two years!

And just like that...twenty-four months have flown by. My sweet girl is TWO today!

The cutest two you've ever seen, though.

Our monthly updates were mostly nonexistent during her second year of life, but I think I can pull one together for this important milestone of a day. And also, you know, make up for the month it's been since the last time I blogged. Oops.

Aliases: I would have to say we call her Mill-mill and Mills about 80% of the time, and Nuggie/Nugs the other 20%. At school they mostly call her "Mimmy" (rhymes with Timmy), apparently because that's what it sounds like when Millie or the other toddlers say her name. So now the adults call her that. I think that's pretty cute too, so I throw that in there sometimes. 

But let's be honest: now that she's grown and sassy, she hears CAMILLA ANN!!!! every now and then, and she knows we mean business. So while we don't call her Camilla on the reg...at least she recognizes it? Haha.

Me? Sassy? Why, I never...

Stats: Well PRAISE JESUS, she hasn't been to the doctor in literally MONTHS. I think not since May?? It's amazing. But that means I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is. I will estimate that she probably weighs 31-33 pounds. My niece is 34 pounds and Millie feels super light compared to her, but she feels heavier than babies I know that weigh 30 pounds, so there you have it. She has her two-year check-up next week, so I'll find out then. As for height, she has grown really tall this summer- dresses that were below her knee in the spring are barely covering her bottom now!! She can still wear a 2T comfortably, though, although I'm not sure how pants would be length-wise...she has no use for pants in this long, hot Georgia summer. I anticipate buying a mix of 2T and 3T for her fall/winter clothes at the consignment sales the next few weeks. (Update 8-10-16: She is 29 lb 12.5 oz and 35.5 inches!)

Her feet, though...certifiably tiny. She can still wear her favorite size 4 sandals, and her other 2 pair of summer shoes are 5s. We have several cold-weather shoes in size 6 & 7 (hand-me-downs from my niece who is otherwise almost the exact same size as Millie...only her feet are twice as long, ha!), but they are gigantic clown shoes on her. It's hilarious. So my baby is practically all grown up, but at least her feet are staying baby sized?

Well, I love my tiny feet. They are precious and easy to trace!

She has all of her teeth except one top two-year molar. Annnnnd she also managed to get her first dental injury in July (fell on a toy car), and now one of her precious top front teeth is turning gray. Waaah. More importantly, there isn't any damage to the root, there was just bruising and the tooth got loose and now it's turning gray. But that was a fun first emergency trip to the dentist! There's a chance it may turn back white, but who knows. At any rate, the way she normally smiles, you can't even see her top teeth, so it's not really noticeable unless you pull on her lip or are brushing her teeth...which most people aren't, as it turns out.

I'd be adorable even if my teeth were purple, Mommy!

She's on her way to being potty trained. We haven't put a whole lot of effort towards it, but she definitely knows when she needs to go to the bathroom, and most of the time she tells us and will go in the potty. She wears undies around the house sometimes, but still has to wear diapers at school (she is moving up to the next classroom, where they have a bathroom, next week), so we haven't really pushed it too much yet. I don't really have a plan or philosophy for potty training...I think we'll just keep playing it by ear and see how it goes. I figure, if she can go a few hours in undies at home with successfully using the potty...it shouldn't be that bad, right? And then I also console myself with the fact that I don't really care if she potty trains or not right now. Since her cloth diapers don't cost us anything, I have basically no incentive to stop using them. So if she doesn't seem ready, we'll put it off.

Eating: This doesn't even really need a section anymore. She is a totally accomplished eater. She eats everything we do and isn't picky at all. This can best be illustrated by what our friends witnessed when we were out to eat the other day- we were mostly done eating, but Millie was sitting in my lap while we were chatting after the meal. There was still salad on my plate, and Millie was eating the cookie that came with her meal. She had the cookie in one hand, and in the other hand she was picking the raw onions out of my salad and eating those alternately with the cookie. Cookies, onions...it's all good to Millie.

One of my co-workers has fig trees that are currently producing a lot of figs. As it turns out, fresh figs taste nothing like Fig Newtons, so I'm not terribly interested in them myself, but Millie is the #1 Fig Fan and will polish off a whole carton of them in a single afternoon!

MY "fihh," Mama! MINE! (yep, you can have them.)

But don't worry, we haven't totally brainwashed her. She likes ice cream as much as any other toddler/human!

Tweet ('treat'), Mama? My tweet??!

Communication: Her language has exploded in the last few months. I can no longer count all the words she can say, and she understands almost everything we say. She makes mental connections that amaze me sometimes! The other day we were outside playing and it was really hot and humid (see also: Georgia in July), and I commented offhand that "Mills, your hair is getting wavy!" She turned around and looked at me and then waved her hands. Little smarty pants! I love listening to her talk- she has the sweetest little voice and accompanies her talking with adorable facial expressions and emphatic hand motions. About a month ago she started this thing where if I'm holding her or she's sitting on/near me, she will grab my face and turn it toward her as she says "Mama!!" every time she needs to say something. And even if I say "yes, Millie?" the first time, she usually does it about 10 times or so, just to really drive home the point that she needs my undivided attention. I think it is adorable.

MAMA! Mama? Mama. MAMA!

