2 Years Old

Where do I start with this girl? She has got some personality! I think she is what they call a "spirited" child. And lately I've been saying that her hair matches her personality... cute and wild! Her dada and I have just been trying hard to soak in every moment with our little lady. She is changing so fast and growing up quickly. Those toddler moments and the baby face are going to be fading fast now. She was sleeping on the couch last night and we both just had to take a minute and stare at that adorable face. Why does time have to go by so quickly sometimes?

Myelle is into girly things. She loves playing kitchen and with her dolls. She sets her table and makes a plate of food for each of us (Mama, Dada, Myelle and "Ky Ky"). She rocks and sings to her dolls, wraps them up in blankets, and tucks them into bed telling them, "I love you very much" and singing them songs just like Mama and Dada do for her. For Christmas, she got what I would call a modern day paper doll set which was two dolls with magnetic clothing. She can't get enough of it. She also loves clothes. Like last year, clothes were very exciting gifts for her to open.

She is also VERY into Charlie Brown. She knows almost all of the Peanuts characters (even Shroeder and Violet) and asks to watch Charlie Brown multiple times each day. She now has three Peanuts DVDs, a stuffed Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock. She has started naming her dolls Sally and Lucy. And she has a special love for Linus because he carries a blankie around like she does.

Myelle is all or nothing and extremely independent. She is either full of energy or ready to hit the pillow. She is either very happy and goofy or super crabby and throwing fits. Almost every time she cries, there are real tears, she doesn't just get a little upset is is all the way. She does not want help with anything. If Kyler can do it, so can she. Heck, if Mama or Dada can do it, why can't she? Don't think about helping her hold something or guiding her hand to do something. She doesn't want you to touch! So we resort to trying to explain things with words to help her accomplish a task. And most of the time, she eventually gets it even if she has to shed a few tears.

Mellie loves to sing and entertain. She has an impeccable memory for songs. She can sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with very little help, knows her ABC's, and countless other songs and nursery rhymes. She often sings "Rock a Bye Baby" or "Wheels on the Bus" to her dolls. Her favorite bedtime songs are "Wheels on the Bus" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She makes lot of funny faces, likes to tease, and mimics how adults stand, sit, or talk. She thinks she is a big girl. Her speech is great for her age. She can mostly carry on a conversation and speaks in sentences and short paragraphs. She does sometimes get confused when asked questions if she doesn't understand what you're asking her... so she just says "huh?"

Speaking of big girls, she is starting to show interest in potty training. She has gone potty on the toilet many times and even wears her new Minnie Mouse underwear sometimes. There have been lots of fits thrown while getting her diaper changed recently, so I think it's about time we take potty training a little more seriously. Kyler was not very cooperative so this mama is a little reluctant to put in a lot of effort.

Myelle is not the best eater except for breakfast time. She has a few things she really loves like pizza, stromboli, bierocks, and most fruit but other than that it is very hit or miss in terms of what she likes. I never really know if she will eat something or not. She sometimes tries to eat veggies because her brother does but often she chews them all up and never actually swallows them. Her favorite meal is definitely breakfast. She loves cereal with milk, pancakes, and cinnamon rolls among other things. But for other meals, most of the time she would rather just live off of sippy cups of milk or orange juice. She's not a big fan of water and she would prefer a sippy cup over an open faced cup. Now that she actually knows how to drink from a regular cup, I am fine with the less messy sippy cups. We still dilute her juice because she drinks a lot of it and she still shows signs of reflux. Every month or so we notice she will randomly spit up/throw up mostly liquid while playing. It doesn't seem to bother her so we haven't been giving her medicine or done anything about it.

She is a pretty good sleeper most of the time. She sleeps well at night, usually going to bed by 8:30. We sometimes rock her, always with a blankie (right now her favorites are her duck blankie and her dot blankie). She also likes to read a book in the rocking chair and for us to sing to her. Since she now has a CD player, sometimes we can just lie her down and tuck her in and she will go to sleep on her own. She sleeps with a loud fan on for background noise. She wakes up around 7:30 in the morning. Her naps are all over the board. At Grandma's house they seem to be more difficult and shorter. At home she will sometimes sleep up to 3 hours. And at Paige's (her daycare) she usually sleeps 2 hours. She is getting to be a lot more flexible with her sleep schedule in the past month or so which can be nice if we are wanting to do things.

Discipline is still a bit of an issue although it is getting marginally better. If I start to count to three she will usually shape up and listen (at least for a few minutes). She gets spanked and sent to her room if she's being really difficult. Otherwise I will put her in timeout if she's not out of control with her behavior. The girl knows how to throw a crazy fit and in those circumstances there is nothing you can do. If we're at home, she gets sent to her room. If we're in public or someone else's house, we either have to give in or find a way to calm her down or let her throw her fit. It's shocking to most people who don't have a "spirited" child like her, but that's our Mellie Girl.

Her cheesy little grin and funny faces make it all worth it. We love her with all our hearts and nothing will ever change that. She is a beautiful little girl with an (mostly) adorable personality. She is so sweet to her baby dolls, and is very caring too. If Kyler cries she tells him softly, "you're okay Ky Ky." And the other day I was being the patient as Ky was playing doctor. When I told him I was sick and didn't feel good she came over and said so sweetly, "you need me to give you a hug?" and gave me the gentlest little hug. You can't help but to fall in love with this little cutie pie and her contagious smile!