Two!

Happy Birthday Adele!  Our baby is two!  I really can't believe we are officially out of the baby phase in our house.  Adele is acting more an more like a little girl every day.  She will always be our baby, but she is growing up as fast as can be.

She started out her birthday with sprinkle pancakes, a new tradition for special breakfasts :)

The day of her actual birthday, we just had our normal routine of mom's group and kindergarten pick up, but I tried all morning to get a good birthday shot of this sweet girl.  She is on the move and so hard to get a picture of, but these certainly capture her joyous personality.

Ending the day with a candle in a muffin!  Real cake coming up at her birthday party :)

Some things I want to remember about Adele at this age...

She is determined.  When she has her mind made up to do something, she will figure her way around obstacles to do it.  Our little white chairs are her biggest tool these days.  If something is out of reach, her water bottle, the STOVE, etc, she will just pick up a little white chair, bring it to the location and boost herself up.  If she wants something, and I put it out of reach, she will just go get the stool or chair and climb up and get it.  She doesn't get mad that I said no, or moved the object, but she just finds her own way to get it.

Adele has lots of words, but she does't say many phrases or sentences yet, but I see she has a complex understanding of situations.  Since she doesn't talk a lot, when I ask her a question, you can see her thinking hard about what words to use to answer.  She's very focused in her thoughts and has great facial expressions.

She's stubborn :).  I guess that goes with being determined.  We keep telling her, "Adele, now you're two!"  Then we ask, "How old are you? Are you two?", and she replies with enthusiasm and both hands showing five fingers, "FIVE!".  She will count with us a few numbers, but insists that she's five.

She loves doggies, and hugs, and wants to hug doggies.  She can be gentle for a while, but eventually gets too excited and smacks them.

She is training to be a pitcher with her food and her utensils.  She's got a strong throw, and we've all been beaned or nearly beaned by a fork or a spoon or a meat ball.

She still sleeps great, but she's starting to nap less.  She will start her naps easily, but she wakes up earlier than she used to.  Hopefully we can hang on to naps for a while yet!

She loves to help.  With everything.  Laundry, cooking, wrapping presents, anything, she wants to help and she will pull up a stool to join you if needed.

As always, she is trying so hard to keep up with her big sisters.  She's learning to ride a scooter, is excited about the balance bike, and she loves to play with balls.  She likes to draw and paint along with the big girls too.

Right now she seems to be particularly interested in doing what Kate does.  She really likes to wear Kate's shoes and clothes, but Kate is not such a fan of this.

Adele showed a lot of interested in potty training a couple months ago, but with the holidays coming, we were not read to tackle this yet.  Her interested has waned some, but she was asking about the potty again today, so I know we will take the plunge soon enough.  It will be wonderful to be out of diapers!

Well, those are some things about sweet Adele that we want to remember at this age.  She brings us much joy!  Happy Birthday Sweetie!