The "Minnesota" Anderson's: Terribly Terrific Two's!

Little Miss Addalyn turned 2 earlier this month! I can't believe that she is already 2, and I actually was pretty sad about it! To me, 2 means she's officially not a baby, which of course she isn't, even though she will always be my sweet baby!

Addalyn is full of life! She has so many interests that I want to make sure to document. She LOVES Dora and Barney. She loves to color, play outside with chalk and bubbles, sing, and dance, play with her kitchen, read books, do puzzles, help in the kitchen, play with Blake and so much more.

She has a long list of vocabulary words and speaks in small sentences. She knows her A, B, C's and several other songs. Barney really peaks her interest because of all the songs they sing. She'll randomly sing songs from there when we aren't watching and sometimes the only thing you can pick up on is the tune...not the words!

She knows her colors, however I'm not really sure how we taught them! Other than saying things like "your plate is pink" or things of the like, we didn't do anything else...but she picked up on them. She also counts to 10...this she definitely got from the Barney Numbers video! They play hide and seek in it and she loves to count to 10 and say "ready or not, here I come"...but then she doesn't come find you. She goes and hides herself, and eventually runs out yelling "Barney" and then you have to pretend she found you! So fun...you get to play with her but go about whatever you are doing at the same time, LOL!

Addalyn LOVES her "Blaker" as she calls Blake. She says good morning to him every day, giggles at him, tickles him, tells him to say things, and just this morning she was saying "Go Go Go Blaker, like a doggy!!" in which she was trying to show him and encourage him to crawl. Way too cute for words. I never get my video camera out until the moment is over, but I hope to document her love for him soon!

She's starting to do the Imaginative Play where she is a mommy, or cooking us food, or acting things out like being a doggy. This is so fun! Her bear is typically the baby. She'll spend a long time playing mommy and telling us all that she is doing. Like: "bears hungry...tired...crying...need a paci...taking a nap...going to go to the store (and then puts him in Blake's car seat)...going in the stroller...etc" and doing all the "mommy" things that go along with these descriptions.

The other day she had to take her purse and her baby doll to the store with us, and that is when it hit me...she's a little girl/toddler and not a baby. It is so sweet to watch her grow up, but I sure do want her to stay little. Those little toes and fingers and her sweet little words and giggle...they get me everytime! Ugh - this girl has so much to love!

She definitely has her own little attitude. She wants to do almost everything by herself and when she can't, she gets frustrated, and we have some crying times. It goes with the age, of course! She is still really good at going to time-outs, which is nice. She is sad when she has to do them, so she definitely knows it's a punishment - but she'll stay there and usually when it is time to take her off of them, she's calmed on her own within the minute or less that her timeouts currently last.

I can't really put into words how much this sweet girl means to me! I try all the time to think of the right descriptions, but I can't...I get super emotional and really do sound like a "cheesy mom". But, I guess that's what I am!! I've been meaning to write in her baby book a letter from me on a page reserved for it...but I have always struggled with being able to share how much my love for her is without sounding overly "cheesy!

I don't know if that even makes sense...but basically, as all of you parents know - Addalyn and her little brother mean the world to me, as their mommy. As soon as I get in my car after work and start driving to their house, I often find myself smiling and getting excited to see them and give them big hugs and kisses. They make the stresses of the day go all away. Of course, they also add to stresses sometimes when I have some tired kids or something...but I'd take those days ANY day of the week over anything!
Here are her 2 year stats:

Height: 34.8 inches (81st %)
Weight: 26.5 pounds (46th %)
Total BMI: 22nd %

I'll do her birthday party in another post - it deserves a post in itself! Here are some pictures of my little Addalyn in May and early June!

Loving that Sweet Bear of hers!

Feeding her "baby"

Let the Terrible Two's begin...our eyes were off of her for about 2 minutes and this is what she did! She didn't draw anywhere else, and it came off in one bath with no trace of red, thank goodness!