Kayla 2 Years Old!

I have a two year old! CRAZY! An adorable one at that! Time goes by so fast, as every parent knows all to well. My little Kayla is a 2 year old in every sense of the word. She brings me so much joy and that grows every day! On her birthday, we went to have dinner with Brett, who was working the evening shift. On the 30 minute drive home, Kayla and I just chatted away. It was the first real moment that I realized she was becoming a little friend and not just this person who depended on me for everything and whom I loved. We were having fun discussing different events from her party, the drive, and her favorite things in general. I was loving it and so was she. I'm also relieved that I've gotten to a better place personally where I'm less stressed and can let her be her toddler self without overreacting. Hooray for settling into life with two kiddos!

Selfies with Mom!

One proud big sister!

  

We had her checkup yesterday and she's healthy as can be. She's in the 50-75th percentile for both height and weight. She was excited to go to the doctor and get a sticker. Yeah, you can tell we've had lots of doctors between my OB appts and Tyson's baby checkups.

 

Kayla is talking up a storm. She surprises me every day with words she knows. She uses full sentences a lot of the time and while she may not be understandable to everyone, I can understand almost everything she says. She loves reading books and will sit and read to herself all the time. That is when I have a harder time understanding her, but it's quite adorable. She will babble, throwing in real words she remembers from when we've read the book together.

Hanging out with the big kids!

 

I have a few favorite things she says. She says "Oh Goodness" all time. She always says "Bless You" after every sneeze or cough (which have been abundant in our house the past few weeks). The other day, I was taking a bath and our bathroom shares a wall with her room. I heard her wake up and she was chatting to herself in her bed. I sneezed and she called out, "Bless you Momma." I called back, "Thank you, Kayla" and she said "Love you Momma." Oh, it melted my heart and made me laugh out loud all at once! 

Chocolate covered strawberries!

Fun at the shoe store. :)

 

Several times a day, she'll say, "Where's Kayla?" I answer that she's right there or eating or taking a bath or whatever she's doing, and she says, "Oh" and then laughs. Its like a little joke she tells. When Brett says something funny, she'll quietly say to herself, "Silly Daddy." For the longest time, she called milk 'gunk' and is just now starting to call it milk. She has a bag for church with her quiet activities and when she says church bag is sounds more like dirt bag. When Tyson spits up, Kayla yells out "PITS" which actually sounds like a naughty word. :)

She loves wearing 'pretty princess dresses'

Kissing a random boy at a football game! 

We love Frozen in our house and to avoid watching it nonstop, we instead listen to the soundtrack on repeat all the time. One of the songs ends with Anna saying "Yes" and so now instead of "yeah," Kayla says "Yes" all the time. She says it with confidence and purpose and I love it. 

Checking out her baby brother!

                  

Kayla calls Tyson "Buddy." She loves him and is always looking out for him. She'll read to him, cuddle up next to him, play on his playmat with him, and loves to help Mommy take care of him. When we are in the car, she loves talking to him and will fill me in on whether he's happy, sad, awake, or asleep. 

 

She moved to a twin bed a few weeks ago and has been amazing. She has only gotten out of bed twice without us coming in to get her. Normally, she just sits and hollers until we come into her room. She feels like a big girl and loves the Frozen theme of it all. She goes to bed with multiple dolls, her babies, a buddy, teddy bear, and Olaf. Every once in awhile, she sleeps with her little Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. :)

Playing while standing in a box

Library story time fun!

We moved her to a booster seat at the dinner table months ago, and its been a bit rougher of a transition. She loves the freedom but as soon as a meal starts, she pushes herself away from the table and proclaims, "All done!" It's frustrating but I've also struggled with the added mess of having a toddler at the table. The control freak side of me is learning to be more easy going and this was a push in that direction for sure. She also loves climbing up on the chairs and wants to be involved with everything going on in the kitchen. The kitchen chairs are constantly being pushed all over the place so she can get a better view of anything and everything. Luckily, we haven't had any kitchen or falling injuries yet.

She gives the best hugs!

Chick-fil-a fan!

