You're Two Years Old!

Dear Lila,

Sometimes, you climb into my lap, lay back so that I have to cradle you and say, "Baby." It's your way of telling me that you want me to rock you like a little baby. And even though you are getting way too heavy to be rocked like that, I always oblige because you will always be my little baby girl. Of course, if we're going to get technical about it, you are no longer my little baby girl (*sniff*) because you are 2 years old now!

I absolutely love everything about you. You are growing into such an incredible person and I am so proud to be your mom. You are so happy and giggly. You are very sweet and affectionate and always giving me hugs and kisses. You are so curious and observant of the world around you and constantly point things out to me (a plane flying overhead, a squirrel climbing up a tree, a puppy across the street) when we are out. You are caring and compassionate--if GuhGaw or I get hurt, you run over, rub our injury and comfort us by saying, "K k k k k [it's okay, it's okay, it's okay]." You love to read. You can be shy and quiet but are starting to come out of your shell and be more social with other people. You love to sing and dance; your favorite songs right now are "Shake It Up" by Taylor Swift, "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor and "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" and "Let It Go" from the Frozen soundtrack. Your face lights up and you enthusiastically sing along and do your adorable bouncy dance every time you hear these songs.

And you are a serious child anomaly because you LOVE vegetables. Carrots, broccoli, squash--it's all good! At Thanksgiving dinner this year, you didn't eat much chicken or stuffing or potatoes but had *three* helpings of green beans and ate your brother's green beans when he didn't touch them. You actually rejected a piece of apple pie in favor of more green beans. We had noodles with sauteed spinach for lunch yesterday and when I tried to feed you the noodles, you shook your head and pointed at the spinach. And at dinner tonight, you ate eight stalks of broccoli! Amazing!

Another thing I love is that you are a total mama's girl. Forget about being "Daddy's little girl"--you are all about Mommy, often pushing Daddy, your nanny and other people away and insisting that I be the one who feed you, read to you or tuck you in at night (sometimes, you even insist that I be the one who take away your dirty dishes or throw your garbage out and it's like, really??). Obviously, it breaks Daddy's heart when you won't even let him sit with the two of us at the dinner table (that's way harsh, Tai) but I love how attached you are to me. I am your number one girl and you are mine :)

Happy birthday, Lilabear! I love you so much!

Love,
Mom

TV Addict

Dear Lila,

Your vocabulary has exploded this month! Your repertoire of words now includes: cup, glove, car, duck, dog, mine, Airee (Ariel, the little mermaid), yep, okay, kiss, gate, happy, sad, mad, phone, the numbers 1-10, dark, ow, ew, sar (sorry), bear, Elmo, food, snack, fan fan (Chinese for rice), peen peen (Chinese for diaper), bat, frog, Buh Guh (Bubble Guppies), pop (lollipop), stop, backpack, couch, cake, fish, grape, bird, wa wa (water), bo (boat), boon (balloon) and--whenever you see Santa--ho ho ho!

Oh, and one of your absolute favorite words is "TV." I don't let you watch much of it and you often ask me to turn it on by looking up at me with your big brown eyes, smiling your irresistible smile and nodding while you say in a high-pitched voice, "TV? Yeah? TV?" You always look so cute and sweet that it's hard to say no! And if I do turn on the television and you're in another room, you come running while cheering, "Yay! TV! Yay! TV!" Haha!

Love,
Mom

Soccer Star

Dear Lila,

Happy early birthday! We celebrated your upcoming 0-2 with a Bubble Guppies-themed party at Soccer Friends today and you had so much fun! It was your first time playing soccer and you did such a great job listening to the soccer coaches and following their instructions. And I loved seeing how much you enjoyed kicking the balls around and into the goal. You were a natural! 

Love,

Mom

Lila Funnies

Dear Lila,

Funny things you did this week:

-After you pooped in your diaper, you pinched your nose and said, "Chow chow" (Chinese for smelly).

-When GuhGaw was misbehaving, you took it upon yourself to scold him, wagging your finger at him and repeatedly saying, "Yi yi! Yi yi!"

-You were trying to pull off your sock but it was stuck since your foot was bent. You pulled so hard that your whole body started to quiver and you yelped, "Help!" (first time you said "help").

