Beebop-a-Lula

Last week was Miss Lulu’s 2nd birthday. It’s amazing to see her grow and develop. She truly is becoming a sweet little girl. We had a family party for her the day before her birthday and she had a lot of fun. The kiddie pools were out for her and her cousins, my mom put out a great spread of food (and plenty of Yo Gabba Gabba decorations) and my dad was rockin’ the grill. She had so much fun that she fell asleep right before we were going to have cake, which brought the party to a screeching halt for about 45 minutes. She got so many great presents and she loved them all!

smooch.

The day of her actual birthday was relaxed and low-key. We spent a lot of time outside and that night rather than getting another cake we gave her a big bowl of ice cream and a cookie. It all started off harmless enough, but ended up with a trip directly to the tub!

so far, so good...

erm...

ta-da!

and now...cookie.

yum.

She also had her two-year check-up at the doctor’s yesterday.
weight: 26 lbs
height: 36.75

trying to "feed" Elmo

She falls into the 97th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight. Since her last visit, she great 1 3/4 inches and gained only a pound. The doctor wasn’t concerned about her weight since she’s always been thin. Food is still a big issue with Lulu but hopefully she’ll grow out of it someday soon. Until then, we’ll continue to stack her meals with as many calories as we can!

The Brooding Toddler phase has begun. There’s lots of frustration and pouting happening because she can’t communicate as well as she’d like to even though we’ve been encouraging her to talk rather than whine. We know she can pretty much say any word she wants to, like when she says her sister is “loud” or the other night when she ran around squealing “ASS!” at the top of her lungs and giggling like a maniac.

french fries are her favorite food group

She’s being very independent these days, doesn’t want a lot of help from us. Like the other day when I was upstairs with her and Rose and she went down the stairs all by herself. When I recovered from my instant heart-attack I realized that she made it down with no problems. I was grateful that we taught her the “sit & slide” method of getting down.

lost in Gabba Gabba Land

She loves to color with her crayons, assigning me different things to draw for her: clouds, “flowies”, “meow”, moon and sun. And recently she discovered the joys of sidewalk chalk. We busted out some PlayDoh the other day, but she  doesn’t quite get it yet. The containers are more interesting than the dough itself.

umm...I got nuthin.

Swimming lessons are going great. Her father says she’s becoming quite the mermaid (he claims she’s the next Dara Torres!) and loves being in the water. I am looking forward to taking her to the beach this year.

We’re preparing for some big changes as well. Lulu is finally going to get a roommate. We’re going to put both girls in the same room in the next month or so. That should be interesting. Both sleep pretty well, but lately they’ve both been waking up in the middle of the night and chatting, singing, etc. I guess they’ll be able to keep each other company!

And since she turns two next month (!!!) we’re beginning to think about making the move from the crib to a toddler bed, but we’ll let her get used to her new roommate first. I’d like to start potty training by the fall, but we’ll see how she’s doing at that point. I’m not going to rush her into that too soon.

Wow, my baby is turning into a little girl!!!

This is what happens you don’t pay explicit attention to a quiet (almost) 2 year old. Needless to say, she had to take a bath at Grammy’s house before we went home…

She’s definitely my kid…

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago when we had that one fluke of a hot day in April. I took the girls down to the park. We spread a blanket out on the grass, had a little lunch and soaked up the warm air and sunshine.

The girls had a check up at the doctor’s yesterday. Everyone was taking bets as to how big my sweet Rosie got! I would have lost had I placed some cash down…

Lulu 20 months

weight: 24.6 lbs
height: 35 inches

Lucille has grown another 2 inches and gained 3 lbs since her last check-up. She’s in the 97th percentile for height but only 33 percentile for weight. The doctor was pleased with her weight gain, despite the fact that she’s a beanpole. Lulu is still a finicky eater. She won’t touch meat and although she will try a bite of something new, she will almost immediately spit it out.

It feels like every day she picks up another word to say, which means her parents better keep their potty mouths in check around her. She has also become more comfortable in the pool for her swim lessons, which means less whining and more fun swimmy time.

