Maria In The Sink

 
What else is there to say, really?

Signing MORE

 
"One more cookie!" she'll say to me, holding up one finger and sort of waggling it at me. "Just one more!" She does it because that's what we say to her, it cracks me up. It all sort of devolves all day, we start out in clothes and with clean faces and by 4:30 we are all a hot mess.

More Posing

 

Oh Good Lord

 
I thought her outfit (from Candie) was so cute and I was trying to get some pictures of the girls this morning because it was really bright in the living room for the first time in days, but she is a PAIN. She is always, ALWAYS, right up in my face and it makes it hard to take a picture of her. Finally I went in the bathroom while she stood by the stairs and I said "just STAND there, Maria!" and she did, for approximately 45 seconds. Sheesh.

Throwback Thursday

 
Here's Maria, a year ago today. She looks completely different now, except the slope of her belly is just the same. She weighed 30 pounds the other day at her appointment where she did NOT get any shots. I think she is still due some, but I don't care, I didn't tell them. They can catch up someday. She gained three pounds since her 18 month appointment, and I think five pounds all year. I took Anthony to the dentist yesterday (ugh) and the dentist mentioned that since HE appears to be so cavity prone, maybe I should take Maria in for a checkup. That should be fun, right?

Monday

Maria is off to her Two Year appointment tomorrow and I am happy to say that Mike is taking her, not me. She has to get shots and - I just know she'll be horrible. Maybe he can get her an oreo or something for right after? I'll be glad when all these damned shots are done, sheesh. She is as crazy as ever this week, up at the crack of dawn, but now she isn't napping well either. We are trying to figure it out and someday, we will. I keep thinking we'll move her into her toddler bed sometime this year. I don't think she's ready yet, but I'm going to move it up to her room and get her used to the idea. I dream that maybe when she moves to her bed, she'll want to sleep in. Ha! I'll keep you posted. :)

Happy Birthday Maria

 
Apologies for the crappy picture, camera is messed up, bad angle, Maria was pulling at it, excuses excuses. :)

So. Maria Kathleen Beck, at two years old. When we look at her and listen to her we can't help but think of how dumb we were with Anthony. There isn't a word that Maria doesn't say, she sings songs, she remembers EVERYTHING she has ever seen or heard. She repeats every word we say. She can take the dvd out of the player and replace it with the one that she wants. She says "Good night, Mommy" when I drop her in her crib. She has started to understand that when I leave to go to church or something, she doesn't have to freak out. "Be right back?" she'll say to me, and she's fine. She still gets up super early but she hasn't woken up in the night in quite a while. She has been relatively healthy this year, I can't remember when she had roseola but that's been it. She doesn't go for her two year appointment until next week, so I'll have her stats then but she hasn't gained a lot of weight between 1 and 2, I bet. She's taller, she is fine in 24 month clothes but 2T is still kind of big on her. She hasn't lost her belly at all! She loves my sister Laura, whenever the doorbell rings she tears over to the door and says "Lolo? LOLO? LOLO? WHERE LOLO?" It happened just today and it was the Fedex guy! She loves to look at pictures, of herself and her siblings. She loves Mike, she gets almost sad about how happy and excited she is when he comes home from work. Of course, she drives me crazy too. She is relentless. She will still repeat a word SO MUCH that it's maddening. We haven't figured out her nap schedule yet, today she took her afternoon nap at 8:45! But mostly she is just so beautiful and funny and sweet that she breaks my heart. She is so smart and so chatty and she is really teaching me about patience in a way that I didn't learn it with Anthony. There isn't an hour that goes by that I don't want her to LEAVE ME ALONE or GET OFF OF MY LEG but there also isn't a minute that goes by that I'm not aware of how much I love her, and how much she means to me and Mike. So Happy Birthday Maria. Happy birthday. Happy birthday! Happy birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY. :)

Such a Little Lady

 
ha!

Almost...

 
..two years old. Mike's family came up yesterday to celebrate Maria's birthday, and Laura came over, and we had cupcakes, which Maria liked just fine! She's in an outfit here that Candie gave us, it's super cute.

Proud

 

Not what you'd call a snow bunny

 
She stood on the porch and watched me while I shoveled. Then I came back up and she said "all finished?" so we went inside and I walked right through to go shovel the back walk. She said "all finished - I watch!" and she stood at the door and watched me. I waved at her and she said "cold!". Genius!

Maria Live!

Here's some video of Maria. Mike gave me a Flip video recorder for Christmas, it's super easy and I've been trying to get some video. Maria is VERY wary of the camera, though, so it's a pain to record her naturally.

Haircut

 
That is some good haircut I gave her - and I'm not bragging - it's just, if you could have seen her when I was cutting it! She's lucky she didn't lose an eye!

Some Face

 
I guess something wasn't to Madame's liking, up there on the island.

In the Tub

 
She looooooves toothpaste. Sometimes it's the only way we can get her to take a bath. I can't believe she's going to be two in just a few days. We keep trying to talk to her about her birthday, but she doesn't really get it.