Bring on the 2's!

Bailey is 2!!

We are two weeks into the "terrible twos".  I'd be lying if I said there haven't been moments that make me fear what Bailey may have in store for us over the next 50 weeks, but many more that have me looking forward to them.  It continues to amaze me how fast time flies and how quickly she's growing from a baby into a little girl.

The good the bad, the ugly, open to your interpretation and in no particular order:

• Last Saturday, we put Bailey down for a nap but she had other plans.  I looked at our video monitor to see what she was doing.  After a quick scan of the crib, something very important was missing from the picture...my daughter.  "Honey," I said, "Bailey's not in her crib."  Another milestone reached - Bailey figured out how to climb out of her crib.  She was sitting on the nightstand right next to the crib, as if it was no big deal.  Thinking that she had used said nightstand to climb out, Dad of the Year decided to move it and put her back in the crib.  Bad move - 10 minutes later, WAILS echoed throughout our house - surround sound from Bailey's room and the monitor.  No more nightstand to cushion the fall. So, yeah, that happened.

• In the 2 weeks since turning 2, I swear Bailey's thrown more tantrums than all of 2013.  The fuse is all of a sudden much shorter and the discontent is displayed in much louder and more animated ways.

• The yin to that tantrum yang is that her excitement and enjoyment are also filled with much more emotion and animation, as you can see here, when she realized she was about to go to a friend's house (and yes, that is an upside down crown on her head):

• Bailey's continues to be more independent, wanting to do whatever she can on her own without any help and telling us often, "Bailey DO it!". 

• Bailey is now treating her various dolls and stuffed animals (and saws, evidently) like they are her babies.  The diaper changes just quadrupled. See for yourself...

• She is so proud of herself when she accomplishes something on her own, discovers something new, or learns a new word.  Today alone, she discovered that she can put her hands in her pockets, she learned how to say "Panera" and "edamame", and learned how to open and eat edamame. Things that you and I don't give a second thought to make her so happy!

OK, enough talking.  Onto the pictures...

Some fun from Super Bowl Sunday...well, before the game started...

Birthday fun (thanks Nikki for capturing these expressions!)...can you tell she liked the cake???

Fun in the snow!  Quite a contrast to this video from last February.