25th Month

Our little girl is 2 years old! Susanna’s cake this year was actually cupcakes made to look like Cookie Monster. The LSU pajamas from Grandma Mel and Pop-Pop seems to be the favorite gift.

 Our exciting family weekend came in the middle of the month when we went to NY on Saturday to see Rachael’s cousins, Brette and Michael, who were visiting from LA. Then we spent the night in a hotel in PA, and the next morning went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and saw Aunt Robinne, Uncle Ian and cousins Lochlan and Liadan who were visiting from New Zealand. This was Susanna’s first time meeting all of them.

 July was also a sad month—our friends, the Pickars, moved away to PA.

26th Month

We don’t have much hope of Susanna being potty trained any time soon. She is still afraid of the actual potty. She gets especially upset if the seat is up, saying that “the potty is broken.”

Susanna doesn’t seem too phased by the fact that she is alone now while Rachael and Liam are in school. As we drive out of the parking lot after dropping off Liam, she will ask, “Where’s Liam?” then “Where’s Rachael?”.  Then, that’s pretty much it. Mom is enjoying spending time with just Susanna, although it does mean that Mom has to be the one to play with her—there’s no Liam and Rachael to do the job.

28th Month

Susanna got more into Halloween this year, dressed in the jester costume that Mom had made when Liam was little. After trick-or-treating at 2 or 3 houses, she said she had “a lot” of candy and was ready to go home.

29th Month

We had great Thanksgiving, hosting dinner for Grandma and Grandpa, Maw-Maw and Pots, and Aunt Emily, Uncle John, and cousin Travis.

30th Month

Susanna had a great time at Christmas this year—it wasn’t quite as overwhelming as last year. Her favorite toys seem to be Duplo blocks from Grandma and Grandpa and Santa. The blocks from Grandma and Grandpa came with jungle animals that fit on the blocks, and Susanna’s favorite thing to do is to build a “giraffe stager”. Which is simply randomly stacking all the blocks.

 The day after Christmas brought 16 inches of snow, which was daunting to Susanna because she is too short to walk through it. After it melted a little, though, she was right out there playing in it with Liam and Rachael—climbing up the big piles of snow and sliding right down, giggling the whole time. Rachael and Liam made paths through the snow so that she could walk through it easier.

 Susanna knows all of her letters by sight, and there are times we think she might actually start reading before Liam.

31st Month

Snow, snow, snow—it seems like that’s all January has been about. We think Susanna has had enough—she doesn’t like having to go to the bus stop twice a day any more.

 Susanna likes to play the game of asking where people are and then saying silly things about where she thinks they are. Her favorite place for Mom to be is “at TGI Fridays, cleaning the potties”. One day, she asked Mom where Daddy was—when Mom said, “at work”, Susanna said. “again?!”

 Susanna had her first dentist appointment this month. She was excited about going, but when it came time to sit in the chair, she wasn’t too sure. She sat on Mom’s lap, and Mom had to pin her down. She fought, but was very excited to get the goodie bag with new toothbrush and floss at the end. As she and Mom were leaving, Susanna said, “that was fun at the dentist!”

Susanna wants very badly to wear “Dora underwear” but has no interest in using the potty.

32nd Month

Susanna had her 2 1/2-year check up this month. Unfortunately, she failed the eye test, so now we have to take her to an eye doctor. We aren’t sure how we feel about a 2 1/2 –year-old wearing glasses.

Susanna is now able to pedal her trike instead of just pushing with her feet when she rides it. She loves riding it to and from the bus stop, but Mom usually ends up carrying it at least part of the way home because it’s uphill.

 Susanna now enjoys sitting on the potty, on her new “cushie-tushie” seat, but still won’t actually deposit anything into the potty. One step at a time.

The Easter Bunny made his appearance once again, bringing lots of candy. Mom and the kids spent a few days over Spring Break in NY with Maw Maw and Pots.

Books, books, books!! That seems to be all Susanna is interested in rights now. No amount of stories is enough for her. Now if we could just get her that interested in using the potty.

 We had several trees taken down in the backyard this month. The kids all had a great time watching the guys climb way up in the trees to cut them—they really loved feeling the ground shake when the trees finally fell.

3rd Birthday Cake