Cara's 2 year old stats

We had Cara's two year old well baby check this past Friday. She is doing awesome!! Her stats:

Weight: 29lbs 80%

Height: 35 1/4 in 88%

She is still behind with how many words and phrases she can actually say, but she's come a loooong way since December! I just know she's going to start chattering away just any day now. It's difficult not to compare her to other kids her age who are totally talking. We have started a mini-preschool program of sorts now. I got some fabulous idea's from my sister and Cara and I work together everyday to try to enhance her speech skills. She tries now, which is more than she did a few months ago. She and Alex still sound similar, but she is learning more words. I figure where she is a late talker, Alex will probably be and early talker and they will talk at the same time!

The little peanuts :)

She loves to go and find her favorite movies, Flushed Away being near the top of that list!

"Mom, did you reeeaaallly mean to put the dvd down??"
The little guy, just hanging out playing with his toys!

Can I just say I am very happy that when I had her hair cut, it didn't seem to cut off the curls! I was pretty sure they would have been gone.
Oh, and Alex can totally walk across the livingroom....as long as he has his big walking toy to hold on to! No walking by himself yet, though...

A haircut for the little girl

Before the cut....

After the cut

So, Cara was looking kind of ragged these past few weeks. Her hair was getting out of control. Solution: We cut it. I had planned on having it done while we were in Florida, but the day we went in to get it done, Cara was in a mood that was not condusive to cutting hair. Well, I am here at my friend Cassie's house and she has been cutting hair for years. I gave Cara to her and left the room. When Cara came running out to me ten minutes later, she was soooooo cute!! There was no crying, no tantrums, no nothing. She sat there like a good little girl and let Cassie cut away. It turned out fabulous! I think she looks darling :)

Little booger

I walked away from coloring for a few minutes, and this is the look I came back to.

I think she thought I was going to make her take the marker caps off her fingers.
I wanted to take a picture first :)

Then I took them off, she was sad, but she lined them all up in a row on the table. She loves to line things up!

Poor Alex

Cara, desperatly trying to give him a hug...him realizing this and trying to get away while he still can...

His efforts were in vain.

He loves to stand up at the end of the couch and play peek-a-boo with me

He is quite the little furniture cruiser now.

Just a glimpse into Alex's day...

Alex

This is a veerrry short video, but my internet won't let me upload anything larger. This is Alex waving hi!

Death by pepper steak???

You would think so, wouldn't you, looking at the pictures?? We had pepper steak for dinner tonight. Oh boy, is this child spoiled!!!! Being on vacation in the states for Christmas was so much fun, but it defenitly instilled some baaaaaad habits. We are currently working on getting this little girls back on track. Eating is a big problem. She likes to eat only what she likes...noodles. Well, I compromised and made noodles for lunch. You would have thought I was killing her, making her eat the pepper steak! I didn't really even give her that much, knowing she wasn't going to love it.

After a couple of spankings/timeouts, we FINALLY got dinner eaten. This entire process took about 45 minutes. It was then a chore just to get her to finish her milk!! Parenting is not easy. It must work out, though. I eat things without throwing a complete tantrum....

Blake thinks it's wierd that she dips everything in ranch to eat it, so we've been breaking that habit as well. Again, I think it's a stage that will pass as we all don't dip everything in ranch as adults....and when I say everything, I do mean everything. We had ham at christmas which she dipped in ranch....

I am hoping that dinner's get easier again. It wasn't like she wasn't hungry. She ate lunch, but didn't have an afternoon snack, so she should have been ready. I know if I would have brought out left over noodles, her appetite would have been there. The joys of parenthood...I am having such an interesting time :)

Wishing she was done.

My little nerdball

Cara (lately) likes to sneak into bed in the middle of the night....This is what Blake came home to this morning. She likes to share a pillow. Note the 4 other pillows shown and two at the end of the bed that she could be using. Nope...she likes whatever pillow I have. And she's a cuddler. It doesn't matter where I am in the bed, she is right next to me.

All is getting right!

The girl is finally feeling better!!! I am not too sure what was going on with her, but after almost a week, she finally slept through the night without waking up or coughing and today, she asked to lunch. This is the first food she's wanted in over four days. I am so happy. She's now eaten both lunch and supper. I think whatever she had is gone.

Alex is, of course, just happy. Like always.

Today

Cara, again, NOT smiling at the camera......

Alex is just a cheesy bug right now!!

So, the kids are feeling better today...sort of. Cara's fever went away yesterday, but now today it's back. Alex's fever never came back, but his nose is still runny and both he and Cara have wicked coughs. Cara actually ate something yesterday...the first time in a few days, but now today she won't eat again. I am hoping nothing happens to where I have to take them in to the doc. The roads are really bad right now, partially becuase of snow and mostly becuase the germans don't salt or plow on the weekends...or on any holidays...or when they sleep in....it's pretty bad sometimes.
Other than sickness and snow, life is going pretty well. Alex is learning how to get down out of the standing position. He gets "stuck" standing a lot. It does not make him happy.
Cara has discovered the meaning behind the word "no". She realized just a few days ago that "no" means " I don't want/like that". It's still cute when she does it, but I am guessing the cuteness goes away after a little bit.
Blake and I are just trying not to get sick. Blake rarely does, so this isn't a very difficult battle for him. Me, I've been downing my orange juice like crazy. I feel the sickness, but it isn't knocking me flat yet. I won't let it!
Well, I off for now and back to watching Micky Mouse Clubhouse with Cara and Alex.