Ainsley is at such a great age (Ian and I say this about every stage so far). She is so communicative, funny, sweet, and defiant (yes sometimes even the defiance is a positive, it shows her strong will and spirit).
While sucking the bean all the way up her nose right after I explicitly said "No! Beans don't go in our noses!" was assuredly an act of defiance some of her other antics came from a different place. Pooping in the bucket while she was supposed to be napping was actually a rather clever solution to her dilemma "I'm naked and have to poop, now what?" Had she not taken her clothes off in the first place that would have been a moot point. But that's neither here nor there. Breaking the Christmas ornament was really more of an experiment than disobedience (I mean come on, her dad is a scientist after all!). She looked so curious as she dropped the glass bulb to the floor. "Mom said it would break, I have to see this for myself." honestly I'm surprised it's only happened once so far. As for the big gulp of beer she snuck? who can blame her, it's the holidays!
While I have enjoyed the responses from people about Ainsley's recent antics I find myself getting a big defensive at the same time. Granted this has been an extreme week of hilarious events but this doesn't make Ainsley "naughty" or "bad" in any way. In fact just about anyone who's had a toddler, past or present, has assured me that this is par for the course. Especially having a second, albeit calmer, daughter I find the two are being compared often and I find myself on the defensive for Ainsley a lot. While she has always kept us on our toes there have been so many perks to her spunk. I wouldn't change my daughter for the world. And think of all the fun we'll have when she's older laughing about her toddler antics!
In other children related news, Louise rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time yesterday. I find it amusing that she despises tummy time and slept for the first two months of her life but now that she's truly awake to the world she is such a strong alert little lady. She loves sitting up like a big girl in her bumbo and could stare and laugh at Ainsley ALL day. They are really starting to interact more which has been so much fun to see. Ainsley loves talking to Louise, telling her stories and singing her songs. Louise responds so happily to the attention and love. I'm so excited to watch them continue to grow up together!
Oh! One more big Ainsley note, we're all done with the pacifier! Anyone who knows Ainsley knew how much she LOVED her pacifier. It became a security item around 18 months old and both Ian and I were growing a bit terrified of how it was going to go when we took it away when she turned 2. To my surprise and delight she pulled it out of her mouth Tuesday morning, looked at it and said "fff-fire broken mama" and sure enough there were a few distinct holes in her pacifier that she must have made while I wasn't looking. I said "oh now ff-fire's broken. We'd better go throw him in the garbage!" (yes both her pacifier and blankie are male, had to even things out somehow in our house!) She proudly walked over to the kitchen garbage, threw it in, slammed the lid shut and we sang "Bye bye ff-fire!" Short of waking up really early from her afternoon naps (possibly unrelated) it's gone amazingly well. I am SO thankful that it's over with!
Even with all her vim and vigor Ainsley continues to impress and surprise me (she's so her daddy's girl in that way). She's handled all of her big life changes so well so far (getting off the bottle, moving to her big girl bed, no more pacifier). I am so excited to celebrate her two wonderful years of life in two short weeks. We've been practicing singing "happy birthday" and she's already informed me that we'll be having hot dog cake as her treat...I'm thinking I'll cook the hot dogs separately, don't tell her!
I absolutely LOVE your blog!
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