2 Years Old!

Our Leila Bug is 2 years old today! She has been such a blessing in our lives. The past 2 years have been full of love, happiness, laughter, heartache, frustration, exhaustion, and every other emotion in between.

Right now Leila LOVES movies. Her favorites are Princess and the Frog, Gnomeo and Juliet, Tangled, Pocahontas, Lion King, Aladdin (newest addition to the mix), and Little Mermaid. She asks for each by name, knows when they are about to sing songs, dances during the songs, and knows when the movie is about to end and comes running for a new one.

Leila LOVES to play chase, especially with Grandpa Vic. She flirts and taunts with anyone who will chase her, but especially men. She is WILD. Loves to play rough with Daddy and Uncle Troy. When she falls down (even when she scrapes her elbow and is bleeding) she just jumps up, says "bing!" then continues on as if nothing happened. She is a dare devil. Loves to climb up slides and ladders by herself. Loves to swing as high as you will let her go.

Leila is mastering the art of throwing a fit. She gets really whiny, bounces up and down while she whines, throws her head back, falls to the ground, and on and on.

She is also learning to share. Kind of. When she wants to. She at least understands the concept of it...now we need to work on her sharing her things all the time, not just when she wants to.

Leila is not a very good sleeper. Most nights she goes to bed after 10pm. Then wakes up at some point wanting a "sssiiiiippppyyyyyy." Then goes back to sleep. Although the past few nights I've been able to get her in bed and leave her there while she is still awake and let her put herself to sleep after a book and a sippy.

She is also not a very good eater. She will eat chips and bread and milk and juice and an occasional chicken nugget or hot dog. She also usually likes pizza and potatoes and gravy. That's about it. She doesn't really like a lot of sweet stuff either. She likes a lot of Samoan food, but only if daddy is eating it with her. She eats other things, but not well, and not often. The past couple days have shown some improvement, but she is definitely a snacker, not an eater. We'll have to get that in check at some point.

Leila shows SOME interest in using the toilet to potty, but I think we've got a little longer on that before she will really be ready to give it a go.

Leila has natural mothering skills. She doesn't play with babies often, but when she does it amazes me how well she can take care of them. One of her babies actually cries when you touch it's feet, and drinks a bottle and "goes to sleep" - snoring sounds and all. When baby cries, she runs for the bottle. She holds the baby so soft and sweet, puts blankets on her, and shows the baby pictures and says, "Yook (look) baby."

Leila talks all the time. A lot. Pretty understandable to most people. She is very polite with Please, Thank You, Excuse Me, and Bless You. When she is throwing a tantrum, we always make her calm down to say "please" in a nice tone. That usually turns into "Please, nice." Some of the things she says sounds like she has an Italian accent. Eh bebe (a baby) Eh Seepy (a sippy) ah papa (granpa). She says eh or ah in front of almost every phrase she says. Eh Eh Eh Bwankie (blankie) Ah Matai (her future husband's name.) Ah Auntie. Ah Uncle. You get the picture.

She LOVES church and most mornings when we drive by our church on the way to the babysitter she points at it, says "church." Then "Pweeeease?" Often times I take her to my youth night activity, and we've been playing some volleyball on another night, and she loves nursery, so at a young age she associates church with fun. Hopefully she can continue those thoughts throughout her life.

I could go on and on about all the funny things she does and all of the frustrating things she does. Either way, we love her and are so grateful that we have the opportunity to be her parents. I couldn't ask for anything better.

**Today she will get to open her presents from mom and dad (even though daddy is out of town - boo) and maybe one from grandma and grandpa. Probably take her to dinner so she can "swide" at Chick Fil A. Then we are having a friend/family party on Saturday. HOPEFULLY I'll get around to taking a few pictures. Until then, just imagine how stinkin dang cute she is!