Two Year Old Attitude

As is tradition, I will list a few unique things about Emilyn in honor of her two year old birthday. . . and her two year old attitude!

• She is starting to act really 2, which means she is full of energy and fun, and set on getting her own way.
• She cries pretty much every time she hears the word "no".
• She throws herself on the ground, face down, with her hands over her head, and throws a tantrum whenever she is upset, or you say the word no, but it is almost always short lived.  She gets over things quickly, and is easily distracted (which I don't remember being the case with Matisyn!)
• She is full of personality, just like Matisyn.  I didn't think it was possible to have two with such drama and character, but it seems to be coming true.  I love watching her turn into her own little person.
• She takes a long time to fall asleep and needs quiet, perfect conditions (just like her mom) and doesn't sleep much in the car, stroller, etc.  She does, however, stay in her crib for long periods of time most days just talking, singing, playing, and ripping, I mean reading books.
• One of her favorite toys are "bobbies", barbies.  She loves to undress them, talk to them, make me dress them, brush their hair, push them in the stroller, and then undress them again.
• Her favorite song used to be "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" so she calls most creepy crawly bugs, "itty bittys" like the song.
• She is very polite, and almost always says please and thank you, "peas" and "tank you".  She also says "bless you" when you sneeze, and "excuse me" when she bumps into you.
• She announces very loudly and proudly, "I tootied."  She thinks it is very funny.
• She can talk up a storm.  She puts sentences together now, and her vocabulary is huge.  I love being surprised by her new words everyday.  She can talk and talk and talk, some is the rambling baby language, with the rest real words in between.
• She adds an "f" to the beginning of many words so a lot of her speech consists of words like "fwipe", fwindow", frandma"etc.  It sounds so cute that I just repeat them that way. . . I guess it won't be as cute in kindergarten, but I can't help it for now!
• One of her favorite phrases, that she repeats often, to her sister's frustration is, "sissy broke it."  She is most often right!
• "Mommy, hold you" is said all day long.
• One of her favorite songs now is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree".  When she sings she waits for us to get to the last word of each line in the song and then shouts it.  I looked out the window and what did I SEE, Popcorn popping on the apricot TREE, and so on.  She loves doing that with Twinkle Twinkle little STAR as well.  Her other favorites that she often requests are 5 Little Speckled Frogs, 5 Little Monkeys, Wheels on the Bus, and 5 Little Ducks went out to Play.
• She does not like getting into her car seat, and cries almost every time.  She always tells us to "shut the door" because she doesn't want to get buckled in, she wants to climb around the car and play.  Luckily like most her tantrums, she gets over it very quickly.
• She is a great eater, and loves all different foods.  She'll try most things, but only when she feels like it.  She likes things like avocado, broccoli, cucumber, salad, all fruits, etc. as well as the kid things like mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.  Her favorite food is still probably yogurt.  Some meals she eats more than we do, and some nothing at all.
• She has a sweet tooth like the rest of the family, but I don't think it is quite as extreme as her sister's.
• She idolizes her sister, and wants to be just like her.  This is pretty cute sometimes, and other times has created some bad habits that Matisyn has taught her.  She follows Matisyn everywhere, copies what she says, and what she does.  Sometimes Matisyn loves this and sometimes she gets frustrated.  
• She dumps out cups when she is done with them, or when she is mad.  She also shows her displeasure by spitting food onto the floor if their is anything in her mouth when you tell her no.
• Most days the first thing Emilyn says is "where's sissy?"  I've tried to tell her to enjoy the peace and quiet and the lack of being knocked over and having her toys stolen while she can, but apparently she only remembers her sister's star qualities, of which I admit there are many!
• The worst habit she has learned from "sissy" is hitting.  She doesn't seem to hit other little kids though, just Matisyn as a form of protection and retaliation, and mom and dad when she is frustrated with us.
• When she is in trouble she will actually sit in time-out for a short period, seems actually remorseful, and comes to us and says sorry when she is done.  It is precious.
• She loves brushing her own teeth, eating toothpaste, brushing her hair, carrying around a backpack, pulling up her own pants, sitting on the potty (even though we haven't had much progress yet, that's probably my fault), running, pushing her dolls in strollers, reading (her favorites are books with animals), pushing her stroller instead of riding in it, playing in water, playing with drinking fountains, dancing, watching Elmo and Zoe, snuggling, pulling flowers off stems, using wipes, sweeping and mopping, pounding on the piano and on computer keyboards, anything to do with animals, "bumping" on the trampoline, swinging, riding her little trikes, playing outside, sliding, playing chase games with Matisyn, making messes, coloring, baths, especially if sister gets to play too, ice cream and treats of all kinds.
• She is in tune with others' feelings, and always points out if someone is sad.  She tries to cheer others up with hugs, pats, and toys when she thinks they are feeling bad.
• She is great at following directions, if she feels like it!  She can understand everything we tell her now.
• She loves to be a helper.  She always follows me around saying, "help you mommy."
• She is on a prophylactic, daily, antibiotic for her bladder reflux. It seems to be keeping the infections away.  We haven't decided if we will have surgery yet, we'll test again in January and see if it has improved, and decide from there.
• She is generally happy, smiley, and full of laughter.
• She is social and loves being around people and animals.  I sometimes feel guilty that we don't have a pet because she gets so excited around animals.
•  Emilyn is precocious and determined like most two year olds, outgoing, loving, and thoughtful.  She can exhaust me and give me extra energy with her ever changing moods and attitudes.  She makes me laugh and smile everyday, and I find myself hugging and kissing her every chance I get.  You have to take them when you can because sometimes she gets stingy, and says "no huggies mommy."  Then the next minute she's pouring them on, it just has to be her idea.  Our house runs much smoother when I just realize that she is the boss!  I love watching my girls play together and catching the glimpses of the friends they can be someday.  I can't imagine my family without little Emi!