Terrific Two

Pony ride at the Pumpkin Patch

Hi Shira,
What a pleasure it has been to watch you grow the last few months.  You have really improved your spoken communication.  You have also grown a lot taller in the last six months.

So, let's begin with the stats.  You're now 36 inches tall and weigh 30.5 pounds.  You're a full 6 inches taller than you were a year ago.  You are about 3 inches taller than your big sister was at age two, and weigh about 4 pounds more than she did then.  You are tall!

Birthday Girl unwrapped

You have begun to reach the light switches and play with the door knobs. One thing that is funny is that you can only reach high enough to turn the switches off, not on.  And I'm a little leery about you being able to open a door and potentially go outside.  I guess I'm not confident in your safety decisions about going out or what you would do once there.

It has been very heart warming to listen to your speech develop.  I've tried to catch some of the things you say in recordings but it's difficult.  I'm doing it because you have a really cute way of saying some things that I know you will grow out of as you learn to say them correctly.  For example, 'orange.'  I caught you saying it on a voice memo on my phone, but I haven't figured out how to post it here.  I'll keep working on it.  Another thing that it's been fun to hear your progress on is saying your sister's name.  You're getting pretty good at that now, too.

Connected Child

Flower Girl in waiting

You like singing quite a bit.  It's fun hearing your versions of standards like  'Twinkle, Twinkle' and 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' as well as rockers like 'Born to be Wild.'  No kidding, I think you know the line 'lookin for adventure and whatever comes our way.'  We listen to 'Party Rock Anthem' a lot and dance to it.  At first, Sidra and I would argue about the line 'Get Up, Get Down, put your hands up to the _______.'  I would say 'Sound.'  Sidra would say 'Sun.'  And we would go back and forth.  Pretty soon you began to pick it up and say 'Sun.'  Now, we can reverse it on you by saying 'Sun' first, and then you will say 'Sound.'  Anyway, it's a fun little game to play with you.



Your favorite lately has been 'happy birthday' but not just because you had one.  It is featured in a book you like and you've been singing it a lot.  You and Sidra sang on a video to your Grandma and on the phone to your friend Cooper.  Then you can see in this video of your birthday cake and candles that you are a little confused about whether you should be singing, too.

Heartbreaker

 One of our favorite sayings has become "Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey does the same as you."  We say it to Sidra mostly, because we want her to know that everything you see her do you're going to try to repeat.  Sidra climbs on the couch, you climb on the couch.  Sidra squirts water through her teeth in the bath, you try to do it.  Sidra stacks up blocks and knocks them down, you try to do it.  Sidra, for her part, is pretty good about recognizing that what we're telling her is true and will change her actions to keep you safe.  I like that.  You look up to her so much and try so hard to be like her and she realizes that she can shape your behavior and will try not to lead you into injury. 
 
I included a picture of you using your Mom's phone.  That's because you are pretty attached to it.  You aren't very happy about giving it up when your turn is over.  We've begun to not let you have it unless we've decided that you need a distraction, and not because you've decided you need a distraction.  You are able navigate it pretty well.

In one of these pictures you have just opened a gift from your Grandma.  It's a little figurine of a dancing girl.  It's yellow color is meant to be such because of the November birthstone of yellow Topaz.  There is a little story behind this.  In visits to Grandma's house Sidra saw one of these figurines which had belonged to her Grandmother for a long time.  Sidra always wanted to play with it and Grandma decided to get her one with her own birthstone color.  I helped her find this same figurine in the right color and she got one for Sidra.  Then while she still had contact with someone who had one, she got one for you and gave it to you for your birthday gift.

It's pretty clear that a couple of these pictures are from your cousin's wedding day. Well, you guys just looked darn good that day and we were lucky to have a few good photos.  You, like your sister, had a great time that day but you were the first to flame out from exhaustion.


Until next time.......
love, aba.

PS-  Oops, there were a couple other things I wanted to tell you about.  One is that you've become a pretty good counter.  Back in July I wrote about how you could recognize the numerals, now you're actually counting.  You are solid right up to five and I think you actually can count 3 items.  I think you know the difference between two and three.  That's a big step.
The other thing is the sweet way you say 'I love you' when we flash you that sign, or how you say 'I love you too' after we say it to you.
Ok, that's all for now.