Beatrice is getting more and more rambunctious each day. I kind of think her gymnastics classes are to blame. She’s now trying to climb into her own high chair, flips over the edge of the couch, and scales the stairs while wearing my flip flops… it’s kind of stressful. Her toughness remains, and even when I think a spill might warrant a trip to the ER, she will let out a tiny whimper at most and go back to climbing/running/flopping.
She’s been eating a ton of food – probably to make up for all of the running she’s doing. She also chewed a hole in her favorite pacifier and instead of asking for a replacement, she’s just not using it as much. Is the end near? We shall see. In the meantime, she’s started talking a hundred times more since she doesn’t constantly have a plug in her mouth.
Beatrice has been playing HARD. We have to make an effort to calm her down before bed because she won’t wind down on her own. Last night when bedtime was near and Beezer’s energy was still going strong, John and I laid on the floor and invited her to come hang out with us. She ran over and flopped on top of John, and then nuzzled her way between us. She kept chattering up a storm with her non-words and looking back and forth between us and laughing. Seriously, does it get any cuter? We’d ask her questions and she’d say yes, yes, yes with a grin, and then would answer one by narrowing her eyes and kind of cocking her head to the side. She is so darn beautiful when she does that – and she instantly ages 10 years. When John yawned, she copied him, made her bear yawn, and then laughed when I did it too. Then we all had to yawn 20 more times.
When it was finally bedtime she burst into tears, but then agreed to come with us when she saw that fox, dog, bear, and bunny were also going to bed. Nothing like a few friends to keep you company in your crib…
I was scared of all of the changes we were going to throw on her in such a short amount of time, but so far she seems to be thriving. I’m not so scared about how she’ll respond to the next move, the big girl bed, and the new sister anymore. She is a bright, clever, and happy little girl, and has proven to be resilient too – I know I’m biased, but she truly is an extraordinary child.
Lunch
This is Beatrice every single morning. She’s sprawled out on her blue mat with two pillows, her milk, pacifier, hair bow, fox family, bunny, dog, and blanket. These are her supplies, and lord help us all if one of them is missing from the equation. In the morning when I get her out of her crib, she hands me each of her animals and her blanket and then expects me to pick her up. I’d like to see you manage to carry a toddler, a slew of stuffed animals, with an 8-month pregnant belly. No wonder my hips hurt.
She is a lover of routine. Her list of special supplies may be long, but her predictability is awesome.
Yesterday Beatrice, Jama and I went to the park. Beatrice was unsure about the water, until her hippie aunt Jama carried her into the middle of the river and stood her on a rock. After that Beatrice was all about the river. She’d put her hands in the water and swish them around. She’d pick up handfuls of dirt from the riverbed and throw them back into the water (of course, saying uh oh and wanting her hands cleaned after). She really had a good time throwing sticks and rocks into the water and watching the splash they’d make. I guess our dainty girl isn’t as afraid of getting dirty as I thought.
As we were leaving the park, Beatrice spotted some high school kids playing basketball and wanted to watch. She was completely captivated. She sat on my lap for awhile, but gradually left me behind to get a closer and closer look at the action. She’s REALLY going to like watching John’s soccer games this spring - I might have a hard time keeping her off the field!
These days I count backward from age 2 to figure out how old Beatrice is. Is she really going to be 2 in just three months?
Size: She wears size 4 shoes. She’s in 12-18 month clothes. She has a bit of height on her, but she is the skinniest kid you’ve ever seen.
Food: At dinner, everyone must be in their proper chairs before she can eat. It’s really frustrating to her if we’re taking too long to sit down, or if someone isn’t home for dinner. She’s getting better and better at using utensils. Her food consumption at dinner has improved, but she’s very busy in the house we’re living in right now, and can easily go all day without stopping to eat anything. I find myself following her around periodically and shoving food in her mouth as she plays, just to ensure that she’s getting some sort of nutrients through the day.
Sleep: She’s taking one nap during the day. It starts around 11am and lasts for 2.5 to 3 hours. She’s waking up around 7:30am and going to bed around 8pm.
Language: I had been concerned about her lack of words, but now it seems like she’s saying a new word every day. Some of these words are really random – like tractor and cocoa. She picks these up from the books we’ve been reading. We are amazed at her ability to point to things when we ask her to. I can open a book and show her where the frog, violin, clock, etc is, and she’ll remember them all the next day. She has mastered “hi”, “bye”, and “seeya”, and will yell it to random people. I really appreciate it when they respond to her. Remember that the next time you’re in the grocery store and a little tot says hi to you!
Obsession: The movie Cars. She watched the movie once, now she wants to watch it every day. When we’re in stores she points out all of the Cars merchandise. I feel like her second birthday might have to be Cars themed…
Mannerisms: She points to her mouth, which could mean milk, pacifier, water, or food. It used to be that if we would guess wrong, she would fall on the floor in a puddle of tears. Now she’s starting to just hang her head and sigh in exasperation if we give her the wrong thing. She’s two going on fifteen. She is loving all of the space in our temporary house and runs like crazy. She has switched her parent preference from John to me and is super sweet and cuddly with me all of the time. She’s a very animated girl and we’re definitely enjoying this age.
Books: Beatrice is starting to sit through entire books, much to our delight. Her favorites are “Christmastime is Here!”, “Goodnight Moon”, and “First 100 Farm Words”. She loves all books with flaps and enjoys being asked to identify objects on the pages.
