2 Year Milestones for Julianna - Happy Birthday!

My little girl is 2 years old! I can't believe it. Happy second birthday to my beautiful Julianna Belle. Every single day, my husband and I comment & are amazed by how big she is getting and how much she knows already. She has so much to learn still and so far to go in life & it's only the very beginning of an amazing journey for her. I hope we can be the best parents to her and offer the best guidance we can to help her make the right decisions in life. She is a very special little girl. To the world, she may be one child. But to me, she is the world.

Here are some of Julianna's cool 2 year milestones

• She is wearing 2t-3t bottoms and 3t-4t shirts. Shoes are size 6.5 today.

• Kicks a ball, can walk backwards, stands on tippy toes - also tries to do a front somersault but not too successful. 

• Builds a tower of 7-8 cubes, and she loves to stack things. All things - cups, plates, blocks. 

• Imitates everything we do - I am going to give her a chore soon like feeding the dog (Especially now that she is friends with Pepper & doesn't try to pull her ears & tail off anymore)

• Identifies & names items in her picture books (like shoes, ball, bottle, horse) 

• Says about 100 words or more now - every day is a new word. Sunday's word was "Butt" and she tells us "Mama, sit butt" - Nice. 

• Combines words for small sentences (Daddy go get shoes. Daddy go get shower) 

• Says NO. A lot. And then shakes her head as she's saying NO and pushes us away. Ah the love. 

• Understands everything we tell her. And I mean everything. We have to spell out words or talk in code now if we don't want her to know what we are saying. Actually we can't even spell the word "Park" now, because she understands that and perks up and starts chanting "Weeeee Shwing" - which is what she says anytime we mention going to the park or drive by the park. 

• She does not get the concept of sharing at all. We need to work on this. "Nooo! Mine!". OK then.

• Names all her body parts and can point to each of them (including butt!) 

• Climbs the furniture like a monkey and jumps off steps 

• She is starting to understand not everything needs to be in the "Now". I can tell her daddy will be home later and she gets it. 

Here are some things she loves doing lately

• Coloring & scribbling with crayons in her coloring books; playing with stickers.

• Loves stacking plastic cups, plates, etc now. 

• Runs squealing through the house and giggling - chasing the dog 

• Loves balloons - carries her birthday balloons with her all over the house

• Feeds her stuffed animals a bottle and gives them food- too cute. She gives her Giraffe a cheerio and says "Numm Numm Numm Numm"

• Feeds herself like a pro with fork & spoon. Loves using "dipping sauces" with her food (ketchup or ranch dressing) 

• Just becoming interested in playing with other children but still observes most of the time. 

• Going to the park or going outside whenever she can - she throws a fit when she needs to come indoors. 

• She loves walking when we go places - she's not really into being in her stroller too much any more. We hardly use the stroller unless it's going to be a long day of walking (like the zoo). When we are out somewhere, she sticks right next to us and doesn't wander off. 

• When she watches TV, se likes Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Gaspard & Lisa, and Doc McStuffins. We record a ton of them on Tivo, so she can watch those when we want her to, usually in the morning while we get ready for work. Yeah - bad mommy but too bad, we need to get ready without her in our face. Mickey works. 

• Julianna loves cleaning up when she is done playing - she's a neat freak. Hallelujah! 

• She needs to do EVERYTHING on her own. Total Miss Independent! 

• Julianna loves to carry her purse when we are out - she is a girly girl and I love it. She loves her barrettes and dresses! 

Here are some things Julianna is not doing yet 

• She is not in a big girl bed yet. She is still in her crib and is still not climbing out. She likes it in her crib and we like her there too. I have no desire to rush her into a big girl bed {yet} where she can get up in the middle of the night and wander the house or rip apart her room. 

• She is not potty trained. Not even close. She's not showing signs that she's ready and that's fine. I'm not going to push her to do something that she is not ready for. She will be potty trained when she is ready. The average age for girls is 2 & 1/2 - so I'm not worried. I see parents post on line how they are trying to train their kids for weeks when they are 20 months. To each his own I guess but that tells me the kid isn't ready maybe. They won't go to college with diapers on. 

• She still does not like vegetables. Won't touch them. We trick her by giving her the squeezy veggies mixed with fruit - to get some into her - but I figure sooner than later, she will eat veggies. That's about the only thing she doesn't like. Well, that and any gooey cheesy sauce like macaroni & cheese or cream sauce. She doesn't like hamburgers either.

• Julianna can not drink out of an open cup successfully yet. It goes all over. 

• We do not really use timeout. I think we kind of used it once where Daddy put her in her crib until she calmed down from her total meltdown. But we don't really need to use it. YET. 

There's more - but that's all I can think of now. Haha! Her 2 year checkup is on Thursday... 

I know she is tall and thin for her age, but I am curious to see how much she has grown! 

Here are some pictures from J's birthday party. 

I'll be posting pictures from her party in a few days. 

I bought her this tu-tu dress and we ironed on Minnie Mouse for her big day. 

Julianna and Pepper jockeying for position on a deck chair. 

"No pictures please!"

Posin'

Playing with Baby Benny. 

Opening gifts. {Please ignore the deck that is in desperate need of a good power wash & stain!}