Aurora - Twenty Five Months

We moved into our apartment and are all settling in well. Honestly, Aurora, you have taken this whole move way better than expected. 

You are now in a big girl bed! You seem to love it and for the time being have not yet figured out that you can get out of it. I have heard all sorts of stories about littles having a really hard time transitioning out of the crib but as of yet you have taken it all in stride.

You are day potty trained! We have had very few accidents since we have been in Denver. You always did better with using the potty when we were on vacation and I think this move has come at a very good time. You are still in diapers at night and naps but that will come too in its own time.

Unfortunately you look like you might be giving up naps. I don't think it has anything to do with your big girl bed because you napped just fine for a while, but now you just seem to be over it. You are still staying in your room but you spend your entire nap gathering the toys from your shelves and putting them all in your bed. It's actually pretty funny because sometimes you end up passing out among all the toys ;)

You have also stated waking many times during the night. Before we moved to Denver you were sleeping soundly and hardly ever waking. Now you wake up thirsty or with something very important you just have to tell us. It's awfully cute but I still hope it doesn't last long. No one is getting restful sleep these days.

You are getting more and more confident physically. Our apartment is right next to the "blue park" and we try to go there as much as we can. You finally have the confidence to go down the slide by yourself, are starting to really run and love taking a "big step" off curbs.

Aurora - Two Years

We are all finally in Denver! Our apartment isn't ready yet though so we are staying with Uncle Rob and Ginny until we can move in. It has been really great to see them -- I missed Ginny! -- but Aurora is a bit of a handful because we are in someone else's space. She is constantly on the lookout for remotes to mess up Uncle Rob's electronics or opening cabinets to get into Ginny's glass serving wear ;)

Matt and Grumpa drove out in the Cherokee with the dogs and whatever they could stuff in the car. Should be an interesting few months until we find out house because we came with a few suitcases on our last visit and whatever Matt and Kevin fit in the car. Everything else is in storage until we have a house. 

Speaking of which, we came out to Denver two weeks ago to look for houses and had what I can safely say was the worst trip on record. We left New Canaan with double the time we usually allot to get to the airport but the traffic was so bad that we missed the baggage check in deadline by 5 minutes… so there we were at check-in with a two year old, 5 suitcases and Matt's possibly broken foot and they were telling us we would have to come back in the morning. By some stroke of luck an off-duty attendant overheard Aurora's name and took pity on us because her granddaughter's name is also Aurora -- love nice people! Anyway we finally got to Denver after some crazy flights, stood in line for our rental car but despite having a reservation they didn't have a car for us, and then Matt and Aurora both got a violent stomach bug. Ugh.

Anyway, on to you Aurora. Happy Birthday beautiful girl! We are so blessed to be given the opportunity to get to know you as your personality unfolds.

You are starting to express novel thoughts which is sometimes hard for us to figure out what you are saying but is so much fun. I was so impressed the other day when you came out of the bathroom and declared, "Dada loud beard!" after you had watched your dad shaving.

You are also impossibly cute when someone hurts themselves and you hold out your arms for a hug and say, "I got you my love. Don't worry, be happy. I love you!"

You know that your middle name is Lynn, but you haven't quite grasped that Lynn isn't part of everyone's name. Your Dad and I have no become "Mama-Lynn" and "Dada-Lynn" :)

It has been interesting to watch you interact with your cousin Breck. You and Breck must have some sixth sense that you are related because you instantly acted like family. I have never seen you play so well with and then instantly argue so passionately against anyone the way you do when you are with Breck. It's pretty hysterical.

You are starting to get very possessive, yelling "mine!" any time you think someone else might come and use something you think is yours.

You have started telling stories. Most of the story is unintelligible but interjected into the babble we can usually make out the idea . ……..uncle rob……ginny…….in the backyard…… it's awesome to listen to!

Aurora - Twenty Three Months

This past month has been really hectic -- we are selling the house and moving to Denver.  I haven't been doing much except trying to pack and get everything in order for the move.



Probably due to our life being turned upside down, everything seems to be the end of the world with this girl.  She has also been skipping her naps which probably doesn't help the situation.



We started a drop off Spanish program with her this month also.  It just one morning a week for a few hours but has proven to be an absolute disaster.  The first week was great -- she was the only kid that didn't freak out, but that didn't last long.  Week 2 I was told to come get her after an hour and a half of hysterical screaming... poor girl!  So we canned it seeing as we are moving in a few weeks anyway.



This girl loves getting messy!  She has always liked finger paint but we took it to a new level by mixing paint with lotion and letting her go to town in the bathtub.  She loves her "war paint"



A few funny things she has started saying ::
If we tell her she can't have something she replies, "But I NEED that!"
We used to be able to get away with putting things off by saying, Yes Aurora, in 5 minutes or yes we can do that...later... but she has caught on and now replies, "No in 5 minutes, now!"  Or "No later, now!"  She's getting too smart.

