Having a small two-year-old…

…is usually a pretty cool thing.

She’s not tall enough to open doors that are latched shut (so she can’t get in anywhere she shouldn’t be; however, that means that she can lock herself IN anywhere, which is, admittedly, a disadvantage…)

We get very good use out of all her clothes- in fact, the 6-month shorts that I had bought for her for last summer look really cute on her this summer- you can even see her knees!!!

She can still sleep laying down in her stroller.  With the foot rest folded up so that she can’t slip out, which means she doesn’t need a seatbelt on.  Win for her, too.

She can sit backward in the shopping cart seat.  She really likes to see where we’re going sometimes, and her sitting cross-legged and backward fixes that problem.

Need to keep things out of reach?  So much easier when they’re only 29” tall.

However.

When you’re only 29” tall, you can also fit into some pretty precarious places.  Like underneath the displays they use Costco.  Keeping up with her, when she’s not in a being-good-and-following-directions type of mood, is an art.

It also means that she can fit into the infant paraphernalia we now have lying about our house.  Like the infant swing (she thinks that’s pretty funny), the baby’s car seat…

…and the moses basket.

I was feeding Addy the other day on the couch; I looked down, thankfully, before I stood up and found this:

Mind you- she gave up the pacifier a year ago, and hasn’t seen one since. 

And do you see that one top tooth?  It came in in February.  And I’ve thought that the other front tooth was ready to pop since that time.

We’re still waiting.

Obviously.

And I can’t. wait. for that to happen…

Outtakes

I posted some of the “good” pictures that we took of Piper for her (albeit a little late) birthday the other day.

Those, however, weren’t the most…  shall we say… entertaining.

These are the outtakes that are worthy of being shared, but aren’t on my “I must print these” list.  Maybe.

“You want me to do get close to that???”

“Ohhh, what a nice dear!”

I know that we were getting a mouthful of something here, but I have no idea of what she was saying.  Or the importance she felt that lecture carried.  You can see that look in her eyes of “Now, look….  See here…  This is how it’s gonna be.”  I’m thinking that a career in lecturing is in her future.  Professor?  Trainer?  That person at the museum who tells you not to touch something?  Who knows… 

A signature Piper look

Okay, so these…  We were trying to get Piper to smell the flowers (she’s usually really good at smelling things- really, she is) but she decided that either a) they smelled good enough to taste, or b) she decided surely something so pretty is meant to be eaten, so why take the time to smell???

Wondering what she just did (rather- wondering what we “made” her do…)

…and deciding that it did not taste good.

…aaaand deciding that she was not happy with the whole situation.  We moved on at this point…

We sat her down here and someone walked by and said something along the lines of “oh, look at that cute little girl”.  Piper heard and signed “thank you”.  She’s cute and she knows it- but at least she’s polite about it…

The pretty pink flowers were near the library- so of course, there’s a statue of kids reading books nearby.  This completely creeped Piper out.  She had no idea why the little girls weren’t moving.  See the look of concern in her face???

Signing “book”, but she couldn’t figure out how to get the pages to turn.

“Are you okay, little girl???”

This is just funny because of the tongue.  Look at that thing.  I mean, really…

We crossed the river and let Piper look down.  She was amazed, awe-struck, and, I think, a little horrified, all at the same time.  We could not get her attention, and she would not take her eyes off the water.  Kind of funny, actually.

And on the other side of the river, we found more of those pretty pink flowers.  Turns out, they don’t taste any better here than they did there.  Go figure.

Out and about

We decided to do a “big” outting this weekend with the girls- for the first real time with the two.  We’d thought about going to the mountains, but I’m still not sure about going to altitude with the baby (I know, should be fine, but it does make me a little nervous), and I wasn’t sure about making Addy be in her car seat that long- she’s not too big a fan.  And it’s a looong way back down the hill if the kid is screaming…

Then we thought about the zoo, but it was supposed to be in the 90’s (and you know how much I enjoy the 90’s), so we decided that between the humidity and asphalt paths, that didn’t sound like the best idea, either.

So, we ended up with a picnic at one of our favorite parks that’s not too far, but far enough that we don’t just drop by very often.  (We did go last summer- boy has Piper changed!)

…Piper’s favorite part of the picnic was the Oreos…  I did NOT think about them melting, however…

And since it was our “big” day, we decided that the dogs could go, too.  It’s a great dog park (the county that it’s in?  Dogs have as many rights (more?  I can’t remember now…) than people.   No joke) with an open running space and a big pond for them to play in.  Luke assured me that he wasn’t planning on letting the dogs swim, though, but decided to take a couple towels “just in case” they happened to find their way in the water.  Now (one of our) dogs is smart, admittedly, but I’m pretty sure she hasn’t mastered the art of opening dog-proof gates. 

