24 Months

It's been a long time since I wrote a big update. Her 2-year checkup was on Friday, and she's now 29.5lbs. and 35" tall. She finally seems to have quit growing by leaps and bounds in height since she only grew by .75" this time. She's around the 80th percentile for both weight and height this time.

Friday was a busy day around here. After her checkup, we met with the project manager for our house and he walked us through the entire construction process, but that's a post for another day. That afternoon, we had a birthday party for her at a local pizza place. We ended up having 8 kids there, which was a nice manageable number. I wish I would've been able to take more pictures, but I was too busy.


Late last week, I was letting her run around naked after her bath when I noticed her squatting as if she was about to have an accident. I scooped her up and sat her on the toilet, and she loved it. Now she wants to sit there all the time, so I bought her one of those cushions today. I'm so not ready for this! I was planning on waiting until at least the summer, once we're well settled in the house, before even thinking about it but she seems to be ready now. I can't get her off the toilet now that she has that cushion! She was having such a good time sitting there today, she decided to make herself comfortable by grabbing the magazine off the counter.


I took her to see the mall Santa today, and she did a lot better than I expected. She kept trying to get off his lap, but she never cried.


Her vocabulary has grown like crazy recently. She started putting two words together about a month ago, and since then she seems to learn a ton of new words every day. While we were visiting family during Thanksgiving, she finally started calling me "Mommy" all the time. Before that, she'd only scream "Mommy" when she was ready for me to get her out of the bath. It's music to my ears. The last few days, she's been testing out "Mom" and "Mama" too.

She's become very maternal toward her dolls recently. When we first moved here, the residents threw a little welcoming party for us and gave Abby a doll. She's been sleeping with it in her crib since, but she's never been particulary attached to it. A couple months ago, she became attached to her Po doll again. She insisted on taking it everywhere with us, and she'd lovingly sit it next to her in the grocery cart. Shortly after, she found a small Po I'd bought awhile back in the hopes of leaving the big one at home, but it backfired. Suddenly, she had to have both of them with her. They all sleep with her too. Now, she has to sleep with both Poes, the baby doll, a big doll that's supposed to teach her how to button/zip/tie her shoes (thanks Susie!), and a giraffe we bought her at the zoo when we went to the Electric Safari. She also has one of our pillows, a down comforter, and 2 quilts that Damon's grandmother made. She refuses to sleep without any of that stuff!


Before Abby was born, I was prepared for all the changes we'd see in the first year. Everyone always talks about how much babies grow in that time. What I wasn't ready for, however, was how much she'd change during this second year. She went from a toddling baby who didn't understand much of what we'd say to her to a full-fledged little girl.