Eleanor at 2 Years Old

Our little babes turned 2 and we are still in denial about it.  All the signs are there though--she's independent, opinionated, passionate and talkative. I was getting her dressed one morning recently and she insisted on wearing this pink furry vest and hot pink sun hat.  She then proceeded to stomp around our front yard (while holding baby), pausing here and there to ask for a picture to be taken of her. Hence all the pictures above.  I was dying.

At 2 years old, Eleanor...

-sleeps with a pillow and stays perfectly still through her whole sleep.  Remember when I posted about her crazy sleeping positions back here?

-is car sick prone (very sad for Eleanor and parents alike)

-loves avocados, breakfast egg sandwiches, oatmeal, apples, bananas, berries, pizza, mac and cheese, milk, smoothies, etc.  I gave in to a lot of the typical toddler food due to pregnancy exhaustion and she hasn't complained.

-sings the ABC's, Old McDonald and the Wheels on the Bus to herself.  She also jumps on her bed while saying, "No more monkey's jumping on the bed" and then she falls over like the monkeys do in the song.

-calls her pacifier her "peeko" (she somehow morphed that from "peek-a-boo") and loves it oh so much.  We limit it (mostly) to when she's sleeping.  She's gets sneaky though and requests her peeko to give to her baby doll but then puts it in her own mouth when we turn our backs.

-is preparing to be a big sister.  She carries her baby doll everywhere and gives her baby blankies.  She puts her down for naps, changes her diaper, reads her books, makes her fold her arms for nighttime prayers, etc. Just the other day she asked to kiss my belly so I think she is getting that there's a baby in there.

-loves to dance with her dad

-loves mini rocking chairs and playing with anything she can push around

-enjoys a cup of milk every morning

-wants to always help in the kitchen.  She drags a kitchen chair up to the counter so she can stand on it and be my assistant.  She loves to say, "Elnor's helping!"

-can name all family members and prays for them.  She folds her arms and enthusiastically says "Amen!" at the end.

-still sleeps from 7 pm to 7:30 am (if not longer) and then takes one nap at 11 am that is anywhere from one to two hours long.

-loves paints and stickers.  I buy sticker books at the dollar store and they keep her preoccupied through an entire sacrament meeting.  I'm amazed at how well she is with matching the stickers to the appropriate shapes on the page.

-strongly dislikes getting her hands dirty.  After every meal she holds them up in a slight panic and says, "Wash!  Sticky!"

-counts to ten but regularly leaves out 3 and 4.

-loves her friends.  If I want her to get in the car quickly, I just have to say, "Do you want to go to Clara's house?" or "Let's go see London!" and she runs to the car.  She walks into nursery and doesn't look back.  It's the greatest.

-requests to sit on the toilet.  We aren't quite ready to start potty training her yet but love that she is aware of the toilet.  We bought her a little seat that goes on the toilet and she calls it her bumbo.

I could go on and on but that's just a good glimpse of what Eleanor's up to these days.  She's my little buddy and I couldn't image life without her.  I love that when she's leaving the room, she stops and looks at me and says, "Coming?"  We spend most of our days side by side and it's pretty great.  We love her dearly.