MYROYALS & HOLLYWOOD FASHİON

Monday, February 4, 2013

Getting ready for 2!

My Lily Kate turns 2 this Sunday, February 10th. I am seeing so many changes in her now as she morphs into a 2 year old. I have been having a great time teaching her letters this week, she is soaking them right up. It is gratifying to teach Lily new things and watch them stick. We're working on letters, numbers, and colors, but are having the most success with letters. Here's a summary of what Lily Kate has been up to as she turns 2:

Letters- The letters Lily knows now are A, B, D, E, I, M, O, P, R, and Y. Sometimes she gets other letters too like C, G, and T.

Numbers- Lily also knows the number 2 and will tell you she is turning two if asked. She also knows 9 most of the time and 5 on occasion. We do a number puzzle and I count for her daily, but Lily's interest in numbers is still not where I would like it to be. (I admit to pushing numbers and math skills a little more than I should...it's the math teacher in me!)

Colors- Lily can only say the color blue. And she identifies blue things as such, but also other colored items as blue. So who knows if she really gets it. :) I read Lily books about colors everyday and try to encourage her to sort blocks and other items by color, but Lily is not very interested. I've also tried using Lily's love of Sesame Street to teach colors saying things "Red like Elmo" or "Green like Oscar." Doesn't help. Oh well, Lily will pick up on colors soon enough I'm sure.

Vocabulary- Lily's vocabulary is expanding everyday. New words she's added are girl, boy, sky, and clock. She has also added "Ming Ming" to her list of characters she can say (from Wonder Pets). Lily is saying more phrases and simple sentences. When Lily is feeling whiny she generically whines, "I need, I need, I need." Her best sentence to date happened before Christmas at Dina Ivory when she said, "I can do the bubbles" clear as can be.

TV- I continue to be guilty of letting Lily watch more TV than she should. The shows she enjoys are Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse Club House, Wonder Pets, Pajanimals, Caliou, and Super Why. I also put on the s Brainy Baby Alphabet shows on On Demand. I'm sure she would like other shows too, these are just the only ones she has seen. Most of them are educational, but still, I really need to limit her TV time. Usually she plays with toys and just glances up at the TV here and there. But sometimes I get tired of cleaning up the living room for the 10th time that day and encourage Lily to watch Sesame Street in her high chair with a tray full of snacks or an art project so the house can stay clean for a moment. I've tried the "only play with one toy at a time and put it away when you're done approach" but it just doesn't work.

Interests- Slides and swings! Or as Lily says "Wides and wee wees" (She has always called swings "wee wees" because she says "Weeee" on them, lol). Lily hasnt quite mastered the "s" or "f" sounds, so she talks a lot about "wides" and "wies"...slides and fries. (I should have never introduced Lily to McDonald's french fries...she is hooked just like her mama!) Lily also loves playing outside, the play area at Gov Square Mall, going places in the car, eating, drinking milk and juice all day long, going to parks, walks in the stroller, feeding birds and ducks, being chased, being sung to- especially songs with hand motions, and books, books, and more books. Lily has learned that I love to read out loud, so we usually read at least 10 books a day- granted most of the books are super short. At night, Lily will keep bringing me books so now I just grab 5 and she sits in my lap and listens to every word. I LOVE this time so, so much.

Eating Habits- We are blessed with a very enthusiastic eater. In the mornings, Lily usually eats 6 mini pancakes, a whole banana, and a large bottle of milk. A few hours later, Lily goes into the pantry with one of her bowls and points to things she would like me to put in it. (I had to hide the fruit snacks because she has asking for these all the time!). For lunch, Lily usually eats a peanut butter sandwich, or bread, turkey and cheese. Sometimes she has a bowl of apple sauce if I have the energy to clean her up afterwards....or whatever fruit I have. Strawberries are her favorite. For dinner, Lily eats what we eat, often chicken, pizza, pasta, pot pie, etc. She really likes fish sticks, fried chicken, or anything else breaded or deep fried. Awesome.She does like plain chicken/pork chops too though, luckily. We havent given her unbreaded fish yet, but we'll try that this week to see if she'll eat it. Missing from her diet is veggies. She'll eat carrots, peas, lima beans, etc but I think if we give them to her with carbs and meat she loses interest. I need to get better about pushing the veggies. She'll eat any kind of pureed veggies if we spoon feed her or hand her the spoon, but I have put away my baby bullet and enjoyed the ease of feeding Lily table food. We tried giving her a sweet potato tonight and she wasnt interested. Brinley will be starting solids in a month, so I vow to prepare more veggies for Lily while I'm at it for the baby.

I love my little girl more than I could have ever imagined. She brings us so much joy and laughter and has been such a blessing and an answered prayer. Happy 2nd Birthday, Lily Kate!!!

Rocking the Soft Kitty shirts from Grandma Dawn (song from the show Big Bang Theory):