BETHANY IS TWO!

 
Bethany hit the "terribly cute" two marker a few weeks ago on June 26th! Let me tell you some fun facts about our girl!

1. Talking: Our baby girl talks and talks and sings and talks some more. She is always jabbering to herself and anyone who will listen. Her favorite songs to sing are "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", "ABCs", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Let It Go", and "Elmo's World".

While Bethany is very conversational and adept at saying just about anything, these are a few of her favorite key phrases:

"Mommy/Daddy hold you"
"GET OFF"
"NO"
"I don't want it"
"I so cute"
"Hit Buh-buh (Emmett) fun"
"I go time-out"
"Cute hair"
"Cute dress"
"A clue! A clue! I see a clue!"
"It's a moon! I see a moon! I love it!"
"More tickles" (this girl begs to be tickled-- she loves it)
"Mommy/Daddy read the book"
"Boogey in the nose" (to let us know she needs a nose wipe)
"I push a big poo poo"
"SWING!"
"Outside backyard."
"Mommy/Daddy, ah." (invitation/command to play her favorite game called "Ah" and bang our heads on the back of a couch with her)
"I awake!"
"I jumping"
"Jumping on the crib/bed/couch!"
"I love it!"
"I SEE A JET! BIG ONE!"
 "Mommy/Daddy want the ant?" (deposits squished ant into our hands)
"I got the rody-pody" (rolly-polly bug)
"So fast!"
"I stuck"

2. Goals: Right now, Bethany greatest ambition is to eat as much cake, chocolate, and sweets as she possibly can. Mommy hasn't done a very good job keeping our house free of treats with the second child like she did with the first, and Bethany has a huge sweet tooth! Another major goal is teasing her big brother whenever possible by poking, touching, nudging, or even just pretending like she's going to touch him and stopping an inch away (Bethany laughs and laughs when Emmett gets angry, runs away, or cries. I've had to teach Emmett that he can hide in his room to escape Bethany and if the door is closed, she won't be able to get him...yet).

3. Health: Mom and Dad's goal for Bethany is to keep her gaining weight, or at least prevent her losing any. She is so tiny that it is something we have to monitor closely. Right now she weighs 20 lbs even, keeping her solidly at 0% for her age. We worked hard to get her there. Very hard. Did I mention how hard it was to get her there? We had to stuff her like a Thanksgiving turkey. Okay, not quite. But you get the idea.

Bethany is 33in long, which puts her at 34% for her age. Finding pants for her is impossible. But she is healthy, happy, and thriving.

4. Personality: Bethany is Little Miss Personality right now. She is happy and bubbly and excited about everything in life. I've never seen so much enthusiasm bundled up into such a tiny body. Whoever could have imagined that it would fit?

She is friendly and loves everyone she meets. She adores her Mommy and Daddy and loves her big "buh-buh". Even though she teases Emmett like nothing I've ever seen, she also follows him wherever he goes and wants to do whatever he does. She is his shadow. If Emmett loves volcanoes, so does Bethany. If Emmett is obsessed with Bill Nye, Bethany will show just as much enthusiasm and sit through every episode with him (her favorite is Bill Nye STORMS-- which she asks for regularly in her biggest scary/scratchy voice). If you ask Bethany how old she is, she'll tell you that she's four. :)

Bethany loves giving kisses. She has the greatest kissy face in the world: sticking out her lower lip and saying "mmmm" for however long it takes to get the smooch she wants. She loves to put stuffed animals in her pink stroller and race around the house with them ("Vroom! So fast!").

She showed an early interest in drawing and coloring. She loves to sit down with a bucket of crayons and scribble, but unlike her big brother at this age, Bethany has always been very deliberate in her art. Every time she draws, it's with the intent of drawing a picture of something. Usually she's making big circles, crescents, ovals, or spirals. Yes, she can draw and label them correctly. Sometimes she scribbles at random but always assigns it an identity. When she's finished drawing, she throws all of her paper and crayons all over the kitchen floor. Sigh. But the rest of it's adorable.

Every morning I come in to get her, Bethany greets me by holding onto the crib railing, jumping up and down. There's a huge grin on her face and she's screaming, "I AWAKE! I JUMPING IN THE CRIB!"

