Lorelai at 2 Years Old

Lorelai turned two! At a glance...

Height: 33.5 inches (37%)

Weight: 22.5 pounds (4%)

Size: mostly 18 months outfits

Favorite Foods: Grapes, bananas, Nuthins, walnuts, apples, berries, watermelon, raisins, beans, broccoli

Drinks: Mom's milk, occasional cow's milk, smoothies made with water or coconut milk, water

Likes: Babies, dolls, stuffed animals, nursing, books, swings, helping, putting the groceries away, pushing the grocery cart, "Look and Find" books, music, being sung to

Dislikes: Sitting in her booster seat, being told "no"

Personality: Affectionate, opinionated, fiesty, silly, cheerful

Accomplishments: counts to ten (skips "one"), sings ABCs,

Friends: Kate Johnson, Nate Kruepke, Becca, Caleb Lemm, Emma Ruethling

Sleep: in her crib, 8 PM to 7 AM (sometimes wakes around 5 or 6 AM but will go back to bed), one nap at 1 PM or 2 PM for 1.5-2 hours

Teeth: 16 baby teeth, no cavaties

Fears: Some Disney movies scare her, some older men (but getting better)

Health: she is gluten free, no known allergies, has never had an ear infection, barely had a cold, once had a virus (puked), had a fever once or twice in her life....very blessed!

Other: She has been away from her mom for the longest period (2 nights) for the first time 2 weeks ago.

Lorelai at 23 Months

Lorelai is really talking up a storm nowadays! Her most popular phrases are "Thank you Momma", "Show me" (when going through Look & Find Books), "Read the Book" and "No". Although she likes to say "no", she sure does not like to hear it....so we've been witness to many a tantrum lately. She settles down quick when the trantrum is not acknowledged.
I recall when Abby was about 22-23 months, she would say "pink" to describe every color I would point to. I also recall at that time I was concerned Abby could be color-blind, because Ben never did that and I did not know any better. Abby soon after learned to distinguish different colors. I bring this up because at this time, Lorelai answers "blue" to describe every color I point to.

Lorelai's favorite foods right now seem to be black beans, brown rice, broccoli, GF waffles, bell peppers, apples, beets, GF pizza, samples at GHM, GF pasta, raisins, melons and grapes. She does not seem wild about potatoes and is finicky about meats. She enjoys her smoothies but makes quite a mess (though so do her older siblings!).

Lorelai at 22 Months

We are fast approaching the 2 year mark- yikes! Where does the time go???

Lorelai's vocabulary has been expanding by leaps and bounds over the past few months. She still will refer to Abby as "Babby" and will offer the unsolicited, "Tank you Mommy" when I do something for her. She is insisting on doing so much herself and can get frustrated when, despite her efforts, she needs help. She loves to tell me "Poopy" and runs to the bathroom to go through the routine, but doesn't actually deposit #1 or #2 yet and we haven't pushed it. Lorelai weighs 21.5-22 pounds, depending on the day and measures roughly 33 inches tall. This past month, she has been particularly fond of sweet bell peppers, watermelon, and raisins. She spends most afternoons after naptime following the big kids around outside, particularly the girls- Abby and Kate (almost 7 yr old from next door). Lorelai plays well with them and they seem to enjoy directing her. Lorelai has not been consistently cooperative at church, as of late...and the few times I tried to leave her in the nursery did not go well. Although we do not normally watch TV, she loves watching movies with Ben and Abby (ie Toy Story). Lorelai's personality is cheerful, affectionate, feisty, enthusiastic, opinionated and friendly.