Toys: She loves her crayons and markers and will alternate from coloring with gusto and using large dramatic strokes, to getting really close to the paper and making tiny little marks. My crafty self is obviously thrilled by her love of art. She loves sports – all of her balls and golf clubs are a big hit. I’m just waiting for the day when a ball puts a crack in the tv screen, because John and Beatrice get quite rowdy with their games. She also loves her dolls, vacuum, and globe, and playing chasing/hiding games with anyone who will participate.
Other things: Beatrice is a budding songstress. She loves the raindrops/lollipops/gumdrops song and I feel like I sing it 100 times a day. She sings along of course, at the “ah ah ah” part. She also loves the Dinosaur Train song and joins in during “we’ll riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide the dinosaur train. Toot toot!” She still loves to help me cook and is an excellent pourer and sprinkler. We’ve lost a few bottles of spices when they were dropped into our mixes, but for the most part she’s very meticulous about her food preparation. She started gymnastics and is all about hopping, jumping, and somersaulting. She can’t actually somersault by herself yet, but she sure tries.
This is a good age. I love how she’s learning something new every day and I love her crazy little expressions and mannerisms. Even her drama is amusing.
Tonight is the last night we will be sleeping in our house. Tomorrow we move into our temporary house, and we get our new home in a month.
I’m not a particularly sentimental girl and we’re bursting at the seams in our house. It’s time to move. These last few days though, I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic about certain little things - like when I think about the first day we moved into our house only to discover the flood of the year in our basement, and how John put so much work into making B’s room the perfect nursery for his little girl. But what really gets me is when I walk past the ultrasound pictures posted all over our refrigerator… or watch Beatrice tromping around the house in my slippers… or when I punch John’s side of the bed to see if he’s still there and if I’ve overslept or not…
And those things are coming with me.
We love our house. It’s where we went from being twenty-something youngsters to real-live adults. It’s where we struggled with juggling school and work and pregnancies and a baby who wouldn’t sleep. It’s where we watched our Beatrice walk for the first time and spent half of our summers outside by the grill. This little house has been good to us, but without my little girl and my tall husband inside, it’s just a house.
Today we had a snow day - perhaps the only snow day to ever occur on March 25th. Beatrice made sure that John knew that snow day is code for play-with-B-day, and didn’t give him a moments rest.
Beatrice is quite dainty and was pretty unsure about the snow as usual. She wanted to stay on the sidewalk, only daring to dip the toe of her boots in the white stuff in the yard. At one point she tripped over her two-sizes-too-big boots and fell in a pile of snow, which was a bit traumatizing - especially since she wasn’t wearing her mittens. That snow was just too weird for her sensitive little paws.
Have you seen the Sour Patch Kids commercials? That’s my kid. First she’s sour. Then she’s sweet.
It’s been rough lately. She can be so naughty and her tantrums are ridiculous… and then just when you think that you’re all going to die before she even REACHES the terrible twos, she does something oh-so-precious like brush your hair for you or lay her tiny head in your lap or GIVES YOU A KISS.
She’s clever, that Beatrice.
This morning Beatrice got upset because I didn’t realize she wanted the yellow diaper, not the peach one. Whoa, sorry. Then I tried to dress her in green when she wanted to wear pink. I attempted to put her picky feet in the white shoes instead of the giraffe ones. Disasters all around.
But then of course, we ran some errands and she was a sweet little gem of a child and acted like I was a nice person and not some evil witch who tries to dress her in green.
Did I create this mess by being so accommodating to her desires back when she first started stating her preferences? Our kid is SPOILED.
This afternoon was even worse. I reached that insanity point where you crank up the music in the car and sing along loudly in an effort to drown out the endless screaming in the backseat. When she finally fell asleep, I cried tears of relief.
Just kidding, I didn’t actually cry - I couldn’t risk making a noise and waking the sleeping dragon child.
When she woke, she was back to crazy… alternated with sweet. Help me.
WHAT ARE THE TERRIBLE TWOS AND THE EVEN-WORSE THREES GOING TO BE LIKE? I’m scared. So scared.
And seriously, doesn’t the Indiana weather understand that toddlers need to go outside asap? This winter has gone on long enough. If there is one more week of cold weather, Beatrice and I are both going to have a nervous breakdown.
The movie “The Descendants”
Beatrice at 9 months - First Easter - 2012
I’m feeling a bit (a lot) excited for this Easter. Beatrice liked Christmas, but I don’t think she really “got it”. She is going to LOVE hunting for Easter eggs though. She carries around some of last year’s eggs in her tiny purse and understands that when you open one up, there is something inside. One of her favorite games is a version of hide and seek where she puts her hands in the air wondering where something is, and then cheers when she finds it. Easter eggs are going to be right up her ally.
I happened across some Goodwill magic and found a bunch of eggs, brand new, for next to nothing. Does a 20-month old girl need 50 Easter eggs? Absolutely not.
But I’m creating an egg hunt with all 50 eggs anyway. I will not deny that she is spoiled.
Obviously I’m not going to fill 50 eggs for a toddler with candy, so I’m trying to think of creative things to put in her eggs. Let me know if you think of something I can add to the list!
Egg Fillers:
- Alphabet Magnets
- Bath Squirt Toys
- Panties
- Socks
- Cars
- Stickers
- Hair Bows
- Necklace
- Animal Figurines
- Whistle
- Bouncy Balls
- Chapstick
- Finger Puppets
- Pacifiers
- Bubbles
- And some candy… because it IS Easter…
She may be spoiled, but I’m still cheap, so I’ve been stealthily swiping tiny items from her toy box to put into eggs. Trust me when I say she’s going to be excited to see her finger puppets inside Easter eggs, even though she’s owned those puppets her entire life. And remember all of those Christmas stickers that were in her stocking? Totally fair game for Easter eggs.