Gloomy day here in Boston, we had snow and then rain. Amongst the visits and calls from several friends and my dad, we had a nice social day and I’m just so thrilled to have my little partner Cecilia with me each and every day. She’s my constant sidekick now that Josie’s in school more, and Josie even stayed through lunch today for the first time. I love getting to teach her and all the snuggles and enthusiasm that a two year old brings. Yay Cecilia!

One of the girls favorite things to play at Waldo park is to run a pretend ice cream store with the mulch. The mulch is the ice cream, the money and all the toppings. They serve everything most all the time, although sometimes they restrict the ice cream flavors. They use this one shelf part of the structure as the ice cream counter.

With everyone being sick, the storm, and my ankle Halloween was pretty low key this year, although Josie got a bonus day of school as they invited everyone in her class in on Wednesday! The weather was lovely and I sat on the front porch handing out glow necklaces while Jordi took the girls around the block. They came back with their pumpkins 2/3rds full! Then they sat on the porch and ate a whole pile of candy until Jordi decided he’d eaten enough to start feeling sick and they should stop. This year they both went as Olympic Gymnasts. Josie has her costume long picked out, but Celia wavered until the last minute and decided to join in. They used medals from my dad, which he had made four years ago for Halloween for being Michael Phelps.

In the last two months or so Celia has taken up with the puzzles. She loves to do them again and again. She’s learning so fast and so pleased with herself as she figures them out.

My little two year old ball of enthusiasm and energy. We’re both under the weather right now but I’ve been having such enjoyable mornings just getting to hang out with her (the plus side to not being able to do anything with a sprained ankle!).

This was consensual play. So I picked up the camera.

This past Wednesday Celia turned 2 year olds! I cannot believe where the time is going. Celia is our little ball of energy and life in this house. She hits the ground running in the morning and is ready to zoom all day except for her nap. Yesterday she walked all the way from home to Josie’s preschool, over a mile. Took us a long time because she wants to play with everything, jump on every wall and explore, but she made it. She races her balance bike down the block and climbs up and over everything she can. She’s had her share of a few accidents but nothing too bad yet (knock on wood). She’s not as fearful as Josie was at this age but I’d also say she understands her limits a little better which is an interesting combination.

In the last three months, she has learned how to talk, and talk and talk. Our house is very loud with at least two people frequently talking at once. She’s making five and six word sentences and is generally very polite in her requests, big sister sets such a good example. She starts off the day with ‘Mommy get out of bed. All done sleeping!” She’ll ask what things are called all around her, like the heating vents at the grocery store today. She mimics most everything Josie and I say and since Josie’s been so enamored with numbers lately, Celia can now rote count to 13, but she doesn’t understand what she’s saying. She’ll point to things while saying the numbers even, but no idea about one-to-one correspondence yet. She’s even started to sing little songs, especially anything Josie brings home from school or makes up.

When she’s upset or frustrated now (which is quite frequently) she mostly just breaks down into tears or screams, she’s not hitting or biting anymore or even pulling a full on lay-on-the-floor and scream fit. She’s frustrated mostly because we’ve done something for her that she wants to do for herself, or she can’t do the thing she wants to do for herself, like zip things up or peel her own banana from the start. If I give her the words for what she needs she will quickly calm down and use them. Still there is some typical sibling shoving. She also uses the phrase ‘two minutes!’ instead of the typical ‘one minute’ because shes prefers to delay things even further. She does not like to pick her things up which is a constant battle.

Her favorite thing to do is play outside. She loves the sandtable and the climbing structures and the swings. She’ll sit on the big girl swings a bit, but really loves the baby ones for the relaxing ride. She rides her bike to the park or library. Just going out for a walk is an event in itself for her. She also loves art projects, but it’s all self-directed at this point. She has no patience for my ideas of what might be going on, she just wants the materials and to explore them for herself. Paint is a big favorite and she just got a ton for her birthday so we’ll be very productive.

Her eating habits are starting to get finicky which is frustrating as I often find my children at odds over what to eat and what they like. Some days she’ll eat a lot, and others she won’t eat anything but fruit and yogurt for breakfast or snacks. She loves to help in the kitchen, especially washing vegetables and fruits if I let her play in the sink too when she’s done.

It’s been a nice change to have some one-on-one  time with Celia while Josie is in school, I can answer her questions more quickly and focus in on whatever’s got her attention. She’s taken off now with puzzles and is easily doing 9 piece ones. I’ll introduce her to the bigger ones as soon as I can get some time to get them out from the basement. She’s so very pleased with herself when she’s finished. She’s also an avid reader and has some patience for the longer non-board books, but still mainly prefers the short board ones. We read a lot of Sandra Bonyton right now, like Happy Hippo, Angry Duck. She loves to read potty books too, but no far no real progress there.

My two children playing together is such a joy to see. They’re very often so good to each other and playing so nicely. They have some squabbles but in general Josie will read to Celia and help her, and Celia will follow Josie’s lead for games. Until she won’t, and then they’re both frustrated and we move on to a new activity!

• Size/weight: 2T and some 3T, 36″ tall, 27lbs
• Favorite foods: breastmilk, sour cream, avocado, cheese
• Favorite toy: puzzles
• Favorite book: The Belly Button Book
• Favorite activity: riding her bike, playing with Josie
• Sleeping: bedtime ~7:45; one nap 1 hr 15 minutes at 1:30; gets up between 6 and 7 (on the good days, 5am on the bad)
• New skill: calming herself down and using full sentences
• Teeth: at least 16 and more coming
• Vocalizations: numbers

[photo credit goes to my mom for good focus and hitting the button]

Three days a week now Celia and I drop off and go pick Josie up at pre-school. Celia is always excited to ‘go pick up Josie’. She suggests it even when it’s nowhere near pick up time. Now though she’s gotten into a little routine of wanting to wash her hands at Josie’s school in the bathroom every time. Sometimes we’ve been outside playing and that’s fine if she’s got some dirt she wants to get off. But now she’s managed to invent a reason if I say no, it’s ok we’ll just go home. She digs around in her nose until she finds something worthy of washing off. Little stinker.

I realize Celia hasn’t had any throw herself down on the floor and cry fits for several days. Could we be past that phase? Here’s a few pics from last week from the drama queen herself.