Two and two

I can't believe it was two years ago that I was noticing my maternity clothes were suddenly much looser and that Little Monster would make her appearance so soon! That sneaky baby, turning up ahead of schedule. She has flouted all schedules ever since. She waited forever to get teeth, finally cutting her first, second, and third teeth within a week at 9 months old. At 5.5 months she stole a pizza crust from my hand so we let her eat food. She started walking very deliberately to get her favorite book from across the room.

She is using more and more words all the time. Tonight she was showing me the dried pinto bean she has been hauling around for a few days and told me "Look mommy! I have a peanut bean." Then my spouse took the bean from her to show me up close via web cam, and when she took it back, she pinched it perfectly between index finger and thumb. Her favorite things are equal parts adolescent turtles and princesses (sparkly dresses and skirts and brushing everyone's hair, even her fluff). When we read a flap book last weekend while I was home, she pointed to each animal and said, "Look mommy! This is the mouse, he's hiding in the flower (or tree or rock or whatever). What a nice mouse. Squeak!"

Little Monster, you're a pretty excellent toddler. Keep up the good work.

The other thing of note is how long we've now had two children. They get along really well sometimes and fight other times. The biggest struggle is keeping the Kid from over-parenting and over-helping with Little Monster. Once the Kid helpfully took Little Monster's diaper off to help her potty train... and after 5 seconds in the bathroom, Little Monster ran off and the Kid got distracted and forgot all about her. Often the Kid is very concerned with keeping Little Monster in line, usually to the point that she ignores taking care of herself, like when she demands Little Monster sit down while she eats breakfast but won't do the same and is reminded to stop dancing while eating.

The pair of them are super cute too. When we are in a parking lot, Little Monster is good about holding someone's hand better than 90% of the time (and she gets scooped up and carried if she won't). She gets to choose whose hand to hold and she nearly always reaches for her sister's hand first. It's amazing.