Aurora - Twenty Two Months

Aurora has gone through a major growth spurt!  I swear, we went to Lake Placid with her clothes fitting, and somewhere along the way she gained a few inches.  Her 18-24 month clothes are much too small.  It's pretty funny, in fact, she totally looks like that guy that has recently gotten a huge beer belly but is still wearing his now too small shirts ;)

She has started really reading aloud to herself.  She will sit for 20-30 minutes spouting gibberish as she "reads" her books.  I love that she loves to read!  Some of her favorite books right now are Hush Little Baby, If You Were My Bunny, still loving the Beatrix Potter books and has recently found a new love for Are You my Mother.

Aurora has named her first stuffed animal, "Hoppy" (because that's what bunnies say, "hop hop hop").  Until now we have called everything by what it is "Bunny" "Baby Lion" "Cheetah."  It's fun to see her little mind starting to imagine. 

She has just started doing real pretend play.  Matt and I got her a kitchen for Christmas and she has been busy making us soup and oatmeal.  She also loves to comfort us or her dolls when they are crying. Her standard script is "oh no ___ is crying!  What happened?  You're okay you're okay."  It's too cute that she mimics her Mama!

Along with her new found opinion on everything, she is finding new ways to try to get us to do what she wants. Her favorite tactic is to just keep asking and then before you can respond to her, she will respond to herself with "okay. yes."

Aurora's comprehension has taken a big leap recently.  I have always talked to her during the day about what we are doing regardless of whether she could really understand and recently she has started participating or at least reacting to me on a new level.  I was putting her in her crib for a nap a week or so ago and was just rambling, half to myself, about how she was going to have new friend over after her nap.  She immediately got excited and started running though her list of friends.  Guess I need to watch what I say before nap time ;)

Her speech has also taken a huge leap.  She has always tried to sing along with us, but now you can hear all the individual words in her songs.  Now I am not saying that she can pronounce everything perfectly, but it is getting pretty close.

For New Years we went to Sea Island to visit Nanny and Grumpa.  Aurora has always called Grumpa "Papa" as it is easier to pronounce, but her speech has gotten so much better lately now he is "Poo-pa"  I think everyone finds this incredibly amusing except for Grumpa.         For dinner on New Year's Eve the five of us went to dinner at the resort's holiday buffet and Aurora danced until she couldn't see straight.  She would dance and dance in circles until she got so dizzy that she would stagger across the floor or run into a wall.  Is it bad that we all laughed so hard we started crying?  Anyhow, to quote Aurora, "Happy New New!"

Aurora - Twenty One Months

Aurora is starting to talk in sentences. I was upstairs the other days and I heard Aurora wandering around saying "Mama!  Mama, wher'are you?" And to get someone's attention she says "hey, hey, hey!" It's pretty funny.

This little girl is developing quite an opinion. All of the sudden she cares what she wears. Some days is she fine and other days she throws a fit about what I put on her. Actually she often just throws a fit if she can't wear "pink" her current favorite dress.  



She also likes to try to direct the other kids at playgroup. If they are doing something she doesn't like its "no no no" and waggles her finger at them. Hah. 

For the first time since she was swaddled Aurora is now playing happily in her crib. She comes and asks us to put her in her crib with her stuffed animals and will often play in there for 10-15 minutes before asking to come out.

She has been waking up in the morning relatively happy this month too. Instead of crying hysterically when she wakes she has been calling, "Mama, whereareyou? Whereareyou Mama?"

She has been really interested in lions lately so we got her a book and a stuffed animal which she quickly named "Baby Lion." She wants to take him everywhere.

Favorite books this month are Toot & Puddle, Peter Rabbit
Favorite song right now is Bingo, but sung with all her favorite people/animals/books inserted i.e. There was a girl she had a dog, Wyatt was his name-o...

We had a great time with Mimi, Papa and Uncle Matt when they were here for Thanksgiving. Aurora kept following Uncle Matt around saying "Uh-Matt! Uh-Matt! Hey, Hey, iPad!" She loves the iPad because she only really gets to use it when we have family over that want to use it with her.

Aurora - Twenty Months

Height :: 33 1/2"

Weight :: 25 lbs

This little girl's personality is really starting to come out. Matt and I leaned a big mirror up against the wall which she is loving  It is just too funny to watch her stand in front of it and sing to herself. She gets so into it!

Her new favorite thing to say is "hows your day?" which cracks everyone up.

She is a total tornado! I really hope we have reached the peak of the pulling books off the shelf phase. Although once she is done clearing the bookshelves she will sit and "read" to herself for ages which is awesome.

She has finally figured out how to rotate a puzzle piece to fit into the appropriate hole on the puzzle. She used to get so mad when they didn't all go in easily.

It is truly amazing how much babies absorb even before you think they are capable of it. Matt was putting Aurora to bed one night and he yelled down to me that he she was wandering around upstairs calling "mina" and he couldn't figure out what she was looking for  It took me a while but I finally figure out that she was looking for the ballerina book that I had read to her a few times as a little tiny. I can't believe she remembered it!  

Rora is in real undies! I definitely wouldn't consider her "potty trained" but I'd say she is down to 1-2 pee accidents a day and sometimes not having one at all for a few days at a time. Yay!

She is finally starting to wake without crying. It is so much more pleasant to wake up to "Mama mama mama" than a frantically crying baby. Her sleep now is a little after 7pm to almost 7am and then a one hour nap.