Julia Rose at 2 Years Old

Rose turned 2, oh, a month and a half ago, and I am just now getting around to blogging about it.  Oops.  But better late than never.

Rose is the feistiest two year old I know.  She has such a zest for life and a fun personality, She can (and does) throw an impressive tantrum when she isn't getting her way but by and large she reserves those for moments when she is overly tired.  Generally she is spunky and sweet.  She loves being tickled and chased, especially when she is in the buff after a bath or when getting dressed in the morning.  And she is so very smart.  She is good at puzzles and loves to be read to.  Rose will bring me book after book and sit for an hour just letting me read her stories.  Her favorites are "Beekle", "Going on a Bear Hunt" and "Where the Wild Things Are".  She doesn't have much patience for coloring but is getting better at it and she is adamant that everything is the color purple (it has to be because Clara tells us at least a couple times each day that purple is her favorite color and Rose has to be just like her big sister).   If you ask her how old she is she will proudly tell you that she is "TWO!".  She also loves naming every member of our family ("mommi, dad-di, rare-rah, and roh!).

We kept Rose's birthday celebration small again this year (second child problems) with just our little family but she had such a great day.  She woke up to her traditional birthday balloons, which Clara helped her gather up and bring out to the front room to enjoy.  After church we did cake to celebrate and Rose loved the candles so much that we just kept relighting them for her and singing to her over and over so she could blow them out again - probably a dozen times.  And she was thrilled.  It was the highlight of her day.  We had chocolate chocolate chip and white chocolate raspberry bundtlets from Nothing Bundt Cakes and it turns out that Rose definitely prefers the chocolate.

After cake, Rose got to open presents which included musical instruments from her sister and a new (to her) strider bicycle that was really just the one we bought for Clara when she was the same age except Paul sanded the purple paint off and refinished it in yellow (Rose's favorite color even if she calls it purple) with red rose decals.  It's so cute and I wish I had a picture of it to post here.

At 2 years old, Rose weighs 34 pounds (98.19% for kids her age) and is 3 feet and 1/2 inch tall (98.71% for kids her age).  She has curly, shoulder length hair with lots of wisps that are filling in her baby hair which provides most of her length.  And she can speak about 50 "words" even if half of them are probably only intelligible by us or in context.  But that is even improving day-by-day and she understands practically everything we say to her.  

Rose has a great imagination and is so good at "play".  She still loves to operate the ice cream stand that the girls got for Christmas, take care of the dolls and stuffed animals, put on dress-up clothes with her sister, pretend that she is a kitty or a baby, or play hide-and-seek.  In the last month or so since Rose turned 2, the girls have suddenly started really and truly playing well together.  Not always, (I wish!), but much more than they ever have before.  Especially in the mornings after breakfast when they are both rested and fed, they will play happily together for a good long while, which has been heaven for me.  

Rose is starting to shows signs that she is about to give up regular afternoon napping, which is slightly terrifying for me.  I was really hoping we could make it through the end of the preschool year before that happened because all fall long we would drop Clara off, then come home and Rose would go down for a 2-hour nap without a peep and often I would even have to wake her to go back and pick-up Clara.  But recently she has started waking up earlier and earlier in the a.m. (like before 6:00 a.m. on a depressingly regular basis) and even just flat-out refuse to go down for a nap, especially on a weekend when she knows that Clara and daddy are home.  But she sleeps great in her toddler bed at night, sharing a room with Clara, which started back in December after our Thailand trip.  And we have brought back the "green clock" that lights up in the morning to let the girls know it is okay to get out of bed and are working to train her to stay put, even if she is awake until at least 6:30.

Rose loves food and is a great little eater but her favorite things include guacamole (probably her favorite food in the world), berries, apples, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cheese (ask her what she wants to eat and this will always be her answer), meat, cookies, ice cream, juice, and eggs.  And she loves, loves, loves to drink.  If we would let her, I think she would consume the vast majority of her calories in liquid form whether it was juice, milk, water, lemonade or whatever.  We start her out with one glass of water or something at a meal and its the first thing so goes for every time.

Rose loves her yellow umbrella that she got for Christmas.  She is constantly taking her shoes off and thinks it is hilarious, especially if I get exasperated about it.  She needs her hair re-done multiple times each day.  She is lightning fast.  But she is also generally obedient and will usually stop or do what I ask her to do, unless what she is doing is tormenting her older sister, then there is nothing to do but separate the two of them because Rose is a professional at pushing Clara's (often ultra-sensitive) buttons.  Rose is such a lover - she gives the BEST hugs and pats on the back and is generous with her kisses (to the point of getting carried away sometimes, lol).  But the cutest thing is how she loves to be snuggled in her toddler bed and will sadly pat at the space next to her head on the pillow and whimper for us to climb in with her.  Whenever I do (which, let's face it is pretty often because how could I resist that?), her arm immediately goes around my neck and tightens in a tight embrace as if to keep me there.

Rose has the cutest surprised face.  She uses it whenever she sees an animal or a plane or the moon or the train.  And then she gesticulates and exclaims until we understand what she is trying to tell us about.

Rose is a constant climber, which is funny because she is also a little scared of heights.  But she is always climbing on the couches or counters or beds or playground equipment and then hollering for rescue when she realizes how high she got.

"Bunny" is still her favorite and he sleeps with her every night along with her purple blanket.

I love that Rose will get a book and read to herself on occasion.

But she does NOT like posing for photographs when mama asks her to model while I practice a new technique or using a particular type of light.

Rose loves to swing and play at Clara's preschool before and after drop-off.  She wishes that she could stay for the entire time and it is honestly sad that she won't get to do preschool next year because of her January birthday because I know she would love it.

Rose loves going for walks and is constantly picking up rocks or dandelions or sticks.  She is desperate to learn how to ride the scooter.  She loves swimming and seems to have a love-hate relationship with gymnastics (she seems to get frustrated or bored after the second repetition of most obstacles and wants to move on to new things).

We just love our little Rosie-girl and can't believe she is 2 years old already!