jaimalaya: Homemade Friday: Adele, 2 years

I’ve been struggling with writing this, as you can probably tell since it’s almost two weeks late. It’s just I don’t want it to sound too negative. I have a tendency to focus on the bad parts of life while not appreciating the good, and I don’t want Adele to read this one day and feel hurt.

But that said, DAMN. It’s been rough.

And it’s only because I have blissfully forgotten how difficult it was when Sebastian was this age. The past few (six?) months have seen a ridiculous amount of development with Adele, which is why she thinks she is able to do everything by herself without anyone’s help.

You can imagine how difficult she is to live with. Everything with her is a fight, be it taking her out of her crib in the morning, changing her diaper, getting her dressed, changing her diaper again, feeding her, fixing her hair, brushing her teeth, giving her a bath, changing her diaper another time, or putting her down for a nap. In other words … life. Life is a fight.

The only thing she sits still for is putting on her shoes because she knows that means she gets to go outside.

She has discovered that spitting at you is a good way to get attention, even negative, and spitting chewed up food is even better. She also still throws all of her food on the floor to tell you she’s finished and ready to get out of her seat. We’re working on ‘Down, please.’

She randomly hits her brother, just because, and me, too if she’s mad at me. A recent addition to this tantrumy-ness is biting. And that little chipped tooth of hers hurts.

She is absolutely distraught if you take something away from her, like the batteries she finds and puts in her mouth. Or the soap she always manages to reach no matter where I put it.

She scoots chairs around the house in order to stand on them, but will push them over onto the floor when she’s pissed.

Guys. I know. Sometimes I catch myself acting like a 2 year old because my 2 year old is acting like a 2 year old. I’m working on my patience.

But you know what? I kind of admire her feistiness. She doesn’t take shit from anybody. She refuses to be distracted by television, but will spend lots of time alone in her room reading books. She is affectionate and loves to give hugs and kisses.

She has always loved stuffed animals, and now has a pillow pet giraffe my sister bought her for her birthday that she’s named ‘Mimi’ and carries around with her all day.

She loves music, LOVES IT, especially the video for Coldplay’s‘Paradise’ and Beirut’s ‘Santa Fe,’ both of which have her mesmerized. (Have you seen the video for Santa Fe? It’s not a very positive one, but it’s got a little dog on it she likes to watch!) She loves to dance and bob her head, and jumps on the bed as high as she can when her Dad plays videos on the computer that’s in our room.

She’s recently started pointing to everything around her so you will name it – bowl, cup, spoon, drawer, cabinet – like she’s storing up all the information until she’s ready to put it into sentences.

She’s not all that into dolls, and would much rather kick a soccer ball than feed a baby. She’s so ready to be bigger than she is that she can hardly stand it. She wants to ride her brother’s old tricycle but her feet won’t quite reach the peddles enough to turn them around and is majorly frustrated by this fact.

She wants to help you with whatever you’re doing, be it washing dishes or sweeping the floor. When I vacuum she gets out the old $3 plastic toy one I bought for Sebastian at a consignment sale when he was her age and follows behind me.

We’ve started working some on shapes and colors and letters, and she will repeat most of the alphabet back to you when you say the letters.

She’s incredibly photogenic, and sometimes I can’t believe something so beautiful came from me. Her hair is usually unruly, even when I attempt to fix it, which I promise I do, but I think it only adds to her character.

She would spend most of her time running outside if I’d let her, only coming in for food.

She mimics what we do, like she’s learning all she can. This morning as we were brushing our teeth I noticed that she was staring at me hard, trying to copy the movements I was making.

This is such a crazy time. So full of expansive activity, so not full of sleep. As I type this she is talking to herself in her bed, supposed to be napping. But with her I can’t just let her skip it. The afternoon and evenings will be horrible. The girl needs the shut-eye. And especially since last night she woke up over and over again.

I like that Adele doesn’t follow a mold. She is wild but also thoughtful, hugging her brother when he’s crying to try to make him feel better. She loves stuffed animals and is single-handedly responsible for taming our psycho cat in that she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer whenever Susy hissed at her and ran off. Adele was not dissuaded and just crawled after her until she could run.

(Taken the morning of her birthday. Those aren't really her pajamas
but Chris said they were too ugly to be clothes. I told him
he had no sense of style.

She calls most animals now “Susy Bear Meow Meow,” except for her uncle’s dog, Jaeger, which is ‘Yay-yay.” He’s a little dachshund who thankfully tolerates both of my kids and their over-eager cuddling.

If I’ve been gone from the house, even if it’s just for 30 minutes, Adele will run up to me, yelling my name and hug me so tight, like she never wants to let me go.

Her smile makes everything better, and we see it frequently.