Manipulation

Scarlett has become quite the picky eater. Sometimes she'll eat a lot, and sometimes she'll eat nothing. I don't worry about this at all for some reason; I  know she'll eat when she's hungry. I do, however, try to find creative ways to get her to eat. Using toothpicks instead of forks has been working lately. She loves "stabbing" the food and eating it off the toothpick.

Breakfast is usually the meal where she eats the least, but not on this day!

Then at dinner she got a kick out of seeing how many peas we could get on the toothpick, then she ate them all!

Sometimes it just takes a little manipulation to get a toddler's tummy full!

2 Years Old

Scarlett
     sleeps in her crib
     eats her vegetables
     sings several songs from memory
     lets me paint her toenails
     has never had a haircut
     insists on doing things by herself 
     enjoys "cooking" in her kitchen and "setting" her table 
     says, "Ta Da!" when she shows me something she did
     gives lots of hugs and kisses
     identifies most letters and single digit numbers
     loves scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, pickles, chocolate and popsicles
     weighs 29 pounds
     sleeps with a slew of stuffed animals in her bed
     is day-time potty trained
     talks on the phone
     loves Curious George & Caillou
     would choose a potato chip over a cookie
     has a large vocabulary 
     persists until she (usually) gets her way
     tells Daddy, "Be careful!" when he leaves for work
     used the word "patient" the other day
     peels the paper off of crayons
     talks from the instant she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep
     hates having her face washed
     goes to bed at 7:30
     pulls her kitties' tales
     is seriously fearful of going to the doctor 
     loves to get "cozy"
     takes a nap after lunch
     pulls out her hair bows any chance she gets 
     cries when I leave her a church
     does not cry when I leave her with my sister
     says, "walkie, walkie" instead of just walk
     loves, coloring, play-dough, animals, cars, and her "little people"

Scarlett is two now and so full of energy, curiosity, life, and love.
What an amazing little girl! We love you sweet Scarlett.

A is for apple!

Scarlett didn't want the little apple slices I was cutting for her the other day and kept pointing to the whole thing. She loves saying "Apple!" So I gave in and just let her have at it. She worked on that thing for a good twenty minutes...and cried and cried when I finally took it away. Everything is drama these days! But is was pretty fun watching my baby eat her first whole apple all by herself! Wasn't it just the other day when she could barely chew a banana???

Lately...

Over the past couple of weeks Scarlett has been:

Demanding to feed herself...


Increasing her vocabulary...
Scarlett says phrases now like, "I see you!" and "Where are you?" and "Oh, look at that!" Everything lately is "Mommy" this or "Mommy" that. She also enjoys telling her kitties (and for that matter, me) "No, No!" My favorite right now is the way she says, "thank you" every time you hand her something or when she hands you something!

Enjoying computer games like this...


Playing dress-up with anything she can get her hands on...


And I mean anything...



Enjoying the park...


Gobbling up fresh chocolate chip cookies...


Counting...
When counting to ten, Scarlett does a pretty good job! I have witnesses! If you say "One" she says "Two" and so on. She especially enjoys saying "Six" and "Eight". "Seven" is cutest because it sounds more like "Sewen"!

Wearing random pj combinations that only a father could pick out...


And babbling....
When Scarlett isn't saying her words, she babbles. It's pretty much non stop all day at this point. I like to call it her Swahili! Here's the best clip I could capture. Of course, she never likes to do anything for the camera.

Into EVERYTHING

We cannot take our eyes off of Scarlett for a second these days. After a very scary broken vase incident when daddy was on duty, (yes, I'm throwing him under the bus) we're in full baby proof mode right now. We've covered plugs, replaced the coffee table, and put breakables and cleaning products out of reach. She's sneaky though and will try her hardest to get to things she wants, like the fireplace...no matter what I put in front of it, she still gets to it!

Any object is fair game for her to pull up on
which can also be quite hazardous!

She loves to open and close, open and close, open and close,(get my point!?) the cabinets. I'm going to use baby locks on most but leave some safe ones for her to play with because she loves it that much!

Anything good in here?

We can be sure she will go for anything that's not an actual toy: remotes, cordless phones, cords of all kinds, important paperwork, full coffee cups, kitty fur...the list goes on...

Daddy's work badge looks fun, I've also got the calculator too!

Food is more fun than ever now too! (for her at least) Here she is after a dinner of baby spaghetti, peas and prunes.

Ahhh....finally playing with something that's allowed.
Safe and sound at last.

Cereal Time!

Last Sunday we gave Scarlett her first taste of rice cereal. I think she did pretty good! The video is a bit of an optical illusion…you can hear me talking, but you see Chris's arm feeding her. So just know my arms aren't that hairy. Oh, and the mommy voice is back…consider yourself warned!