Rosie turned 2 in November. We had a very nice party at Grammy & Grampy K’s house. The weather was gorgeous and warm, so the kids got to spend a good chunk of the day playing outside.

A week after her birthday she had her two year check-up. Over the summer Rose shot up in height and slimmed out a lot. Her stats were:

height: 36″
weight: 27.8 lbs

Ever since then it’s like the development floodgates opened up WIDE! Her speech and vocabulary has improved in leaps and bounds. She picks things up really fast (probably because she has a big sister) and she’s talking in full sentences now for the most part. She knows her alphabet, can count on her own up to about 15 and knows her shapes. We’re working on her colors. She is a great little artist, holding her pen or crayon the “right” way and drawing very intricate faces (complete with ears and hats) and lots of circles.

Rose’s personality is very different from Lulu’s. They’re both sweet and really funny. Both have really huge personalities, but Rosie has an unbelievable temper (must be the Italian side coming through). She’s not quite as easy going as her sister, which can make outing a little hairy.

Some of my favorite things about Rose:

• I love how she dances! She’s got great moves.
• When she runs after her father yelling, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” It’s too cute.
• When she looks at me and says “hi Mumma” waving her arm stiffly.
• Lately she won’t go anywhere without her blanket (the black & white striped one that I made). There’s a corner on it that has a long piece of yarn hanging off and she will turn the blanket all around to find that one piece, just so she can tickle her nose with it.
• She’s super snuggly.
• Her big brown eyes and long eyelashes.
• Her big belly! She’s a skinny little thing now but when you take her clothes off she has this BIG baby belly. It’s awesome.
• Her awesome laugh.

We’ve recently stopped using her high chair. Because her sister sits on a stool in the kitchen, she decided she wanted to as well. So far, so good. She hasn’t fallen off yet. And the potty has once again taken up residence in the bathroom. She’s been sitting on it and whenever someone goes near the bathroom she announces that she’s going to go pee, but she hasn’t used it yet.

It also seems like we’ll be moving her into a bed soon. Over the past couple of weeks we can’t seem to keep her sister out of her crib and in the mornings I’ll find both of them in there. It’s cute because I will hear them giggling and tickling each other. When it’s quiet for a few moments I’ll hear Rose say, “hi Lulu.” I know that it’s typical for girls to do this when they share a room, but it’s not so cute when they are squealing at 3am.

Lulu has been going through some growing pains but I think we’re nearing the tail end of any more major problems. Since she turned 3 there has been a lot of conflict and temper tantrums as she tries to exert independence and figure things out for herself. She can be insufferably defiant at times, but mostly she is a sweet little thing. Life is all about Daddy these days as well. She cannot wait for him to come home from work every day and on the weekends if he tries to sleep in she will climb into bed and usually poke at him until he gets up.

She’s gone through a big growth spurt and all of a sudden is super tall! Actually, that’s true for both girls. I have to go through their clothes again because some of them are too small.

School has done wonders for her. She’s become more outgoing and talkative, more social. Now that she is comfortable there she looks forward to going and doesn’t hesitate to see me leave anymore.She is a sponge and loves to learn new things. Lately we’ve been learning how to write the alphabet and she’s begun writing letters on her own, easy ones like “A”, “T”, “H”, “M”. She also sounds out the first letter of words and figures out what letter that word begins with. Not bad for a 3 yr. old, I dare say.

Both girls are still taking swim lessons and doing great. Lulu went up a level and Rose will most likely go up a level in the Spring. They also both love to draw and color. We have the dining room table permanent set up with coloring books, crayons, paper and markers. It’s a frequent go-to area throughout the day.

I will try to be better about updating from now on. I think I just got out of the habit for a while.

So here’s what we’ve been up to the past few months, in picture form (not necessarily in chronological order)! We went to see Yo Gabba Gabba live with Aunties Chrissy & Sara, had a beach day in October, fun in the fall, Halloween, Rosie’s 2nd birthday and Christmas!

I was upstairs (of course) so when I came down we made a HUGE happy deal about it. I made her show me the potty and we did a happy dance, praising her the entire time. She was very proud of herself.

Today she’s going without pants again and sure enough she told me when she had to go. We ran to the bathroom and she used the potty. More happy dancing, more praise and hugs. She asked to wear underwear so I just put some on her. We’ll see how she does while wearing them.

Miss Rose went in for a check up today and she cried pretty much the entire time she was there! She was ok until the nurse put her on the scale and the minute I let go of her she started screaming. I couldn’t believe it. She quieted down after the nurse left, but as soon as her doctor came in, hysterical crying.

Since her last appointment, Rose’s weight stayed the same but she grew 2 inches. That means she’s above 95th percentile for height and she’s in the 50-75th for weight. I knew she had slimmed out quite a bit and I told the doctor that she was eating just fine. Some days she doesn’t eat a whole lot when her teeth are bothering her.

She was pretty pudgy at her last appointment, so I wasn’t concerned about her not gaining weight. But, we have a weight check in a month to make sure that it’s her body getting into proper proportions and not something else. I know deep down she’s perfectly healthy, but the dumb doctor put a little bit of doubt in my head. I hate that.

