Paige at age 2

June 3, 2019 Paige turned 2!

^ This cheese ball smile is hilarious and oh so cute! 

She never smiles like this either, so that makes it even better. 

^ Reality of pictures...they don't last long!

Big sister wanted to get in on the photos as well! 

Some of the decorations we had...

^ One of my best friends Shaina made these cookies - loved them!

^ This ice cream cake may be a new tradition. Perfect for a summer birthday.

And fun fact, I had an ice cream cake for almost every single one of my birthdays - my absolute favorite. 

I couldn't help but post this progression of photos from when we were singing happy birthday to her...

^ This is her shy face

She attempted to blow the candles out, but after one try they didn't go out and she got shy again.

^ Big sister was very happy to help

^ Paige loved the cake!

I picked the wild flower theme because it seemed so fitting for Paige; her personality and the stage she's in. Paige has always been a little more on the fiesty/stubborn/mischevious side (i.e. the wild part of the theme) and a girly girl (flower part of the theme).  

I didn't get many photos from her party, though that's okay. She really had a blast playing with friends, opening presents and eating! 

Size: 34.3" (63%) and 26.68 pounds (51%). Wearing size 6 diaper, 2T and 3T clothes, and size 6 shoes!

Sleep: This girl sleeps so well! She wakes around 7am and her one nap is around 12:30, till on average 2:45pm. She falls asleep fast and wakes happy, just sits in her crib till we come to get her. She's so quiet most times, that if you aren't paying attention to the monitor, who knows how long it would take to realize she was awake! And, bedtime is around 7:30pm (still sleeping the whole night through on her in the crib). Some nights she takes a little time to fall asleep, but she's content, making some noises/humming/singing to herself in the meantime. And all she has in her crib with her is a blanket.

Eating: Thankfully she tries pretty much every single thing we give her, and likes most things! We'd say she's not a picky eater and she eats a great amount for snacks and meals. I would try to list her favorites, but she likes so much!

Milestones/Accomplishments: For quite a while I was "worried" about Paige's speech. She was sooo much slower to talk than Ellie (who I should definitely not compare to because Ellie was super advanced in speech and also to just not compare anyways!) and I felt she was "behind" other kids her age. Ellie would like to talk for her a lot of the time, and Ellie just talks a lot in general, not giving Paige much "air time". And since Paige wasn't very dominant in this area, she seemed to not care about talking as much. BUT, Paige has pretty much always met the standard word count for her age, though having a more quiet demeanor in a way, so that's why I felt the way I did. Around 18 months she definetely stepped up her word game (which her pediatrician said happens a lot), then Paige toned it down a little the next month, only to expand her vocabulary more and more the following months! She's over a hundred words now and says up to 3-word phrases!
- Jumps (and it's so cute...puts her whole body into it, squatting low to get high)
- Can count 1, 2
- When asked what color something is she won't always get it right, but knows several colors; guessing something is blue (a lot of things are "blue" ha), green, pink, white or purple...
- Can identify about 25 body parts

Likes:
- Absolutely loves being held or being in our lap, but she's also getting more and more independent - wants to try and do so much on her own.
- Seeing/hanging out with best friend Lily!
- Going into big sisters room, when she's not welcome ; ).. older sis wants alone time sometimes, but Paige knocks or opens door saying "Ellie!"
- Animals, but sometimes only from a distance. Can get a little nervous and wants to hold onto my leg or be held if they get too close.
- Water activities. We've been playing outside in the backyard with the water table and mini splash pad and/or going to a park splash pad most days.
- Having nails painted but has a hard time sitting still long enough for them to dry!

Dislikes:
- When you don't let her finish what she wanted to do on her own (i.e. getting into the car seat, turning the page in a book and walking anywhere are some big ones).
- Getting the shampoo rinsed out of her hair. She will go in spurts of doing a good job with tilting her head back, though other times she tips head forward too soon and we accidentally get the rinse in her face!
- Being hugged when she doesn't want to (by big sister). She'll whine and push her way out of it.

Additional things I want to remember: Her olive skin is so very soft. Dances with one arm up by her head. Asks for a bow and/or hair tie every single morning. Takes shoes/socks off in car most times and gets a little frustrated if she can't do it. Her shy face - it looks like she's trying not to smile with a combination of looking like she has a frown. When swaying or rocking her for a moment at sleep times she'll hum or sing parts of songs we sing to her.