Two years old!

Amanda turned two years old today. We are so proud. I'm not sure where to start to summarize the past two years. Joy, pain, sleepless nights, love, pride, tears, fun. It's been great seeing her develop from a little newborn into this little person who has become like a third roommate. She adds to the conversation on her own and dictates the flow of the evening.

She plays make believe with her tea set; stirring the pot and then delivering a cup to us to have a drink properly. She sets the dinner table under Katie's command and has become helpful around the house. She says "nugget" when she has pooped in her pants and we are still working on potty training. All in due time. I'm in no rush to force her to use it.

She still likes to rough-house with me as I toss her into the air or attack her with a tickle fight. She defends herself, runs away and then says, "Again!". Wash, rinse, repeat. So fun.

23 months

Amanda's newest additions to her personality:
-Has learned about possessions and says, "Mine!"
-Is expanding her vocabulary and can say, "More, please", but is usually limited to one word at a time
-Has become fickle from time to time and loves an activity and them immediately hates it
-She regularly drinks out of a small drinking cup, but still has a great deal of love for her bottle particularly when it comes to milk and the morning. She seems to bypass sippy cups altogether except when driving in the car
-Is starting to excel at potty training with a portable toilet
-Exercises her vocabulary by saying out "car" and "doggie" and the like when she spots them out her window
-She can now point to her pelo (hair), ojos (eyes), dientes (teeth), boca (mouth) and nariz (nose) when you ask her in Spanish

(F)UNemployment

So far my first two weeks of funemployment has been very productive and rewarding. I've been able to spend more time with my family and also knock out a few projects around 'this old house' of mine. I've been a good house husband and have accomplished the following:
-Installed new attic ladder
-Built a new coat rack in our mud room
-Cleaned the gutters twice
-Raked the lawn twice
-Cut the grass twice
-Winterized the outside of the house
-Hung (but did not turn on) Xmas lights
-Run various errands
-Got my hair cut
-Did many loads of laundry
-Helped my mother sweep out her garage
-Went grocery shopping
-Caulked a leaky gutter
-Scanned in old 35mm negatives

You drink, you drive, I lose? revisted

It took 19 months, but our case finally settled and we have received our deductible back from our insurance company. What a nightmare that was. Three court visits and countless months all to get the money we were owed...

22 months

Here we are; October. I've been blogging for nearly two years now. Even though my posts have dwindled as I have been more of a facebook person, I still feel this is a valid place to share my thoughts. Motivation is lacking, I must admit. Back to my topic at hand. My little girl is 22 months old and we are already starting talk about a 2nd birthday party. Fun times. Let's recap where she has changed/grown since we last spoke.

-32 inches tall
-30-ish pounds
-picky eater; she has started becoming really picky about her diet while at home. Somehow, she eats everything on the menu at daycare. Go figure.
-she speaks the names of her classmates (Carter, Megan, Aiden) over and over...until she meets them face to face each morning. It's really funny to watch little ones interact at breakfast. They are in their own little worlds and just happen to be cohabiting the same space.

First dentist visit

Amanda had her first dentist appointment today. She is approaching two years of age and we heard that it would be a good idea since she has all her teeth now. Turns out, it wasn't such a good idea. I wasn't able to attend the appointment because, you know, I have a job. Well, I don't have a job for much longer, so in hindsight I should have been there. Either way, Katie filled me in on all the good details.

Amanda was friendly with him (after all, he is a pediatric dentist) and giving him high-fives right up to the point where he put on the latex gloves and mask. It all went sideways. She stopped smiling and locked her jaws. He was not allowed to check anything. DENIED!

The moral of this story is...wait until your child is three years of age. In the end, everyone parted ways with a good-natured laugh.

21 months

Wow, today is 09-09-09 and Amanda is now 21 months old. 21 is not easily divisible by 9, but it is divisible by 3; and so is 9. Anyhow.

I failed to mention this in the previous months' posts, but we no longer have a need for gates on the stairs. She is able to go up and down without a problem at all. We let her roam the house freely and she has never had any falls or slips. I think she has a healthy respect for the stairs. She now weighs about 30 pounds and is 32 inches tall and is a proud member of the 30-30 club. She has almost outgrown our changing table.

New skills:
-Able to buckle herself into car seat
-She announces poop prior to its arrival
-She tries to produce on the portable potty
-Shoulder shrugging for no reason

I have to imagine she picks up a great deal of "ticks" from her daycare classmates. The shoulder shrugging is probably one of them. Her "parroting" skills are well refined and she can repeat most words she hears these days. That makes it extra tough to express one's self...