Lorelai at 21 Months

Mom's fallen a bit behind these days! Lorelai is a tough cookie to keep up with! Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. I love how she will spontaneously say "tank you" and "pease" and "nigh nigh Daddy". She graciously obligues requests for kisses and hugs. Every day she seems less and less a baby and more and more like her older siblings. As she is the youngest, I feel reluctant to lose the "baby" in her. Well, she still loves to nurse...completely weaning her will be an interesting challenge, when the time comes. She still sleeps in her crib and has not made an attempt to fly the coup yet. This is surprising, because she is pretty adventurous, fearless, and limber. We are almost ready to take the gate down (at least from the bottom of the stairs), as she independently goes up and down, with no accidents. She is familiarizing herself with the potty. She tells us often she has to go "poopie" and wants her diaper off and plops onto the potty happily. She never actually goes but loves to sit there, get toilet paper, flush the toilet and wash her hands. She continues to eat well. She loves to eat the samples at Good Harvest Market. She understands most everything and has a definite opinion. "Should we go to the beach?" I ask. "Yeah! Yeah!" she will reply enthusiastically, waving both arms up in the air and jumping in excitement. She also gets very frustrated when we have difficulty understanding her and she cannot get her message across. Some of her food loves at 21 months include raisins, walnuts, cantaloupe, raspberries, yogurt, beets, GF crackers, broccoli and dried cranberries. She still doesn't like hard cooked egg yolks, but will eat them scrambled or the hard cooked whites. We took our first week-long family vacation together at this time and Lorelai did well. We stayed in a cabin (no AC) for a week in 90 degree weather, although it was not bad- we had box fans and the breeze from the lake and we swam most of the time. Lorelai was quite comfortable in the water. She also loved the sand. She took her first kayak ride and was practically face to face with some ducks. She slept in the pack n play. Lorelai sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes 1.5-2 hour nap. She is a cheerful gal and very social. She loves to follow around her brother and sister. She loves to give them hugs but is also quite fiesty and will try to hold her own in a fight already. She has developed a bit of a biting problem- I guess her best weapon with the older siblings when she is mad...so she has been getting time outs for discipline ("do not hit...hitting hurts."). Lorelai looooooves babies and her stuffed animals. She will play Mommy and pretend to feed or change the baby's diaper. She loves to be read to and snuggle in your lap. She loves to sing and dance. She loves the next door neighbors and when she can hear their voices before she even sees them, she yells, "Hi Kate! Hi Kate!" in excitement, hopping and waving her arms in the air. Kate, a 6 year old from next door, loves to play Lorelai's Mommy. And I love to BE Lorelai's Mommy!

Lorelai at 20 Months

Time has been flying by! Here is Lorelai at 20 Months old:

Lorelai is up to 21 pounds now! She has quite a personality too! She knows what she wants and what she doesn't and is in no way hestitant to make her needs known. Among Lorelai's words: "Night Night", "Cracker!", "Thank you", & "Please". She loves to wave at everyone coming and going and is eager to give kisses and hugs to those she sees regularly. She has started to assert herself more with others, including several attempted bites and swats at her mother and successful bites and swats at her sister. She throws temper tantrum and makes clear when she is frustrated. She makes clear when she wants to nurse. She will even, at times, tell me she is ready for bed (by pointing to her crib) before I have attempted to lay her down. She loves to help put the groceries away and becomes quite upset when I forget and put the grocery bags on the counter where she cannot reach. Some of her favorite foods right now are raisins, GF crackers, grapes, popcorn (yes, I know a choking hazard), and peas. She is still not a fan of hard cooked eggs but enjoys them scrambled. We have not fed her anything with gluten. She does not have a huge appetite, though she is less picky than a few months ago. Lorelai loves to follow her brother and sister around, as well as Kate and Sam from next door. Kate enjoys taking her under her wing and will pretend she is Lorelai's Mama and will take her around in the tractor to Lorelai's delight. Loreali tries her darndest to ride Abby's bike and scooter. She enjoys being outside as much as her siblings. Lorelai is a little Jeckyl and Hyde with water. Sometimes she is wild about playing in the water and other times will cry at the very anticipation of going in the water. As the third child, she does not get to bed as early as she should...we have a hard time getting her to bed by 8 PM as sometimes we are still playing outside. I am afraid that has contributed to more wakings and crabbiness so we are trying to be more disciplined to come in earlier and start the routine sooner. Lorelai takes one nap in the afternoon, for 1.5-2 hours typically. She loves the swings at the park and will go down the big slides by herself. She seems to like "girly" things. She is quite fond of her dolls and stuffed animals and although she is not attached to one particular blanket or doll/animal, she does insist on a blankie at bedtime and hugs a stuffed animal or doll as she falls asleep. So precious!

