2 Years Old!

These past two years have been the best of our lives. You have brought us so much laughter and joy and it is hard to imagine a world without you. Who can remember when you were just a baby? Your strong sense of self and independence has only become more defined as you have grown. You love to do things your way and by yourself, which includes everything from peeling an orange to putting on your "pull-ups" and your jammies. "No momma, Laurelea," is a phrase we are hearing with a creeping frequency these days, but it is ever so endearing.

We are constantly amazed at your vocabulary, and have been really cracking us up lately, whether it is when you talk about being in the "kenchie" with mommy and daddy cooking or it is that the bath is just too "spicy" for your little bummy.  Your ability to speak Spanish is pretty impressive and we sometimes have to put on our thinking caps when we know you are trying to tell us something in Spanish. 

You are one of the most considerate little kids we have met. You have very good manners, often remember yourself to say thank you and please, and have recently started saying, "excuse me" at appropriate times.  Oh, and your best thought of the month was when you suggested to us, after burping, that it was a "Laurelea toot-mouth!"  You were so excited to learn the word, "burp," but "toot-mouth" is gonna stick with us for awhile!  :)

You always wake up happy, albeit sometimes you're slower to warm to the world than others.  Those mornings are a real treat, because they mean we get a cuddly little Laurelea in our arms for a few precious minutes before you are off and running.  We still know exactly when you are tired -- your fuse is very short and you cry at the drop of a hat.  Your hunger cues are very similar.  And don't think we are really complaining too much; these cues are just your wonderful little way of communicating to us and they make our life easier to live.  

Laurelea, we love you, and are so relieved to be freed from describing your age in months!  You are TWO, and that is the end of that!  

Thanks Grammy for my special birthday shirt!

We got her a sled for her birthday. So we took it for a spin right after she got up and had her pictures with Woody!

Just as we were playing with her new sled, it started to snow. So we bundled up and headed outside. 

someone loved her birthday gift of both the new sled and snow!