One injury we did have was at the playground. We were there a few days after Tyson was born and when she climbed down into the playground area, that has a one and a half foot drop, she smacked her face on the cement and chipped her right top front tooth. The pediatric dentist we took her to declared it should be pulled because it may have hit the nerve. They told us to bring her back in one month to strap her down and yank it out, regardless of whether it was loose or infected yet. We called around to family and friends, and decided to get a second opinion. They said we could wait until it was actually a problem, much to my relief. I was quite emotional over the whole thing, but I accredit that to having just had a baby. Now, she has a smile with a little more character. The problem has been that she's fallen a few times while running around being a toddler and that tooth has a sharp edge that makes it more likely to cut her lip. That actually happened this afternoon at Carters. Toddlers are an adventure!

Feeding her new baby

Trying on Daddy's work shoes

 Kayla loves all things Princess. She has several little princesses that she carries everywhere. She also loves ponies and was recently the recipient of quite a haul of hand me downs from some great friends that was full of ponies. Every morning, she wakes up asking for a princess show, but that is rather new. She's been through a Curious George phase and a Minnie phase. She watches a little TV most mornings with her morning milk. That's about all the TV I let her watch. Sometimes a little after her nap in the afternoon. On the flipside, there is music playing almost all the time. She asks to "Dance" all the time. She's got some impressive dance moves and even sings to herself sometime. She can actually sing along to much of the Frozen soundtrack. Its awesome! She also sings Happy Birthday to herself on a regular basis.

Even princesses need capes to run with

I love watching her imagination grow. It's been really fun being able to play with her and her princesses and ponies. I feel like I have to remind myself how to make believe and teach her but she is catching on quite well. Just tonight, she was playing with her baby doll and suddenly starting yelling "time out baby!" She then ran to the corner and slammed her babies face up against the wall. I asked her if her baby was being naughty to which she sweetly replied "yes." I guess time out has been more effective than I realized!

Kitty Cat Kayla

This is her 'funny face' that cracks me up!

We just recently adjusted her to one nap a day. That girl loves her sleep and now sleeps 12-13 hours at night, from 7:30 pm-8:00 am and a two-three hour nap every afternoon right after lunch. Her favorite foods are peanut butter sandwiches, crackers, grapes, bananas, edamame, peas, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, tacos, eggs, cheese, and of course anything sweet. Halloween introduced candy and sometimes she's even called out in her sleep, "Candy!" Oy, that's a bad mom moment for sure! Haha!

 

She always knows where we are driving if it's familiar. She knows Walmart, the church and her favorite, Costco. When we pass a Costco billboard, she yells it out. She will constantly remind me that we're in the car while we're driving and point out all the big trucks. She loves going for walks and asks to go to the play ground several times a day. It's ironic though because she doesn't like swings and rarely goes down the slides. She just loves climbing all over the jungle gym. Whenever we get home from running errands or whatever we've been up to, she'll run to the front of the house and sit on the front step. Its like her own little perch. 

          

Kayla loves her daddy and asks where he is all the time. She loves Daddy's work and during bathtime, she picked up the #4 toy and said, "Daddy work." (He works at Channel 4 news) She's a smart girl! She knows almost all her shapes and colors and is working on singing the ABCs. She loves cleaning and without fail will grab my clean towel and start wiping up spots on the floor. Occasionally, she will try to wipe down Tyson with the towel to clean him up. She is a little parrot and imitator and does a lot of things that we do.

Frosting cookies with momma!

She is such a good helper. She loves taking things into the laundry room, throwing away Tyson's diapers, finding his binky, shushing him when he's sad, bouncing the bouncer, bringing burp cloths, reading her books to him, etc. I love that she likes helping take care of her little brother. I really cherish watching their relationship bud and grow. I plan on doing everything I can to keep it growing and blossoming.

Snuggles with Tyson

                 

Our night time routine is my favorite. We get her all ready for bed and then kneel down to say prayers together. Sometimes she wants to say her own. We then snuggle her in bed and both Brett and I sing songs to her. We let her choose and she makes some great requests. Some of her popular choices are 'Wheels on the Bus,' 'Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam,' her Kayla song that I came up with for her, 'Happy Birthday,' 'ABCs,' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.' There are others, but these are her favorite right now.  

Kayla and Kali - baby BFFs

She of course throws fits, has a screaming problem that I'm trying to correct with everything in me, and is too rough with Tyson sometimes. But honestly, she's a really sweet girl and has a great little personality. I love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow into a little girl and then a young woman. 

Love this sweet little girl of ours!