She is still refusing to walk, she pulls her knees right up when we try to walk with her. But we’ve been persistent with our attempts and she is co-operating more than she had. I always see her standing on her own when she isn’t thinking about it and she does try to take a step on her own from time to time. We predict she’ll be walking very, very soon.

Oh and she added a new word to her vocabulary today: cheese!

Walking through the various classrooms we saw all the things you hope to see in such places: clean rooms, happy (yet very busy) kids and controlled chaos. We learned about the curriculum and all the activities available and we just knew that this was the place that we wanted to send Lulu. As soon as we got home I filled out the registration form to enroll her in two half days beginning in the fall.

My lil lady's growing up so fast

Sure, it’s not as convenient as some of the preschools in Salem, i.e. not in walking distance, but we want what’s best for her (and eventually Rose) and we really liked what we saw. I’m sure next winter I will probably be cursing that decision when the weather is bad, but I wouldn’t be me if I weren’t disgruntled for some reason or another.

I also look forward to taking advantage of that YMCA for myself as well. I can already picture the days that Lulu goes to school: we’ll drop her off to class, I’ll drop Rosie off at the baby sitting room while I go get a work-out in at the gym and then she and I will spend some quality time together before picking Lulu back up from school. Maybe I’m romanticizing things a little, but after this horrible winter I can’t help but to look forward to a new routine for next year.

Rose had her one year checkup last Monday. Since her last appointment she has grown 1.25″ and gained 1.25 lbs! That puts her in the 95th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight. Compared to Lulu at this age, Rose is 1.25″ taller and 5.25 lbs heavier.

1 yr. old!

As soon as she had her birthday we ditched the bottles and formula. After the fiasco of trying to switch Lulu over to whole milk (she had to drink soy milk for a while and then we built up a tolerance to regular milk), I started mixing whole milk in with her formula a month before her birthday. By the time she was 12 months she was pretty much entirely drinking real milk and at the same time I started cutting out the bottles. When I cut out the last bottle of the day she seemed to miss that a bit.

smiley

And for the past 2 months or so she has been getting her molars in, meaning lots of middle of the night visits. She almost always goes back to bed 5-10 minutes after I get her, but still, I’ll look forward to sleeping full nights again. At least Lulu sleeps right through it.

hi mumma

Rosie eats pretty much anything that I put in front of her. It’s a nice change to have a kid that actually eats without a battle. She is still cruising and standing up while holding on to things but she hasn’t tried to do much walking on her own. She gets a bit lazy when I hold her hands and get her to walk around. She’ll take a few steps and then plop down so she can crawl to her destination.

birthday girl

And she is saying a few words, “mama”, “dada”, “hi” (with accompanying wave) and she says something that sounds like “hi kitty.” She and Lulu are occasionally playing together, but it’s more like Rosie grabs something that her sister wants (a lot of times just to be playful) and then a lot of whining occurs. She does think that Lulu is a riot sometimes and Lulu is a really nice older sister (for now).

This past year flew by in a wink. I love to watch Rose grow and learn and become a little more independent, but I sometimes miss that sweet lil lump that she used to be!

lil cutie

Happy Birthday Rosie!

Sorry about the lack of updates, but this lil sweetie pie has been keeping me up at night for the past month while her molars came in.

We had her birthday party on Sunday. Thank you to our wonderful family and friends for being so incredibly caring and giving. Both my girls are lucky to be so loved.

But yesterday was Rose’s 9 month check-up at the doctor’s and I figured an update would be a good way to reboot.

Rose, 9 month checkup

age: 9 months, 2 weeks
height: 30.75
weight: 22.75

Rose is continuing to grow like a weed. She’s above 95th percentile for height and between 90-95th for weight.

always smiling!

She is essentially mobile these days. While she’s not doing a traditional crawl on her hands and knees she sort of scoots military style on her elbows, pushing off with one foot. Sitting up isn’t even a challenge for her at this point and she is beginning to pull herself up to stand on some things. We have found her standing up in her Pack-n-Play on many occasions. Problem is that she can get up but can’t figure out how to get down again. One thing is for sure, she is definitely more aggressive in developing her skills than her sister was.

She is also becoming a very stubborn strong-willed little girl. She refuses to eat baby food off the spoon these days and isn’t partial to trying too many new foods. She likes her crackers, rice puffs and Cheerios just fine, thank you very much. The doctor told me to be tenacious about giving her different foods to eat and I’ve also been adding some cereal to her bottles just to fill her up. I hope she turns around because I don’t think I can deal with another picky eater.

The past few nights she has been sleeping great, so we’re hoping this trend continues so that I don’t have a nervous breakdown!

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!

Rosie gained almost 2 lbs and and inch & a quarter since her last check-up. The doctor sort of chuckled at her progress. She’s a big girl! Growing wonderfully, no concerns.

When we started solid foods she sort of struggled a little but now she eats really well. She sleeps so much better at night, too. It’s almost time to put her in the same room with Lulu, they both are almost on the same schedule. And we’ll get our room back!

She isn’t sitting up quite yet but she’s certainly rolling over. In fact she’s using rolling as a means to get from one place to another. It’s quite funny to watch.