Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Happy 2nd Birthday, Grace!

Yesterday, April 2nd, 2013, Grace Madeline turned two years old!


We celebrated with a party on Saturday. We kept it simple, with a loosely based "Elmo," theme with lots of red, green, and yellow balloons, and about 30 visitors into our house.





On her actual birthday, we made a cake and played all day long. She got to skype with both sets of grandparents and opened two gifts. It was her golden birthday, how special! (2 years old on the 2nd)

A little update on Grace:

Stats
Height- 35.8 inches (90th percentile)
Weight- 24.7 pounds (25th percentile)
Clothes- 18 to 24 months
Diapers- 4+
Shoes- size 5

Sleep
Grace is still a wonderful sleeper. We worked really hard to get her to be this way and we are so glad we put in the time and effort early on! She sleeps from 7 pm until 7 am and still takes two naps a day, usually two hours each. Typically her naps are from 10-12 and 2-4. If we miss a morning nap it doesn't really effect how long her afternoon nap is, so I'll keep her on two naps for as long as possible!

Food
Grace eats cereal and milk every morning but also loves pancakes and waffles. Lunch is usually yogurt, a PB and J, or leftovers, and dinner is whatever we are eating. She still isn't crazy about pasta,  pizza, or condiments, but loves chicken nuggets, pretzels, and strawberries.

Potty Training
Back in January, when Grace was 21 months old, we started potty training Grace. We rolled up the carpet and watched alot of tv for about 3 days, taking Grace to the potty every 15 to 20 minutes. After day 2 she would sign and say potty whenever she needed to go and would be rewarded with a small piece of candy. She's only had a few accidents when we are out in public, usually because I forget to take her to the bathroom. She's probably had 15 accidents at home with several of those being during her nap time. Just in the last week she's done alot better at holding it during her nap time. She still wears a diaper at night.


Play
Grace loves reading books, especially her Potty book or any non fiction picture/label book. She randomly loves playing with her baby dolls or pushing her car around. She likes the idea of coloring but will only do it for about 3-5 minutes. She likes some of our sensory bins but isn't crazy about play dough. She's finally old enough to sit still for her Bible story every night and it is one of my favorite moments in our day. She also loves to jump on trampolines and help me cook.

Talking
Grace's speaking ability is just now stretching to 2-3 word phrases. She's finally starting to babble more too. It's fun to catch a glimpse of a word or two in amongst the nonsense. Some of our favorite things she says are: Good morning, more please, hot dog (what she calls mickey and minnie) here you go momma, bye bye (when she wants something to go away or end,) oh no! Broken! *gasp* and then says a kids name when she wants to see or play with them.

We also pray with her at dinner and bedtime and it usually goes something like this:
God,
I love you. Thank you, for momma, dadda, So So (Sophia,) food, toys, friends. I love you. Amen.

I can't believe that two years have gone by since the first time I held her in my arms. Grace made me a mother late one April night. I am so blessed by her energy, enthusiasm, and endless love. I love you, Gracie girl!



7 comments:

Alison H said...

We love love love you, Grace! I can't wait to hug and kiss you and tell you happy birthday in person! Kiss your mommy and baby sister for me! Love you!

Lyndsey said...

I can't believe we have 2 year olds! Happy belated Birthday sweet Grace! Her hair is getting so long and pretty! I hope you never cut those curls!

Emily Powell said...

Potty training is going to be a looong process for G. She can hold it several hours and then other times she doesnt...shes only told us a handful of times she actually has to go. Lucky you!

Tami said...

I loved all the pictures! She looks like she has grown- her legs look so long in that picture of her on the buffet. It looks like you guys had a wonderful time celebrating your beautiful girl. I wish we could have been there!!

Cara said...

What a cutie!!! That girl already has such an amazing personality. I look forward to seeing what God does in and through her life. :)

Sarah said...

Happy Birthday Grace! Just hopped over to your blog and am VERY intrigued to read you live in the middle east. Can't wait to read more on that journey!

The Barker's said...

Happy birthday grace!!! She is growing so fast and love the curls!