Haley is Two!

Haley turned two last week in an uneventful-type day. She, however, would never be called uneventful. Haley is cheery and full of energy. She is daring and funny and loves kitties. Her favorite color right now is probably orange. She loves milk, berries, green vegetables, and – newly – ice cream. Her word count is soaring in the hundreds, as she is speaking in sentences of 4-6 words regularly and surprises us every day with new multisyllabic vocabulary that we don’t even remember saying, like pillowcases. She has recently  conquered the tricky “am” and “do” verbs, which she throws around with sass: “Yes, I do!” and “Yes, I am!” ,

I am abundantly grateful that God gave me a daughter, who will compliment my “pretty shirt” and notice when I paint my toe nails, and who will tell me every detail about something that happened while her older brother ends the conversation with “it was fun.” Haley has been very focused on being “old enough” for things like treats and facing forward in the car. Now that those things have been delivered, she is thrilled and informed me the other day she would be old enough for coffee at age 3. 🙂

On the big day, I had to work. I planned ahead and made homemade strawberry ice cream but when I woke Haley up, she requested cake.

If you didn’t catch that, she said, “Have party. Eat cake.” And so I came home from work and whipped up a confetti cake with pink buttercream frosting. The kids helped.

Finished!

We had homemade chicken strips, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, and fruit for dinner – all things that Haley loves. (Although she is not a picky eater, she is not a big eater. She did clean her plate that night!)

After diner she got to open a few presents. We already got her the new tricycle and the movie Tangled at her other birthday events, but we wanted her to have a few little things on the actual day. She got a new purse that is yellow and sparkly, some Hello Kitty stickers, coloring books, and new crayons, and some new kitchen pots, pans, and utensils. (She has really been interested in cooking lately and does a great job stirring the eggs for scrambling.)

Then we had the cake and ice cream. She did a great job with candle #1 but couldn’t quite get #2 without help. This video is only for grandparents, who have the patience and loving hearts necessary to wait for a two year old to blow out a candle.

Haley had no qualms about picking up the entire piece of cake and chowing down. We reminded her to use a fork after that.

Haley just had her two-year checkup yesterday. She weighs 21 pounds and is 33.5 inches tall. That puts her well below the 3rd percentile for weight, as usual, but her growth curve is continuing nicely and that’s what counts. Her doctor was pleased to see her maintain and pointed out that someone had to be at the bottom, or we wouldn’t have a 3rd percentile at all. She is in the 30th percentile for height, which is her all-time high for any measured size. 🙂 Woo hoo!

We just love our little girl. Jim said she is ready for her first hair cut, and Haley agreed. I’ll post that when it happens!