Fantastic b-day party

We celebrated Victoria turning 2 on Saturday afternoon. The party was phenomenal from my perspective. Tony BBQ'd chicken and hot dogs, I made potato salad, and we bought a tuxedo Dora birthday cake. All of it was delicious and Victoria even ate her chicken! Shocking since the kid rarely eats meat! We had 5 little girls over to the house of various ages and I am happy to say that they all played really nicely with one another. Victoria shared her toys and was really just such an awesome kid that day......and she didn't even take a nap before her party! Crazy. All in all, it was a great time and I couldn't be happier to have a 2 year old. One of her favorite gifts that she got was a red wagon from her babysitter Dominique...

She's Two!!!!!

So, we sang her happy birthday this morning while Tony climbed into her bed. She was less than thrilled about that, how dare he take up space in HER bed! LOL. She told Tony on Tuesday that "On my birthday, I'm gonna be 2!" So excited that she is so verbal, it makes things run a lot smoother in our household. Except she does this strange reverting thing every once in a while where she talks like a baby or grunts and whines for things. Needless to say we are working on that because neither Tony nor I tolerate that very well! Other than that, we have oodles of gifts in FedEx, UPS, birthday wrap and Christmas wrap lying all over our house! Thank you all of you for the tons of gifts! I guess this is what happens when you have a kid born around Christmas time!

The Slide

Victoria has proven herself to be quite the adventursome almost-two-year-old:

Sister Love

The CUTEST thing this week:
Victoria is a pro at "pointing out where her baby sister is." This wouldn't be so alarming if she didn't feel the need to remove whatever clothing is covering her baby sister in my belly to show others where she is. Imagine not only showing my bare belly which isn't horribly offensive....but now imagine that i'm wearing a dress! HA! Anyhoo....that's not the cutest thing, the cutest thing is what she did last night. I'm laying in bed and playing the "where's your sister game" with Vic. She then decides that she wants to hug and kiss her sister -- too cute, but she's done this before fairly regularly. The kicker is when she decides to zurburt my belly. Of course I begin uncontrolable laughter which eggs her on even more. For literally about 15 minutes, Victoria is zurburting my belly while all of us laugh hysterically and of course a good amount of gooey spit is dripping off my belly. I'm wondering what Alexandria was thinking? She was moving around a lot while Vic was doing this. Perhaps these are the first signs of sisterly love. Awwww......tear in mama's eye!

Deeeee-lightful!

I have no explanation for this phenomena, but Victoria has become the most deeeee-lightful child! I will of course provide some examples so you can share in the delightfulness of my toddler. Who said the twos were terrible?

1. Happy, happy, happy every morning. It is just sheer and utter joy that oozes out of her when I wake her up from slumber. She lets me change her diaper without fighting; she lets me brush her teeth -- and in fact will brush her own after i'm finished....oh and brushes her teddy bear pinky's teeth as well; she lets me comb and style her hair while chattering away and sometimes singing; she thanks me for everything I do for her (styling her hair, putting her socks on, giving her milk....etc...), she follows me around and talks to me in her adorable voice, she never fusses about going to daycare and happily allows me to turn off the tv so she can get into her car seat and go there. (this is a night and day difference from about 2 months ago)

2. She plays so well with other kids! We take her to the playground and the mall play areas regularly. She has just blossomed and become quite the social butterfly. She isn't fearful of bigger kids nor crowds and will just push her way through to get what she wants. She delicately balances that with politeness for other children and encourages other kids to try new things and take turns!

3. I haven't seen a tantrum in months! We rarely have to tell her "no" anymore.....she understands the ground rules in the house and abides by them pretty darn consistently!

4. Last but not least, she is such a little tomboy. I cherish this because I know that I was forced into tomboyhood via three bratty little boys (BG, Zeke & Garrett :)). I am now convinced that perhaps it was genetic code, not the bratty boys that caused this. Seeing Victoria's fearlessness and athleticism makes me wonder if it is nature, not nurture, that causes this! I have to say that though most parents stress out because of this fearlessness....I find comfort in knowing that I have a strong-headed and strong-willed little girl that will NOT backdown. That's my girl!!!! And the funniest part about it is that she does all of this while decked out in pink with ribbons in her hair!

Big Girl Room!

Alas, we have finally put together Vic's big kid room. Complete with an easel for coloring, a table for whatever, storage bins for dumping all the toys out of and a toddler bed. I am happy to announce that not only did Victoria act like we gave her a vat of Mountain Dew when the room was unveiled, she also slept the entire night in her new bed. Wow. If that's not something to be proud of. Honestly, nothing could make me happier.....I'm already nervous enough about being a mama of two, this is just one worry to check off the list. Transfer from crib to bed -- CHECK!

Ban on pants

Victoria has worn a dress every day this week. This is not by my choice, as I typically choose to put her in something rough and rugged for daycare playing. Beginning Monday, while dressing Victoria, I discovered that she didn't want me to put anything on her legs. I tried a skirt and i tried shorts, but both tries, Vic kicked them off. So I tried a dress. It worked! I am a little worried that this now begins her attempt to have a fashion opinion every morning.