Easter 2010

the first of many cookies that day

Rose 4 months, 3 weeks

weight: 18.8 lbs
height: 28 inches

Rose had an incredible growth spurt since her 2 month check-up! She falls in the 99th percentile for height and weight and weighs five pounds less than her big sister. The doctor stated the obvious in that Rose will probably grow to be larger than Lulu.

She cut her first teeth over the weekend. The past month she’s had her fist firmly planted in her piehole and she bit Forrest’s finger Easter morning and he said he felt them. Sure enough, there they were.

She’s also very close to rolling over. She gets about halfway over but can’t quite seal the deal without a little help. Oh, and there’s giggling! Lots of sweet little giggles (and sometimes squeals) when she finds something funny!

Rose's 1st Easter

don't you want to pinch her cheeks?

I’ve been getting the girls to interact more and more since Rose is getting bigger. I will have Lulu lie down next to Rose so they face each other. Rose will squeal and reach for Lulu. Lulu will touch Rosie’s hair and ears, honk her little nose and then try to poke her in the eye (it’s a work in progress). Sometimes I will have Rose lay on top of Lulu, which makes the older one giggle as she hugs her “baby.”

It’s all just too cute.

So sweet, my teeth ache!

Lulu is in full-on toddler mode these days. Interpret that however you’d like.

Every day she wakes up with a huge smile on her face. Her hair is getting longer so she always has crazy bed head!

She has been going through an all-about-Mommy-phase for the last month or so. She gets totally whiny if I leave the room and even if I’m just heading to the bathroom, I hear the patter of her little feet running after me. She’s only content with her father unless he’s flipping her around and hanging her upside down by one leg! She equates play time with him. When he comes home from work she waits with anticipation for him to come downstairs and then when he does…she runs and hides.

Easter fez

We signed her up for swim lessons about a month ago. She’s a little older than the other babies in the class, but we didn’t want her to skip the first step. The first few weeks the results were mixed but by the third week she’s starting to get how to kick her legs and blow bubbles in the water. She also just recently graduated to taking baths in the bathtub instead of the kitchen sink, so that may have contributed to success in the water.

"talking" on the iPhone

Sesame Street is big these days (especially Elmo, of course), but Yo Gabba Gabba is bigger. I love seeing the perma-grin on her face as she watches. And I’ll clarify that she only watches one episode of Sesame Street and one of YGG per day. I haven’t gotten desperate enough yet to play them all on repeat for an entire day, although I haven been tempted…

xmas in March

As far as talking goes, Lulu is still being pretty stingy. She understands a ton of things and is really smart. She’s just a quiet little thing. It’s not that she isn’t capable. Just the other night after we went out for St. Patty’s Day dinner, she dazzled Forrest and me when she said “french fry” clear as a bell. I think she just prefers being quiet, unless it’s that time of night that she’s possessed by the after dinner rush and she’s running around, half-naked with a stream of “Lulu-ese” coming out of her mouth!

bat hat's been making the rounds

She likes to draw, but prefers us to draw for her and gets frustrated if we don’t. She’s also learning how to go down the stairs using the sit-n-slide method, loves swinging on the swings and dances up a storm when her favorite songs are on.

raiding the utensil drawer

Her clothes are starting to get pretty short for her lately. I’m hoping to eek another month or two out of them so that we can raid the summer wardrobe with the warmer weather. She and Rose go in for a check-up next month. I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a party at the local tattoo shop. Rose pretty much slept in her seat the entire time, but Lulu had a blast for herself. She was so adorable that she charmed the pants off of everyone, pointing at various people yelling “tat-too!” She basically ran around the shop like she owned it.

chowing on a cracker

Forrest was busy taking pictures and luckily Amelia came with us for a little while to help watch Lulu and make sure she didn’t run away with a stranger. (Reminder: must look into Baby LoJack…) She is not very shy with people she doesn’t know these days.

Pretty Mellie!

all the kids playing with iPhones. She looks so little next to them!

I was relieved when she naturally migrated to the few kids that were in attendance. Despite the fact that they were much older than she is, they were very tolerant of her hanging all over them! She was up way past her bedtime and would have stayed all night if we let her.