Here's my other favorite example of how awesomely (and hilariously) she puts things together these days. So every time we sit down to eat, we first say our prayer. Then we give her her food, but often times it is "hot-hot," so we/she blows on it and/or waits a little while for it to cool down. She will usually eat some fruit or something else room temperature while she waits. BUT- if time has passed, and she decides that her food is still too hot to eat, she will make everyone stop eating and pray again ("Mama!! Hot! AaaMEEN!"). Because I guess to her, praying is what makes the food okay to eat?? Ha!! And she prays with real passion, too, on these follow-up-food-temperature prayers. 

It is beyond adorable, but sometimes her food is apparently hot for like 20 minutes, and MY food is downright cold by the time we finish all this praying. So sometimes I have to play the ultimate heathen card and say "Millie, no more praying. All done."...words I never thought I'd say, ha!
Likes: Her main passion is still playing outside. Whether she's in a pool (kiddie pool, real pool, ocean...all 'wah wah' is fine by her!) or just playing with her toys, she's always happy to be outside. She particularly loves going on "woks"around the neighborhood. She is a huge fan of playing with her dolls right now. She loves to take off their clothes, put on/off diapers, help them go night-night, and push them in the stroller.

When my babies outnumber me, I wear them- just like Mommy does!

And yes, I still regularly wear her in the Ergo. Normally in a front carry, because you just can't beat those cuddles.

She loves reading books and we'll often find her "reading" them by herself (or to her babies). She points to the pictures and names things in the book, and it's really just the cutest thing I've ever seen.

She loves sorting things. That generally involves making a big mess first (like by pulling out all of the play dishes, or all of her cloth diapers, or all of her shoes), but then she is really deliberate with how she organizes them- often by color, but sometimes by other attributes (like all of the plates, all of the forks, all of the boots). I find myself wishing I had some of the manipulatives I used to have in my pre-k classes so that I could see how many different ways she can sort items...but I guess I'll just have to wait, haha.

She really, really loves people. Her grandparents most especially (besides Mama and Daddy, of course). She is always asking about Pop-pop, Nannie, Mimi, and Papa. She was in heaven when we went to the beach with my parents and she had a week of undivided grandparent attention!

"HAPPY!!!!"

(She understands what "happy" means, and will often just shout "HAPPY!!!" when she is happy or excited about something. It might be the cutest thing ever.) (She also uses the word "happy" to describe cupcakes, candles (any kind, including like scented pillar candles), and the Happy Birthday song...so sometimes you have to use your context clues to figure out what she's talking about when she says "happy.")

Dislikes: Honestly, not too much. She definitely doesn't care for bugs and "bees" (anything small that flies but isn't a bird). She's a real grump when she's hungry, and a few times lately I've woken her up from a nap (I know, ridiculous...but sometimes she naps a long time and I GET BORED, okay? I need my Mill-mill!!) and she has been the angriest human alive for like an hour, so I've learned my lesson. Let sleeping babies sleep. Got it.

She gets very attached to routines, and sometimes she gets extremely displeased if you mess up the routine- especially if food is involved. Exhibit A: She's usually starving and can get super cranky on the car ride home, so after I picked her up from school one day, we sat on a bench outside and ate a snack. She loved it, I loved it (because I got to spend time with her before getting back in the car for the long drive home), and she fell right asleep in the car, since she wasn't starving. So I did it the next day, too. On the third day, I forgot a snack. When we walked by that bench and didn't stop, she LOST IT. "SIT, Mama!! Eat eat!! Sit!! Eat!!" And then she screamed for the half-hour drive home. You better believe I remember her snack every day now. HA.

"CHEEEEEE!!!"

I didn't know this would be such an exhaustingly long post, but there it is. My much-loved baby...I can't even believe that I've had the privilege of being her mother for two whole years. It seems like forever, and yet it's crazy to me that it's only a third of the time that we spent waiting for her. She will be going into first grade before we'll have had her for as many years as we waited for her! I remember how long the first two years of wanting a baby felt. These two years felt much, much, much faster.

Last night after I put Millie in bed, tears fell from my eyes as I rubbed her back. I cannot believe how incredibly fortunate I am. My baby is turning two, and part of me thinks it is awful because she is less and less a baby every day...but all of me knows how incredibly blessed I am that she is here, she is healthy, she is growing. I never, ever want to take that for granted- and truly, who knows what tomorrow will bring? Every day that we have together as a family is the best day. My hope is that as she grows and learns and understands more and more, she always knows how incredibly cherished and beloved she is. I tell her probably fifty times a day: "Millie, Mama loves you." And I think she understands what that means, because she's started giving me the tightest hugs when I say that. And sometimes a kiss. And- let's just be honest- sometimes she just licks me...like a dog. I can only take that to mean "I love you too, Mama." 

I can't bring myself to post the progression of monthly pictures in the gray chair, because a) I haven't taken an official "two years old" one, and b) I would just melt into a puddle of tears and be useless for the rest of the day. We have an exciting day planned to celebrate her "happy," (including plenty of cupcakes, candles, and singing!) and with any luck, we'll have a super fun playground in our backyard by the end of the weekend! (If we DON'T have any luck, we'll just have some heavy, expensive boxes in our backyard. So maybe wish us luck. And/or send help.)

Happy birthday, my sweet, funny girl. You've made me the happiest person in the world.

Sixteen Months

Twelve Months

 Eleven Months

Ten Months

Nine Months
Eight Months

Seven Months

Six Months

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

One Month