Katie at two

  Here are Katie's 2-year stats:

Weight: 24.6 lbs {23%}
Height:  34" {60%}

Some things about Katie at age two:
She talks all the time!  She will mimic almost anything we say now or ask her to repeat.  The words she has been saying for a long time are becoming clearer to understand.  A few phrases she says a lot these days are:

"go home "
She really means to go out.  I tell her we're already home, but she doesn't get it yet.

"tebby bear"
She received a teddy bear as a Valentine's Day gift and loves that thing.  She carries it around the house.

"I want it too"
Whenever she wants something we're eating or even when she just wants to read a book, this is what she says.  It is pretty cute, unless it's accompanied by a whine. :)

"I love you, Mommy (or Daddy)"
This is the best!  Makes my heart melt.  It's especially sweet when she says it without being prompted.

A few of her favorite foods are strawberries, carrots, cheese, and pretzels.  And she still loves milk and asks for it all day long.

She has also been recognizing hugs lately.  We give her frequent hugs and have also read about hugs in a few of her books.  Last week in church a man walked by holding his little boy who was resting his head on his dad's shoulder.  Katie looked at them and said to me, "it's a hug!"  Then she gave me a hug.  It still makes me smile to think about that.

Katie has also had some "terrible two" moments.  Several months ago she started biting other kids when she got frustrated.  Usually it's when another child is trying to take away a toy that Katie's holding.  When their fingers get too close to her mouth, she bites!  Her little friend, Ada, and younger cousin, Tylee, are usually the victims.  She has bitten me once as well, but that was about six months ago.  Her biting seems to have decreased lately, and I hope it will disappear completely soon!

{Bath time}
Another thing that I hope is a phase is that she absolutely hates to have her hair washed.  Every time she takes a bath, I let her play in the water for a little while before trying to get her hair wet.  She doesn't like to have the water in her eyes or ears, so I lean her back, but she hates that even worse.  I don't know what to do besides reassuring her that it's OK while she cries in terror.  This is one of the reasons she has three baths a week instead of every day.  I hope this summer she can overcome her fear in the swimming pool.

{a little mommy}
Other than the occasional biting, Katie really is a very sweet girl.  When we babysit other kids and they cry, Katie will come over to them and ask, "Whas wong?" and then say, "it's OK."  It is the cutest thing ever.  She loves to carry around her baby dolls and cover them with blankets or dance with them.  It is interesting to me that she shows signs of nurturing at such a young age.

{smartie pants}
Katie recognizes the letters A,B,C,D,E,F,K,S,T,W.  She has a little leapfrog laptop that teaches the alphabet and that's how she's learned a lot of them.  She also knows several shapes and colors and we're continually working on teaching her more.  We've taught her animal sounds and she's known them since she was about 16 or 17 months old and knows even more now.  We think she is so smart, but of course we're a little biased. :)

{a music star}
One of my favorite things is that she has started to sing!  I love it!  A few songs she loves to sing along with are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "The Alphabet Song", "Popcorn Popping", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "If You're Happy and You Know It".  I love to hear her sweet little voice singing to herself or with us.   Anytime I start playing the piano she runs over and climbs up on the bench with me and starts "playing" along.  I'm happy that she seems to love music so far.

I feel very lucky to be able to stay home with her.  These last two years have gone by in a flash and I'm happy I've spent them with Katie.  She and Jacob are my greatest blessings.  I look forward to seeing how much Katie grows and learns this next year!