THE KUPPERSMITH FAMILY: Marlo is 2!!!

I apologize for the length of this. It is really for my records but feel free to read along too.

Marlo turned 2 on October 5th. It was nice that it was a Saturday so we could all celebrate and spend the day together. She was super excited for her birthday. She kept saying, "my birthday coming up, sprinkles...cupcakes..." Well the girl knew what she wanted. I made a Minnie Mouse cake and cupcakes and we had a little celebration with cake and presents Saturday afternoon. She enjoyed singing Happy Birthday and feeling special.

Marlo is now 31 pounds and 36 inches tall. This puts her at the 90th percentile for weight and 95th for height. She is an active, and very verbal (according to her teacher) 2 year old. She also has a very sweet, compassionate heart. She is wearing size 2T...at least for a little longer, sleeping about 12 hours a night and napping once a day for 1.5-3 hours a day.

Marlo loves to sing, go to school, dance, play with her dolls, do puzzles, color, jump, run, give big squeezy hugs, have "piggy rides" (piggy back rides), count things, play with trains and cars, and of course do anything her big brother is doing. Her favorite songs are "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Jesus Loves Me," "ABC's," and "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." As I have said before, she can hear a song once or twice and sing along pretty well with the real words. This isn't a trait she got from her Daddy, if you know his amazing singing abilities:) Marlo continues to take ballet and do more and more each week. She puts her tutu/leotard on and starts spinning immediately. She loves it! When playing with her dolls, I love to see how caring and compassionate she is giving them their bottles and holding them. Don't tell anyone, but her big brother loves to play too:). I have to say that her hugs are something I look forward to each day. There is nothing like a great big hug from one of your kids. She also is very generous with them with family and friends. When it comes to counting, she really started this because she would repeat me counting to 3 or repeat her brother counting. She can usually get to somewhere between 10 and 15 at this point. She enjoys reading books more and more and if it is a book she has read over and over, I can catch her "reading" it herself. Up until this past week, she ended every book with "Amen" instead of "The End." Some of our favorite things she says are "yehaw cowboy," and "tank you (thank you)."

Marlo's favorite foods are spaghetti, fruit, cheese, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, pistachios/trail mix, pizza, Chick Fil A, salsa, and chocolate...especially M&Ms. She has recently developed an interest in salad too, which we are happy about since we have it a lot. Liam hasn't quite developed his taste for it yet though. She continues to not be a breakfast person at all. Her appetite kicks in about 10am. This is very much like her Daddy. Her favorite shows/movies are Mickey Mouse Club and Finding Nemo. She also likes Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins.

Marlo no longer has a pacifier and still struggles to go to sleep some nights. It is a mix between no paci and just a 2 year old fighting going to bed. She calls out all of our names, even Liam, before giving up and going to sleep. She will be moving into her big girl bed this weekend. She is very excited to give her crib to the baby and get her own big bed.

I am always amazed at what kids can do so early on. Marlo, like Liam did at this age, has started recognizing places and directions of things. We were driving to her doctor yesterday and she brought up ballet because it is the same way and asked if we were going there. She also remembered where we bought flowers a few weeks ago when we drove by it yesterday. I know they do not get their directional sense from me but I am glad they will be able to help me find things the older they get:)

As I said earlier, Marlo's teacher has said she is very verbal and that it is so nice to be able to understand one of the kids in her class. We don't have much to compare it to because Liam was the same way. She is talking in complete sentences sometimes and other times she puts several words together. Her teacher was also very clear that her favorite thing to say is "I do it FIRST." I smiled and said, "Can you tell she has an older brother?" Speaking of older brother, we were also asked recently how many older brothers she had because she is so tough. I love that about her. She doesn't really cry if she gets knocked down or hurt unless it is really bad...or if she is trying to get her big brother in trouble.

Marlo has quite a personality and sometimes quite a temper. She has so many facial expressions. Her most popular one is when she looks at someone like they have 3 heads. She will do this any times she is unsure of what is going on. She can throw a tantrum way better than her big brother ever did. She is more physical with her emotions than he was at this age too. Her method of choice is hitting. She has gotten much better about this but we are still working on it.

Marlo is interested in dressing herself and doing pretty much anything herself. She has mastered buckling the top buckle of her carseat, and taking her own pants off...I am worried the diaper is next. She can almost get her own pants on and shoes. She is amazing at opening anything. This is scary. She has opened a child locked pill jar more than once. We now have them really really high up.

We love our little girl so much!! She has added quite a lot of laughs and fun to our world. I can't wait to see what the next years bring.

Here are some pictures of her special day and a few extras from the past weeks.