The Smyser Family: 23 Months

WTF(udge)!!!! She's almost 2. TWO!

Believe or not, I've done NO planning for her birthday party. Zero.

What's wrong with me? I don't know. Do you know? If so, let me know.

Anyways...back to M. :) Yes, I'm starting with my rambling...the rest of the pics are at the end.

M is definitely in her 'terrible two's.' And, while sometimes frustrating for me (and for her I'm sure), it's really not ALL that terrible of course. I know she's just soaking in all kinds of new things, testing her limits, and developing her independence...all while having low impulse control and a lack of complete verbal communication with me. If I were in her shoes, I'm sure I'd have a tantrum here and there, too!

K. Time for the funny/cute/random updates about our little M.

She calls flies - bees. It's so cute. She'll point at it and say, "Mama, bee." She doesn't really like them. And that's why she tells me about them...every single one of them...and every time she sees them. :)

She loves stepping on ants outside on the sidewalks.

Dave-what she's decided to call my Dad. She has yet to say Grandpa (or Grandma), and never took to Papa or any other names...so, he's Dave for now.

We started to let her watch full length animated films when we drive...of course she LOVES Mulan and Mulan II. Seriously...did you think I'd let her start her Disney movie watchin' with anything other than Mulan??

Her favorite cartoon is probably Curious George. Although, she still loves her Mickey Mouse and Yo Gabba Gabba. (Which also reminds me I have a post in the works about her TV watching....)

Ew. Her new favorite word. Like when I try and get her to try a new food. She'll say, "Ew," and promptly hand the food back to me. Or when I go wipe her mouth after she eats. She'll scream, "Ewwwww," until I'm done. It's pretty funny actually. I asked Josh where he thought she learned that word...then, I later realized it was from me. Oops. Ew.

She also knows the color purple. And, I think she knows pink. We are working on saying names of colors...but she's still learning how to distinguish them.

As I mentioned early, she's started having slight tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She likes to express her anger/frustration with whining, crying, throwing her toys, knocking things over, oh, and spitting. Yep...that's my girl. Josh says she deals with anger like he does. :) I do believe it's ok for her to express her anger in any way that's not a danger to herself or others...but the spitting, I can't stand. We just started putting her in two minute time-outs if she spits. We'll see how that goes...

We're taking potty training slow...but she's gone #1 and #2 on her little potty quite a few times. She usually just gets to sit on her potty at night before bed, or occasionally during the day if she asks. She knows the word "poo-poo," and uses it for both #1 and #2. She knows what goes on in the bathroom. So watch out if you come over and use the bathroom in her view. We'll probably have a conversation that involves her pointing at you (and/or the bathroom while you're in there) and saying, "Poo-poo," a few times. (Seriously...before having kids...did you EVER think you'd deal with and talk about poop so much?! It's unreal sometimes!)

During our road trips earlier in July, she learned what semis are...and she loved pointing them out and saying, "shimmy." Too cute.

Choo-Choo - She loves trains...but refers to all large moving objects as "Choo-Choos." We are working on that...hence our excitement when she learned semi.

She is quite the little miss bossy-pants. When playing with her, she'll point to where she wants you to go, and she loves directing people to, "Mooooove." So, watch out if you're in her way or not in your place. She pushes, too...again...something for us to work on.

I tried to weigh and measure her...I think she's about 34 and half inches tall, and around 32 lbs. She's in mostly 2T and some 3T clothes.

I think she's finally got all her teeth...except for her two-year molars. I haven't really been able to look back there and see if anything's happening. Maybe they are already there and I didn't even know it...I hope that's the case.

She's talking more...but it's definitely not an area that I feel she excels in. I need to work with her more I think.

At this time, besides dog and kitty (oh, and bees), she refuses to call any animals by their names, and only calls them by their sound. So...even if I ask her to try and say cow, she'll only say, "Moooo." And, she only makes monkey noises when she wants to watch Curious George. She knows a lot of animal sounds...oh, wait, except for bunny, she calls them, "hop-hop." So...is this a problem? I hope not...she knows what the animals are and can point them out to me when I only use their names...so, I think we're ok?! I always obsess about something with her...and currently, it's her language development. I'll stop now because I know she's perfectly fine and all kids develop differently and at different rates...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah...but I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't admit that I'm slightly jealous that my friend's 18 month old (love you SG!!!) says full sentences like, "Bye Megan. Hi Madison. I missed you." And yes, even I can totally understand her. Ok. Moving on...

Miss Madison does not like having her hair washed, combed, or brushed. I can't wait to try and get it into a ponytail!

Her newest favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."

She LOVES loves LOVES playin' outside. She loves going to parks, running around like a crazy girl, her water table, her bike, her bubbles, her chalk. Anything outside. She'll always ask me "Shoes?" because she wants to go out and play.

Wow. I wrote a lot. I could probably write even more. I'm sure some day I'll appreciate all my ramblings.

Ok. Onto the pictures. They were taken on Friday morning, and there aren't too many. She was far more interested in playing than having her picture taken of course. So...I kinda gave up. Oh well.

My first attempt. She's mad...as you can see from her face.