life with a two year old

Started bright and early on March 18th, 2010. :)
That day, Delaney and I went to have her pictures taken with our wonderful photographer.
Delaney did great and she was quite the model. I came home with 130 pictures on my cd and I can't decide which are my 20 or so favorite.


After pictures, we hung around the house until nap. Following nap, we had our "friends" birthday party. Our theme this year was "bus/road/etc" and Zap made wonderful decorations for the party. Delaney and her friends, Maisy, Brynn, and Murphy, all hopped on a city bus (with parental escorts) and took a ride. They really enjoyed it. We stopped and had a bag lunch at the bus depot and then hopped a bus back home. After we got home, we did cupcakes and presents.
A little later, Delaney's friends Emma and Kai came over for some more cupcakes and presents.

Delaney seemed to have a wonderful birthday. I'm glad her day was so special.

I've been telling everyone how last year when Delaney turned one, she started walking soon after. It seemed as though she got the "memo". You know, one year olds walk, I should get on this. This year, the memo must have read that two year olds are willful and independent. She seems to have fully hit two. In some ways, it is so much fun. She's talking so much, repeating EVERYTHING you say.
One of my favorite things she's doing is how she "reads" Goodnight Moon. She knows the last word to every line, so as you read, she finishes the line (Mom: and a comb and a BRUSH (Delaney's part) and a bowl of MUSH (Delaney's part).

The harder part of the two's is that she is just wanting to be so independent but not always having the words or the skills to do so. We were getting ready to go to the dentist and Delaney lost control and went straight into a code red tantrum. She wanted to continue to wash her hands and we needed to go. Eventually I put her in her playroom (where she's gated in) and let her run out of steam. We talked after about the tantrum and how she was so mad and sad. She just doesn't have the vocabulary to express those feelings; it's hard on both ends I think.

Overall, I love having a two year old. She's just so much fun. Daily (well, sometimes hourly) she does something that makes you laugh out loud.

Dash is doing good as well. I think we're struggling with some separation anxiety and he seems to only want to be with me. Some days it feels like either I carry him all day or he cries all day. He gets pretty heavy by about two or three in the afternoon. I also think his personality plays into it and that's fine, but I'm starting to be worried about his ability to separate and I'm a little concerned about his gross motor development. He's refusing tummy time (by rolling over everytime) and he's not putting any weight onto his legs. I know that every child has different achievement ages for their milestones, but I don't want to see him slip behind because he's having such a hard time separating.
My plan of attack with all of this with him is to get him into babygym (starting April), start pumping some breastmilk to put into bottles for him so that others can feed him, and start really pushing him to progress a little further.

I have to run; I'm going to work on updating more frequently. We have just been so busy.

I'll leave with some of my favorite pictures.