Bethany loves to change diapers for her dolls and stuffed animals. She's very interested in other babies. She loves to be my helper and especially enjoys cooking with me in the kitchen. When she isn't cooking with me for real she is busy at her play kitchen. She wears the little oven mitt and works tirelessly to make us all taco soup, donuts, bread, brownies, orange soup, pear soup, broccoli soup and anything else her imagination can invent.

She loves playing with balloons too. I wish she didn't bite them. Dancing comes naturally to Bethany. She is always inventing new dances. Most recently she invented the "Monkey Dance" which involves running back and forth in the house, shaking her shoulders and screaming like a monkey. It might be my favorite thing ever.

Bethany is so creative. She remains the boss in our house and the one in charge during free play with her big brother. Emmett happily follows along in just about any game that Bethany invents. Because of Bethany, Emmett is finally discovering his imagination. The two of them blow up pretend balloons and hit them back and forth to each other. You should hear them laugh!

Temper tantrums remain a special Bethany gift as well. No one can top this little girl when it comes to drama. The wailing! The desperation! The shocking injustice of parents that say "no"! At times, it's too much to bear. Bethany runs from the room, collapses, cries, rolls on the floor. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is also time out.

Time out has actually been a life saver for Bethany. At first, we were worried that time out almost seemed a reward for her. She LIKES time out. But then I realized that what she really likes and needs is a chance to calm down, alone, collect herself, and feel happy again. Bethany will put herself in time out. She asks to go there. And when she comes out, she is much happier and refreshed. While she is in time out, she closes the door (if I didn't), smooths the wrinkles from the mat we use as a time out spot, and waits quietly for me to come get her. I feel terrible admitting it, but she is so quiet and content when she goes to time out that a couple of times I've forgotten she's up there and left her in her room for up to ten minute! I feel terrible, but when I run to her room to get her, she's still sitting happily, humming songs and doing fine. Weird, I know. And yes, sometimes I have bad mothering moments like that.

5. Birthday Party: We celebrated Bethany's birthday two days early while her Aunt "La La" and cousins were here from California. Lynette and Aunt Brauna were here to join in the party as well and we had a great time spoiling our gooseberry girl!

Back Row: Aunt Brauna (Hara's sister), Aunt Lauren, Lynette, Daddy, Gavin Front: Penny, Bethany, Miles, Emmett
Casey had to tickle Bethany to get her to smile for the picture. Can you tell? :)

I didn't know what kind of cake to make for Bethany and since life had been a bit hectic with company at the house, writing conferences, and the disaster of the last cake, I decided to go a little more traditional with a chocolate cake, fudge frosting, and her name written on it.

Our family tradition is to always use trick candles so they'll relight and we can all have fun blowing them out over and over. :)

Bethany was showered with more gifts than any two year-old could possibly use. She was in heaven. All the next week she kept saying, "Mommy! Have a party, okay? Presents! Cake!"

Bethany got so many gifts. Among the presents she received were lots of very delicious plastic food items for our kitchen (they have all been sucked on and chewed on a million times since we got them), a book and puzzle from Lynette, a guitar and hat and necklace from La La, and a doll house from Mom, Dad, Hara and Papa. I'd say she had a pretty good haul!

Aunt La La gave both Bethany and Emmett fedora hats. Bethany also got sunglasses, a necklace, and an electric guitar from La La. Not to mention that the entire time La La was here our children were so hyped up on sugar and treats they couldn't ever sleep and raced around the house in a sugar induced craze! Someone is definitely working hard for the title of "favorite aunt". :)  Bethany also got a kitty tattoo from her first trip to the dentist earlier that morning. She walked around the house for three days, holding out her arm and making everyone "kiss the kitty".

 

One of our new favorite toys!

Hara helped us assemble Bethany's doll house when she was here during Emmett's birthday. It was really hard, so I hope it lasts a good long time! As soon as we brought it upstairs, Emmett's jaw dropped and he screamed, "IT'S A DOLL HOUSE!" Then all the children, boys and girls, pounced on it and played non stop. It's been moved into Bethany's room now so that she can have a fun toy in her bedroom the same way Emmett has his train table in his. The two of them play with both toys and it's been great. Although, I'll have to say it's pretty funny to watch the way boys play with a doll house. I've never seen so many dolls fighting, jumping off roofs, and getting smashed in garage doors or beneath the elevator. When Bethany's playing, all her dolls end up kissing and hugging. I love it. :)