almost 2

It's about 3 weeks from Rachel's 2nd birthday. Today it seemed like I spent more time than usual thinking about that and how much she has grown. I feel like I need to spell out where she is today so I never forget it. She is at such a precious age that I know I will be sorry to see it go.

Rachel knows so many words now. More than I could ever count. She strings along 2-3 word sentences often and sometimes more than that. Her favorite sayings are "What is that sound, mommy?" "I do it MYSELF!" and "I do it MYSELF!". (Repeating it twice here does not even signify how often she says it!) She loves to identify what shoes belong to who - "your sandals mommy??" "your blanket? Date-chels blanket?" She loves to turn off and on the light switches and she loves to color, paint, and play with play dough.

She knows all her body parts and none of her colors. Everything to her is pink and yellow. She can sing along with many of the Barney songs and can count to 10 (skipping 4 and 8 but who is counting?) and she can sing her ABCs. She is a very independent and determined little girl. She fights for her rights where Jason is concerned (survival of the fitttest) and we understand her enough to know everything she wants *most* of the time. She sits on the potty and has gone here and there. We haven't been actively training her as of yet.

She eats so well. She is the exact opposite of Jason in that area. In fact she ate SO much last night, that when I checked on her before I went to bed, she had thrown up in her crib and was all cuddled up and sleeping soundly in it. That was the first time that happened. We hope for no repeats on that one. Most importantly, I can tell she really loves Jason. She looks for him when she can't find him. She fights her battles but she definitely admires and looks up to him. It's always been my dream to have them be close.

Ok, this is not the "Happy 2nd Birthday Rachel" post, so I'll stop here. I am just so proud of my little girl. Steve and I both feel SO blessed to have her in our lives.

Her hair is coming. Stay tuned....