There are plenty of days that seem long with her (also plenty that seem short), but the years definitely seem to go faster and faster. Maybe it's that watching her grow makes you realize how much time has passed, or maybe it is just the busy-ness of being a parent that makes it seem to speed by so quickly.
Either way, the last two years have been rich and wonderful with Noelle in our family. We are so grateful for her and can't believe we get to be her parents. She is truly an amazing kiddo and I LOVE watching her grow up into a little amazing person!
Here are some fun highlights that have happened from May 27, 2013 to May 27, 2014...
Noelle loves to eat:
- FRUIT! Watermelon was her great love last year, but this year blueberries are a clear favorite.
- Cookies - she normally starts asking for a cookie about 5 minutes after waking up
- Ice Cream - aka "eye keem" - oh and it also includes frozen yogurt or shaved ice
- Yogurt - luckily she loves the greek kind too (extra protein, people!)
- Raw veggies - she is a big fan of fresh peppers, carrots, and cucumbers
Noelle's new skills:
- Lots of talking...Mama, Dada, Mimaw, Pop-pop, CC, G, Lillie, and most recently Aunt Meaggie! She especially loves to yell for you when you are no longer in sight. It's really quite funny. Right now she is also pretending to say long sentences where it is lots of jumbled sounds and it will go something like this: "Mama, ouweibkamndjkheuwoiuelklhgjds juice." Which of course means "Mama, I'm rather thirsty, could you go a little quicker with giving me my juice?"
- Blowing bubbles - she can do it about 75% of the time and it is so very cute
- Watching movies - I know this doesn't feel like a skill, but it is so fun to watch movies with her now that she can pay attention for more than 5 minutes. Nemo of course is on repeat still, but we sneak in some Little Mermaid and now Frozen from time to time :)
- Sharing - she likes to remind everyone when she is sharing by constantly repeating "I share, I share" in a slightly pained voice. Hey - at least she is trying, right?
- Pretending to read - I caught her "reading" Brown Bear, Brown Bear to herself the other day. It went like this..."da-do da-do cat.....da-do- da-do horse...." and so on and so forth. And on the last page she named all the animals. It. was. awesome.
- Animal sounds - she LOVES naming the animal sounds. And she knows them so well, she feels compelled to quiz us on occasion as well. Josh loves it when she does the lion and I personally love the cow because she puts her whole body into making that moo come out.
- Putting herself to sleep - somewhere around 23 months she decided she didn't want any help at all going to sleep for naps or bed time. We were already there for bed time but she still needed some assistance for naps. Then one day she kindly pointed to the crib, and then pointed to the exit and said "door" - I took the hint and she did her own thing!
- Giving kisses - she loves to be kissed and to give kisses...she is the sweetest
- Throwing fits - yes, it has happened in the last month. She just gets in a mood and wants her own way and begins to make no sense. At least they are short and she is still fairly easy to distract.
A Few of Noelle's Favorite Things
- Stuffed animals - of any variety but she is very partial to her favorite characters
- Mick/Minnie - she only calls Mickey "Mick"...I like to think they are very close and that is her very special nick name for him
- Nemo & Dory - we look and call for them all the time
- The iPad - she loves PBS kids and is very into a few games as well
- Songs - she has a few favorites...Some are on the PBS app (something about a Rocket & numbers in the ocean) and I'm pretty sure she likes the Bruno Mars Paradise song and a couple One Direction ones...she also likes to dance when she sees Anyerin singing worship.
- Playing - that can mean playing at the park or playing with friends...but she asks to go play alot!
- Lillie Anderson - this goes back to playing. If I ask her if she wants to go play, she immediately asks "Yiyee?"
- Books - her Mickey books are her current favorite
There are a billion more things I feel like I could list, but I wanted to get some key ones down to remember as the years go by. Here are some fantastic shots from her two year old photo shoot that G did for us, and then a few from her very minimal birthday gathering...she had such a hard time at her one year birthday that I decided that until she ASKS for a party, I won't torture her with one :)
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| Big laughs at Dada in this one! |
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| We are waving to Nemo in the pond of course. |
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| Playing in the car - one of her favorite games! |
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| Minnie was a huge hit (from Uncle Gabe, Aunt Shannon, Ethan & Cali) |
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| She was a little confused and didn't know to blow out the candles, but the wind helped her out! |
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| She knows how to enjoy her "eye-keem" though! |
And in the words of my favorite two-year-old (that she says ALL the time and in MANY situations...)
THE END.
