The Toddler Bed (12/31/11)

There were three milestones that I knew Chloe needed to accomplish not too long after Keely was born: 1) Potty training, 2) Weaning, and 3) Moving into a Toddler Bed. I haven't been looking forward to any of these. Fortunately, around 23 months, Chloe self-weaned so that wasn't as traumatic as I was anticipating since she was one who loved to nurse and her little sister was reminding her of it every 2 hours. But now, Chloe is very content with her cow's milk and doesn't seem bothered at all that KiKi gets to nurse and she doesn't. It's almost as if she forgot that she ever once nursed herself. I'm really not looking forward to potty training as it is a big commitment from the parents and I'm just not ready for it yet so we're putting that one off for a bit (besides, things I've read state that kids typically aren't ready for it until they are closer to 3). 


So, since we are expecting to need the crib for Keely in the next couple months, we thought it was finally time to move Chloe into a toddler bed.Her crib converts to one so we simply removed one side of it and now Chloe can easily get in and out of it. (Once Keely needs the crib, Chloe will be getting a twin sized bed, with railing of course.) 


Her first time to sleep in it was nap time and she did great! Her first night was also uneventful. Her second night, however, found her on the ground twice. Fortunately, the mattress is only 12 inches off the ground so she didn't have too far to go. The first time, she was still asleep on the floor when we saw her and the second time, she was awake but didn't seem too confused or anything by it. She easily went back to sleep for the rest of the night. So far, this transition has gone really smoothly. There were three milestones that I knew Chloe needed to accomplish not too long after Keely was born: 1) Potty training, 2) Weaning, and 3) Moving into a Toddler Bed.

Chloe's teeth marks on the railing

First time to climb in and lay down

"I'm a Big Girl!"

"One little monkey jumping on the bed"

"Got my duckies; I'm all set!"

"Night, Night"

Sharing a bed with her sister already :)

Chloe's 2nd Year of Life

 

Here's some highlights of what Chloe accomplished during her second year of life:

• Walking at 15 Months all on her own
• Got the rest of her teeth (except her 2-year molars)
• Loves being naked and running around while naked saying, "I nakey, I nakey!"
• Knows how to obey (when she's listening to you) and how to disobey
• Likes to try to put clothes on by herself.
• Can take some of her clothes off by herself, like her socks and her PJs
• Discovered pockets in her pants & jackets
• Talking a ton: Started with single words and by 23 months she was putting multiple word sentences together (although, she will still talk gibberish from time to time). Chloe is even using contractions and the proper endings on verbs like instead of saying "I run" she says "I running;" She is also using pronouns very well.
• Started saying "Please, Thank You,  and Welcome" without being prompted and in appropriate situations (although, sometimes she gets Thank You and You're Welcome mixed up)
• Loves to sing and will just burst out in song, especially in the car. Sometimes you can tell that she's singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Jesus Loves Me," or "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and other times she's definitely making up her own new song
• She loves to read books. She loves being read to, and other times she is insistent on reading the book to you. Even though she can't actually read yet, she says a lot of gibberish while reading, but every few words or so is one that you can understand and she is actually telling you about the story because the word is a character typically from the story!
• She loves to play at the park, on the slides and swing. Towards her 2^nd birthday, she started doing a lot of pretending at the park: she will go behind this little counter that is her height, pretend to make some food ("Mix, Mix, Mix"), hand you something, and tell you to eat or drink it. Then you can ask her to make you something and she'll give that to you. She also loves to run at the park, on the grass and on the sidewalks. She gets her little arms tucked right under her arm pits, swings them back and forth while her little legs take off, and she states, "I running, I running!"
• One day, maybe around 20 months, she started turning in a circle and saying, "I twirling, I twirling!" I'm not sure who taught her that, but it was adorable.
• Loved being Tinkerbell for Halloween and now when she gets a fancy dress on she says "I Tinkerbell, I Tinkerbell" and must find her wand.
• She fell in love with these little rubber ducks and has to have them whenever she sleeps. She loves to feed them, nap with them, and just carry them around everywhere. It took a while to find more of these (we only had two and that just wasn't going to do with the possibility of losing them), but thanks to Nana, we have another dozen of them!
• She started to let us know what she wants and doesn't want to eat at mealtimes (although, this is still a little tricky as sometimes she'll tell you that she wants something and then won't eat it once it's prepared).
• Loves to count, but oddly enough, she skips a lot of even numbers, like 2, 6, and 12.
• She likes putting puzzles together and around 22 months, could put the shapes in her shape sorting bucket all by herself.
• Daddy developed a night-time routine with her: Chloe picks out a book from the bookcase, she reads it in the rocking chair with whoever is putting her to bed, she puts the book back on the bookcase and turns off the light, then comes back to the person and they pray with her and lay her down in her crib, placing the duckys in her hands, blankets over her, and turning on her music box (and eventually her mobile as well). About 99% of the time, once this routine is started and in motion, regardless of how Chloe was feeling about going to bed a few seconds before, she doesn't put up a fuss about going to bed.
• Became a Big Sister and, after a few weeks of adjustment, has been a great one. She loves to hold Keely, help change her diaper, and get things for her. She is still learning, though, what it means to be careful and gentle with her, how to be more quiet while Keely is napping (good thing Keely can sleep through a lot of noise) and not bother her, and that she is still a little baby who can't do the big girl things that Chloe can do.
• Weaned herself around 23 months!
• Loves to help Daddy outside in the yard and garden.
• Her favorite movie is The Little Mermaid and asks to watch while lying in "Mommy's bed"

Chloe's 2nd Birthday Celebrations (11/28/11)

For Chloe's 2nd Birthday, we took her out to Chick-fil-A for dinner (Can you see the shiner on her left eye? She got that at Disneyland the day before :( ). Then we let her play in the play area for a bit, followed by Miniature Golf at Boomers, and Cake & Presents at home afterwards.

Chloe mainly enjoyed handing us the balls and picking them up for us out of the hole. She did let us hit the balls a few times though before she collected them and moved on to the next hole. Needless to say, we did not play an actual game :) 

Chloe's cake consisted of an Apple Spice Cupcake that Uncle Tim had made for Thanksgiving (we froze it for her birthday - and, yes, we are already using leftovers from Thanksgiving for Chloe's birthday).

Chloe wasn't too sure about blowing out the candles and she insisted on Mommy helping her.

"Yea! We did it!"

First taste...

Break for a Funny Face ;)

She LOVES it!

Disneyland (11/27/11)

For Chloe's 2nd Birthday, we took her to Disneyland to celebrate. Technically, she was still 1 as it was the day before ;) Here are some of the highlights:

Chloe was exactly 35" tall - the right height to go on the Matterhorn Bobsleds - yes, that's right, we took a 1 year old on her first rollercoaster ride!

Mommy's turn!

KiKi taking a well deserved nap :)

KiKi acting like a big girl

Meeting Mickey Mouse up close and personal