Elliott turns 2

Why? Why do kids have to grow up so fast? It's killing me that Josh and I already have a 2 year old on our hands. I love seeing Elliott develop and grow and learn new things, but it could just slow down a bit. 

Saturday, the 30th was Elliott's official birthday. Her party isn't until the following weekend, so we didn't do too much on her actual day, but I still wanted to make it special for her. 

After she went to bed, I snuck in and took a couple pictures of her sleeping. I just couldn't believe that it was my last night putting my 1 year old to bed. She is such a peaceful little sleeper.

Then, when Josh got home from work, we blew up some balloons and stuck them in her crib. We had a couple close calls while we were putting them in (she sat up and started saying "balloons!") but we were able to coax her back to sleep, luckily. So on Saturday morning she woke up to a crib and room full of balloons. She loved it. And I loved hearing her, first thing, saying, "bayoons, bayoons!" It was seriously adorable. I snuck into her room and took a bunch of pictures of her with her balloons before we started our day. 

Josh didn't have to be at work early that morning, so we got to open a couple of gifts with her before he left. We opened mostly clothes and some books from her Uncle Joe and Aunt Karen's family. She loves the books! They are all about getting a new baby. Perfect. We are saving the rest for her party. 

I made her pancakes for breakfast. Nothing fancy, just plain pancakes, but she still talks about them. That will tell you how often I make pancakes. Ha. We're an oatmeal/yogurt/cereal family. She loved them. 

Working on holding up 2 fingers.

We spent the rest of the morning doing whatever she wanted. I really tried to focus my whole day on her and not get caught up in the things I usually do. We colored, read so, so many books, played kitchen/cooking, etc. We just did whatever she wanted. We made messes and didn't clean them up, it was great. Before lunch, I wanted to get some pictures of her outside (one for our birthday tradition) but also a bunch just for fun. :) Then we ate lunch and she took a nap while I worked on things for her birthday party. 

She is getting so big!

Waving bye to dad!

I really wanted to do something fun, outside of the house on her birthday, but we're pretty limited without a car. But, we did have the stroller, so we decided, after nap time, to walk to the park that is just a few blocks away. I texted Valerie and invited her and Jack and Teddy. Luckily, they were able to come! I know that made it a lot more fun for Elliott. We brought a blanket and a bunch of snacks and just played on the toys and let the kiddos run around. Elliott loved every minute of it and threw quite the fit when it was time to leave. But, we were able to get home and FaceTime with both my mom and Josh's family, which was wonderful. Elliott is so loved. Then we made dinner and got ready for bed. 

She looks so grown up!

These two are too much!

It was a good bath.

Happy, happy birthday Elliott. We love you so much. You are our everything. We love seeing you grow and develop. You are stinking smart and such a beautiful little girl. You make us so happy. 

At 2 Elliott:

• can almost count to ten. (she leaves out 4 and 9)
• recognizes 9 letters and can say their names.
• loves to sing songs. she is constantly humming some kind of tune to herself.
• sleeps about 13 hours a night and naps for 2 hours.
• loves to jump off of things (the couch, chairs, books...you name it)
• is obsessed with reading (as she always has been)
• loves to color and is starting to color specific objects rather than just scribbles
• talks constantly. she is now using 4-5 word sentences quite frequently.
• loves her daddy and loves to be thrown around and rough housed with.
• is 28 pounds and 35 inches tall (both right around the 75th percentile).