woman walking: 22

It's hard to believe that my next post on Noemi will be for her 2nd birthday!

She understands everything. And can communicate quite a bit. She's been learning how to say the names of her favorite people (phew, she's not calling everyone mommy anymore) and even a few words in Chinese from her jie jie. Words will appear that I didn't even know she knew - like saying, "Ready!" several times before she throws the ball at you. Her favorite thing to say these days is "Whhhhhy?" after we tell her no (maybe because she's told no so often).

It's really hard not to laugh at her mischievousness. She goes around untying all the dining table seat cushions - even after we doubleknot them. She purposefully drops her fork on the floor at the restaurant and then when we tell her to pick it up (she's lodged in the booth on a booster so it's not really a possibility) she feigns reaching down and making effortful noises.

It's still hard to get her to eat much of anything (though she can down half a packet of sweet and juicy Trader Joe's dried mango in one sitting). 18-24 month pants are still falling off her. Her hair is a bird's nest. She's got her scrunched up "Cheese!" face perfected. She's sleeping through the night but wakes up early.

She likes to play kitchen. She likes to scribble. She likes to play with the dollhouse and still loves watching videos on mom's phone. She's a big fan of playdough and asks for tv (which only means cartoons). Her favorite things to do at the kiddie gym are to walk on the balance beam and ride the zip line. She gets excited when we pass fountains and sprinklers and loves to wear her baby (bathing suit). She likes to read. She likes to ride in her stroller and the sling I just dug out. She can put her crocs on by herself.

She misses her sister when she's not there and always wants to go pick her up. She likes for you to lie down next to her when she's trying to fall asleep so she can touch you, reassured that you're still there.

Noemi the...

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