other literary news, you've memorized some of your books and now read along. At high volume. Your enthusiasm knows no limits.

We also celebrated your second Halloween. You dressed up as Kermit the Frog. When anyone asked you what your costume was, you would jump up and down and say "ribbit ribbit" On Halloween itself, you get a lollipop. It may have been the Best Thing Ever because now whenever anyone asks about Halloween, you yell "POP!" You probably ate 1/3 of the thing, but it lasted all night and made you very happy.

 Halloween! And the famous pop!

 Your hair is so long now that you need a ponytail every day to keep it out of your eyes. Luckily you oblige most of the time. 

Forest School

Dear Pea,
Of all the activities you have done and do, your favorite is Forest School. Only a month in to this weekly class, it is easily a highlight of your week. You talk about the teachers Sally and Jane, you request the songs, you are an active participant in class rituals. And the funny thing is, it's a Waldorf-inspired curriculum so there really isn't a lot of direction. It's an hour and a half of playing in the dirt, washing hands, eating a snack, playing in the trees, then sitting in a circle singing. But you already know the songs and the motions that go along with them. You know the flow of the class and sense the pacing. Today was our first class in rain and cold and you were undeterred, loving every minute.

 taking a mud break on a stump

 washing hands! A favorite activity

 taking a "horsey ride" on a fallen tree

flying a kite

21 months old

Dear Pea,
Dearest, magnificent, amazing Sweet Pea, you are 21 months old. You are almost TWO. When people ask how old you are, I say "she'll be two in January." It's so funny, we used to count your age in weeks, then months and now it's derivatives of years.

You speak in sentences. You sing, which is magical and hilarious and lovely. You can't carry a tune, but you know the lyrics and request songs and then sing along. You drink tea and eat soup and request mushrooms. You call soda "so-la" and kombucha "bucha" and know that you can drink bucha but so-la is "ew." Also "ew" are dirty diapies, dirt in general and the bottoms of your shoes. And raisins most of the time.

As seems to be the norm with the equinoxes, everyone we know has been sick. You got a weird 6 hour stomach bug, then a cold, then an itchy rash on your feet and now have another cold. Everything has been mild and you've healed quickly, but the most remarkable thing has been how you can communicate what's going on. Before the rash appeared, you told us that your feet itched and that you wanted cold water on them. So we ran your feet under cold water and slathered you with calendula and oatmeal cream and by the time we got you to the doctor, she said it was such a mild case of hand foot and mouth that she wasn't even sure that's what it was, maybe it was just a little virus after-shock.  And now with this current cold, you feel totally fine, just have a boogery nose, which you love to wipe by yourself. When you sneeze, you request tissues. You don't love it when I do gua-sha, but man, does is make a difference.

You love to help. "Eliza help mama!" is a common request and you are actually quite helpful. We bake together at least once a week, you dump ingredients into the bowls and throw away egg shells. You help Daddy sort the recycling each week and love to help with all aspects on laundry. You also love the "clean up" song and as soon as it's begun to be sung, you start picking up toys and putting them away.

helping me put away clean clothes

You are very diplomatic on the playground, insisting on taking turns with toys or apparatus.  Well, maybe insisting that it's your turn is a more accurate statement, but so far you are willing to wait out other people's turns without too much protest.  Today over a lunch of chicken and veggie soup, I told you how proud I was of you this morning for sharing toys and taking turns on a playdate/personal training session we had this morning. You nodded and said "Eliza's turn, then Maya's turn. We're friends." Holy shit, did that blow my mind.

Holy shit, do you blow my mind all the time.

"Eliza shut door"

Dear Pea,
In the past two weeks, you have gone from not saying your name at all to mastering it top now referring to yourself in the third person. You have always been a big narrator of your surroundings or activity around you but now you're narrating your actions, too. "Mama pushing Eliza stroller! Whee!" "Eliza in bath! Eliza dump agua!" I'm not sure when or why the 3rd person comes out, you still will say "I" sometimes, too. Anyway, as evidenced by Elmo, this 3rd personal referral is just another reminder of how much a toddler you are.

 another shot of the shoes you love

"Eliza sit raisins! That funny"