Lorelai at 19 Months

This sweet girl is 19 months and counting already! Still weighing in about 20 pounds. Her hair is so light, curly and growing. She has been very healthy. I have not counted her teeth recently, but she looks like she has most of them (her gums were busy the last few months!). While her vocabulary has not expanded a whole lot in the last few months, she clearly understands us and can get her point across. The words she uses most frequently are dada (for both dog and dada), mama, more, water, and yeah. She sleeps from 8 PM to 7 AM or so, usually waking for a quick nibble at around 5 AM. Her pickiness has subsided and is back to accepting most foods. She seems to love broccoli, carrots, butter, chili, cheese, GF crackers, dried fruit, watermelon, grapes and canteloupe especially lately. Surprisingly not fond of strawberries and will suck the grape tomatoes but not eat the skins. She loves to play outside and go to the park, follow the bigger kids around, and ride in the wagon. Kate Johnson from next door has taken to Lorelai and likes pretending she is her baby and will take good care of her when the kiddos are running around and playing together. Lorelai seems to have a special affinity for Grandpa Burie. This past month, Lorelai's Mommy took for granted that Lorelai could easily climb in and out of things, including her car seat. She took a tumble one day when I had unbuckled her and was getting ready to take groceries in and ended up with a black eye (still healing in the picture above, left). Lorelai loves books, cuddling in my lap to read and nurse, she loves dolls and stuffed animals, blankies, helping to put the groceries away and climbing everything. She was not wild about the waterpark when we took a trip to the Wilderness this past month for Spring Break in WI Dells- mostly because of the noise I think. She is not wild about baths either at this time. She does not like sitting in her booster most days for her meals. She is feisty and opinionated at this age. She is also very affectionate and gives nice hugs and kisses.

Lorelai at 18 Months

Lorelai is 18 months old already! We had her well check with Dr. Biebel today. She weighed a mere 19 pounds (Less than 1 %- not on the charts). She was 31.5 inches tall (44.2%) and her head circumference was 47 cm (63.3%). She has ten teeth. She was not getting any shots, however, she screamed bloody murder upon entering the doctor's office. I calmed her down by nursing under a blanket after the nurse left the room and before Dr. Biebel came in. She was fine until she heard Dr. Biebel's voice enter the room- she paused for a moment under the blanket to listen and then abruptly started wailing again. He spent most of the appointment on the the opposite side of the room under the very close watchful eye of Lorelai. He asked about her diet and suggested we consider more fat in her diet since she had fallen off the charts weight-wise (%-wise). Besides breastmilk, she eats meat, yogurt, cheese, coconut oil, olive oil (on her veggies), butter (she will even eat a pad of organic butter alone- not on anything!), avocados, nut butters....so I think we have the fat covered. But rather than debate nutrition with the doctor, I listened and nodded.






Well, not only is Lorelai currently afraid of the doctor's office, she is also afraid of many other things at the current moment...likely just the stage/her age. On impulse, without appointment, I took her to Portrait Innovations last Thursday for her 18 month appointment since Abby was in preschool for a few hours and it was dreary outside. Both Ben and Abby had 18 month photos taken and I was not about to treat Lorelai any differently. It was not a good idea to make the drive to Brookfield Square without an appointment. They were booked. I should have known better with Easter coming up. We took a chance and drove to Target on Moorland, waited 45 more minutes until the Photo department opened and begged the Photographer to slip us in. She saw my desperation and kindly took pitty on us. Lorelai was perfectly happy up until the moment she was to have her photo snapped. Then the tears and fears immediately surfaced and she clutched to me for dear life. The poor woman taking the picture managed to get her to smile once while still clutching to me so the beautiful backdrop is my shoulder...oh well.



While Lorelai loves dogs, she also is apparently quite afraid of them. At least right now.



Lorelai's words...she likes to use "more" a lot, along with Mama and Dada. I have not been so good and tracking her new words lately.






Lorelai is quite opinionated. She is also a Mama's girl. She loves to help put away the groceries. She loves babies and dolls. She seems to love "girly" things like fancy shoes, coats, hats and necklaces. She still loves to nurse.





Lorelai can be very picky about what she eats. One day she wants cheese, for examples, the next day she won't touch it.





Lorelai loves Abby's bike. We recently decided to purchase a trike with a handle that allows an adult to push when needed- she loves it. She loves the park and being outside in general. Unfortunately, the weather has not been so nice....but we try to play outside every day for at least some time.





Lorelai continues to love books of all kinds.





Her hair is growing longer- it is quite fair and naturally curly! Cute as a button!

Lorelai loves her baby dolls. Abby was not much into dolls....until now. Suddenly she likes them now too. Conflict ensues. Kurt discovered today that Lorelai decided to give Abby's baby dollie a bath.... in the toilet.