My nice camera is out of commission until I locate the charger, so I had to rely on my phone for bringing me up to date on what we've been up to. I'll have to say that I need to get back to picture taking. These kids of mine are growing so fast, and sometimes I want time to stand still just long enough to soak their childhood in a little more.
Alina has moved from words to phrases, and yesterday I realized that she is now talking in full sentences. However, it is still baby talk so no one outside of her family can really understand more than a word here and there. She is all vowels, often replacing consonants with "y". There are a few very stark exceptions, though. Spoon is still her chosen baby word of "gnnn." No vowels at all in that one. Her sweetest phrase is "Yuh you." Which is Alina speak for "I love you."
This week Alina has started asking, "Why" alot. In a most dramatic tone, she began saying, "Why, Mama? Why?" The first time she asked it, I stopped myself from giving any kind of a logical answer and just said, "Because I love you." This answer has become most satisfying to our sweet little girl. Sometime she will cock her head and put up her little hands and just say, "Oh, Thank you!!" And we all move on a little happier than before she thought to ask "why."
Alina and Daddy have some fun little games they play together. Sometimes Sam will grab her feet and hold her upside down to swing her side to side. They call this game "tick tock" and Alina will ask for it as often as she can. Daddy will also ask her, "Who does Daddy love!?!" Alina will begin her answer before the question is fully asked by dragging it out . . . "mmmmmeeeee!"
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| One of Alina's favorite things right now is a "buttawhy." She has her "buttawhy" wings on while Daddy gives her a ride. |
I absolutely love the innocence of Alina's emotions. Of course a 2 year old is nothing but pure emotion, completely unfiltered. I love this age because I can see right into her heart without any pretenses. In my mind, there is nothing terrible about my 2 year old. It is just a challenge to figure out how to help her make sense of the emotions that beat so strongly in that sweet heart of hers. Distraction. Lots and lots of distraction to try and move past the harder moments
Her 2-year old independence is out in force right now. She wants to dress herself, and she would not like any help at all, thank you very much. So sometimes we go places with her pants on inside out and backwards, or every piece of her clothing on inside out and backwards. When people question it, I just shrug and smile. She is proud to be able to dress herself, and it's not really my style to challenge her on it unless it's important enough to me. Sorry store clerk at the grocery store, my errands are not important enough to pick a fight with my daughters' independent spirit. I'll save it for church and other such occasions.
Alina loves books. In fact, if there is one thing that drives me crazy at every turn is the number of books that are left around the house in every nook and cranny. 'Tis impossible to keep up with them as they move from room to room with the help of my book loving kids. I just have to pause and remember that having avid readers in my children is a blessing. But the number of books constantly displaced under foot sometimes feels like a curse.
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| All of her clothes are on properly, but she chose the pajama pants over any other pair in her drawer. So be it. |
Alina is clever. She is a tease. Sometimes she can really make us laugh, but mostly she is so innocent in her antics that she is funny without even knowing it. On this particular evening, she lost her fork during dinner time. We found it afterwards in her newly discovered "pocket."
Another funny thing about Alina at dinner time is that she likes to use her napkin, and she prefers it to be clean. So once she soils her napkin by wiping her face, she will begin asking around the table to please use the napkins of her eating companions. We are hoping to break her of this before she goes on her first date, but for right now it's kind of cute. We put an extra stack of napkins on the table with each meal so Alina can wipe her face with a clean napkin to her heart's content.
Alina has been potty training for 6 months and we still only have about 50 percent success rate. It takes a lot of patience to potty train for such a long time, but it's a necessary skill so there's no way out except moving forward. She was taking off her own diaper last summer, so we began the potty training at that point even though she wasn't 2 yet. I thought she was ready with all of her signals, but she is taking her sweet little time with reading her body's cues. Sometimes she'll go 2-3 days without an accident, then we'll have a whole week without a single success. So I know she can do it, I'm just waiting for her to decide that she wants it done. I noticed this week that we rarely have an accident when we are out of the house. I think we are getting closer, but some days it is hard to see any progress when the cleaning up messes comes in rapid fire.
We love this sweet little girl. She is such a gift to our family, and I am so aware of it in my interactions with her. I love the closeness she seeks from me, and I feel blessed to have such a sweet little girl as my daughter.
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