Live a Life Worth Writing Down: Lucia is Two!

On March 6th, Lucia turned two. If is it even possible, this year went faster than the first. It has been filled with fun but also interesting new parenting challenges. As is with any two year old, days are filled with sweet moments, new skills learned accompanied by lots of crying, whining and tantrums plus lots of begging for videos, food and candy. Even now as I write this, Lucia is begging for Skittles and the Gummy Bear video she loves to watch. And as I say 'no' for the 10th time today, she comes to sit on my lap, stops crying and we watch the birds together out the window. It's the little moments.

Lucia continues to be a big girl, 89th percentile for height (35.5 inches) and 97th for weight (32 lbs). Her doctor told me the day she was born that Lucia would be taller than me and I am now starting to believe it. It will be fun to watch her grow tall. Part of this growth is due to the fact that she loves to eat a lot and eat fast. She is pretty good at trying new foods overall and she loves to pick out what to have for breakfast and add sauces of any kind to use as a dip. She continues to sleep well, about 12-13 hours a night and has yet to figure out how to get out of her crib. She loves to snuggle in our bed, reading books, praying and singing songs before bed time. She enjoys when both Matt and I are there for bedtime (especially if she can see us, asking "you coming mommy? snuggle bed?") but she doesn't mind if just one of us is tucking her in.

She loves taking all her clothes off, dancing, drinking out of a normal cup without a top, playing with babies, play-doh, coloring, getting goofy with her cousins, reading books, singing songs, going on bear hunts, watching Gummy Bear and nursery rhyme videos, playing dress up, walking in the snow, picking out her socks, snuggling, washing hands, practicing going potty, pretend play, coloring her nails with marker, playing airplane, getting tickled and putting her cousin's pet birds on her head or tummy.

Her language has grown so much even in just the past month. She has so many new words and phrases under her belt like her change from saying 'pater' to 'pacifier'. My favorite new things she says are "What you doing?", "How are you?" and asking "What's that?" to every noise. Every time we ask her about what she dreamt about, she says "baby Sommar" who is her 2nd cousin. She's obsessed with baby Sommar and loves to talk about holding her. I love her new thing with strangers, she'll say to me, "I wanna say hi" then I say it's okay and she looks at them and sheepishly waves.

I love to watch Lucia's social skills grow. To an onlooker, it probably looks like a zig-zag chaotic line of growth but as her mom, I am starting to see the benefits of Lucia spending so much time with her cousins. She gets very mad, wants to hit and bite sometimes and today I heard a new tone come out of her mouth when yelling "Don't close the door!" that was worthy of an angsty teenager. However, she can instigate turn taking, uses names when addressing other people/kids, says 'please', 'thank you' and 'your welcome' without prompting, she can ask another to share with her, she can ask for help and tell me when something is wrong and what happened. She notices when someone is sad and asks if they are okay. My favorite recent moment with her happened the other day when I hurt my knee. I was saying "ow" and she asked "hurt, mommy?" "Yes, Lucia. Mommy is hurt." Then she asked if I wanted a "boo boo buddy?" which is a little ice pack she uses to feel better when she gets hurt. So she ran to the kitchen, brought back the boo boo buddy and placed in on my knee. A few minutes later she asked, "better mommy?" And my heart was officially melted.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so...

Silly faces with mommy (or 'mom' as she calls me a lot now).

And learning new silly faces from her cousin, Naomi.

Playing in the snow. There was LOTS of snow this winter but it was too often too cold to go play in it. Lucia loved making snowmen.

Watching the Seahawks win the Superbowl.

Go Hawks!

Matt and Ben were overwhelmed with excitement.

Playing with babies, putting them to bed.

Keeping warm this cold, cold winter.

Lucia holding baby Sommar.

And hanging with great-grandpa Ray.

One of Lucia's favorite activity, jumping from the table to the couch.

And another favorite, swinging from the stair banisters at church.

Helping mommy cook chocolate mousse for a special Valentine's Day treat.

And decorating the chocolate mousse with sprinkles.

Lucia couldn't stand letting any of the sprinkles go to waste.

A special valentine for daddy.

Brushing teeth with Lucia is a struggle! She has come up with this 'spot' for brushing teeth (sitting on TOP of the toilet for easy access to the sink) then she feverishly proceeds halfway brushing her teeth and firmly closing her mouth when it's my turn to help her. Some days are better than others and so we continue to work on it. Someday...

Cousin movie night watching E.T.. For the first time, Lucia got scared watching the movie and ran to me saying "Mommy, I gared! I gared"

With her friends, Samuel and Zeke

Having fun at a birthday party at the church where I work

Lucia was obsessed with with her little goody bag. It was so sweet and innocent how she would take stock of her items, counting the candy in the bag over and over, literally for hours.