So, needless to say, we drove home in a very stinky car (note to self- leave the towels at home.  Also?  The bigger the dog, the bigger the stink…)

Daddy and Piper watching all the dogs swimming- there were a lot of happy dogs…

But everyone had a good time- Piper the most.  Because the best part of this park?  The water feature!

Realizing the water was a little cold after the heat of the sun

Trying to decide which big kid to run after

She tried several times to look down the holes where the water comes out.  Thankfully I was able to divert the potential trauma induced by a fast-flowing, fast-coming water stream in the face…

This park isn’t too far from Luke’s office- we need to meet over there for lunch over the summer and let Piper run through the water.

Only next time, I’ll be sure to bring a swimsuit that actually, you know, fits so that my kid doesn’t have to run around in only her Speedo bottoms…  Mom fail.

Awww…

Addy: “Are you sure ‘bout this, mommy?  ‘Cause I’m not…”

Piper (singing): “I love Addy, yes I do…  I love Addy- she’s so cute!”

(or something to the effect.  I’m getting good at reading the nonverbal cues in her big blue eyes.  Pretty sure I’m dead on with this one…)

I just can’t decide!!!

My mom and I made a trip up to the foothills last week- partially to get out and do something different, and partly to get some 2 year old pictures of Piper.

And I hafta say- the pictures turned out way cute.  I’m biased, I know, but you can’t deny…  So please pardon my indecisiveness- I had a hard time narrowing it down!

**Please ignore the bumped eyebrow and nose- they are evidence that she is, without a doubt, a full-fledged toddler these days.   And that the stairs won.

**Also?  I think I’m investing in a battery operated curling iron (what are you going to do for a 45-minute car ride, after all…)- the “one cute piggy and one sticky-outty piggy” look leaves a little to be desired.  However, on a positive side, I think it is a visual aid in describing her quirky nature- and I kinda love that…

Oh dear.

Piper brought me my camera today and was asking to have her picture taken.

There I was, blissfully ignorant as to the reason behind her desires.

This is what transpired, my friends- with each click, a new face…

I do believe we may have a class clown on our hands…

Piper “talks”

By far Piper’s strong suit is her language skills.  Her receptive language has always been high, and now that she’s a fairly prolific signer (I had to count for her IFSP last month- my list is over 170 words that she signs appropriately, routinely without prompting- I’m a toughy when it comes to “credit”), we don’t worry about her expressive language, either.

Her vocal language, however, is a whole ‘nother story. 

I swear that every week, Piper is “talking” more and more.  She’s definitely making  a lot more attempts at vocalization, and we’re getting better and better at her making purposeful air movement, which is what we’ve been fighting with for months.  She’s even blowing bubbles now! 

We still have issues, though, with her combining facial postures (which are really quite good- and she has a ton of them) with airflow AND voicing.  She’s really good at saying things like “buhbuh” for bubbles, “puhp” for pop, “bluh” for blanket, “duhduh” for dad, “tuh” for step and stomp…  you get the idea.  She’ll say the sounds, if they don’t require any voicing.  It’s a work in progress.  But I feel like, one of these days, she’s just going to get it, and we’ll be off and running.  I kind of hope that by the time she goes to preschool in 14 months, she’ll be really talking, but I half wonder if it’ll take being around a lot of other kids who don’t know what she’s signing to give her the incentive to really start.  Guess we’ll see!

Anyway, these are some of her more…  creative?…  approximations.  And yes, we do laugh at her every time she says “chinchilla”. 

Summ Summ Summertiiiime

I am so excited that we’ve been having nice weather lately.  It hasn’t been overly hot (although I have complained a few times- I really don’t think it’s necessary to have weather above 90 degrees.  I mean, really), but warm enough to be in shorts.

And play in the sprinkler.

Not that I play in the sprinkler, mind you, but I’m more than willing to <<ahem>> encourage my toddler to blow off some steam.

We have a little blow-up pool, but because we have two labs (you know, water dogs), leaving the blow-up pool in the backyard is clearly not an option.  So, until I can get my hands on a hard plastic pool, our water experiences have been moved to the front yard.  Which Piper approves of, of course, because she can greet all of our neighbors with a joyous wave as they drive by. 

Lesson Day 1:  The Sprinkler (subtitled “Piper conquered her fears”)

…close (kind of)…

…closer…

Bravery, I tell  ya- bravery.  In the 2” of water.

Lesson Day 2:  The Pool (subtitled “Why didn’t you just call this an outside bath?  I would have been less concerned…  Oh, and PS?  Why didn’t we think about this before???”)

“WHOA!”

“Are you sure this is fun???”

…the “bravery” is shining through again…

…aaaaand she decides that it is a good idea!

The other munchkin?

Yup- that pretty much sums it up.