-You were playing in the dining room and I went into the foyer to get something. When you realized I wasn't in the dining room with you anymore, you thought I'd gone upstairs and jetted to the stairs shouting, "Wait wait wait wait wait!" (first time you said "wait"). When I called out to you from the foyer, you turned around, saw me and smiled a big cheesy smile that was like, "Oh, haha! I thought you were upstairs!"

-You liked the vegetable and pasta soup I made for dinner last night so much that when you were almost done eating it, you picked up the bowl, stuck your whole face in it and noisily slurped up the rest of the soup.

-You were playing in Connor's room while I was giving your brother a shower last night. When we came into the room, you had put Connor's stuffed lion on the changing pad, pulled out a dozen baby wipes from the box and "cleaned" the lion's butt with them.

Ha!

Love,
Mom

Mini Fashionista

Dear Lila,

You have learned to say a lot of words lately! Your newest ones are mine, kiss, good, bad, yi yi (Chinese for bad), bed, hot, cold, box, gen (again), pear, blue, purple and done (whenever you finish your food, you hold up your empty plate or bowl and exclaim, "Done!").

You are also becoming quite the girly girl. You love shoes, putting on jewelry and wearing dresses and skirts (sometimes, I catch you twirling and admiring your outfits in the reflection of the oven door, too funny!). And tonight, you actually refused to wear GuhGaw's hand-me-down firetruck pajamas. When I took them out of your dresser and tried to put them on you, you pushed them away and wailed, "Noooooooo!" I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I asked, "Do you not want them because they're GuhGaw's boy pajamas?" "Yeah," you woefully replied. "Do you want to wear girl pajamas?" I asked. "Yeah," you said. I took a pair of pink and blue ice cream cone pjs out of your dresser and your face lit up. Almost two years old and already so opinionated about what you wear!

This outfit was Lila-approved!

Love,
Mom

Bedtime Battle

Dear Lila,

It's funny how you and your brother have had completely opposite reactions to all of the different milestones in your life. GuhGaw was a picky eater when he started eating solid foods; took his first steps and was practically running by the next day; and freaked out the first few times I gave him a shower. You, in contrast, have always eaten almost anything I feed you, took your first steps but didn't become a confident walker until months later and didn't even blink an eye when you took your first shower.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you and your brother reacted differently to switching to a toddler bed. When Daddy converted Connor's crib into a bed, we thought he would spend the first night constantly hopping out of it and refusing to go to sleep. He surprised us and stayed in bed the whole night. And ever since, once Connor gets into bed, he almost always stays in bed (that doesn't mean he always falls asleep right away, though--sometimes he spends hours constantly calling out for me to fix his blanket, bring him some water, fix his blanket again, give him a pair of socks and oh my god, fix his blanket again).

You have done what we thought Connor was going to do. We converted your crib into a bed 10 days ago (you are so big now that it's a struggle for me to lift you up high enough to put you into the crib!) and it has not been a smooth transition. You stayed in bed the first night (you were still in awe of the novelty of it, I suppose) but every night since then has been a battle to get you to a) get into bed and b) stay there. I used to be able to put you in your crib, say good night, leave your room and let you fall asleep on your own. Now I have to corral you into bed and sit next to your bed until you fall asleep; otherwise, you keep climbing out of bed and coming out of your room to find me (and now that you've learned how to open your safety gate, it is completely useless). And even when you fall asleep in your bed, it doesn't mean you stay there. When Daddy woke up this morning, he found you asleep on the floor next to your gate. Oye.

Love,
Mom

Jailbreak

Dear Lila,

Things you did today:

-Said the word "apple" for the first time

-At the end of a phone conversation with PoiPoi, waved at the phone, said, "bye," hugged the phone and gave it a high five (your nanny always gives you a high five when she says bye to you at the end of the day and you've started doing this, too)

-Were playing *inside* your room when I went into the shower and were playing *outside* of your room when I came out of the shower

So you can open the (supposedly) childproof safety gate for your room now. GuhGaw managed to do it for the first time last month and you are almost as big as he is, so when you put all of your weight on the foot pedal, you are strong enough to push it open. You actually first figured out that you could do this last night and today, you kept practicing and managed to open your gate three times. Crap. There go my long, leisurely showers while you safely play in your room!

Love,
Mom