Posts Tagged ‘two’

Caroline: Some Number Of Months That Is More Than 24

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

29. She’s 29 months. Or really, she turned 29 months back on the 19th and it never even crossed my mind. I only realized yesterday I had missed it at all, when someone asked how old she was and I said she was almost two AND A HALF. I’m going to try to stick it out and keep these up until she hits 3 – WAY TOO SOON! – but I’m sure the rest of them will be late too.

Caroline no longer approves of nicknames. I used to call her “babe”, which was short for “baby baby”, but now she shouts “DON’T CALL ME BABE CALL ME CAH-YINE!” (She has trouble saying Care-o-line. A lot of trouble. It probably doesn’t help that we say “Care-line” with just a tiny “eh” where the “o” should be. And like I said, she doesn’t approve of nicknames.) Evan has realized she hates being called babe, so of course now he does it constantly. We’ll all be sitting on the couch nicely, everyone getting along and being adorable and homey like a Norman Rockwell painting, and Evan will look at her and go “BABE.” Then it’s like The Scream up in here, but with sound effects.

She’s just about the bravest 2-year-old I’ve ever seen. She likes people in animal costumes. She likes petting sharks. She likes when her Daddy jumps out from behind things and roars. She likes old ladies in the grocery store who talk to her. I’m sure she’ll get some stranger danger awareness at some point, but right now it sure is nice not to worry about it. I’m pretty sure I could drop her off at the mall and she’d take care of herself by conning the pretzel guy into feeding her and the lady in the educational store into playing with her and the security guard into giving her rides on his Segway. I WON’T, obviously, I’m just saying.

Of course, she’s also VERY VERY TWO sometimes. So very two. She’ll look me right in my big, stupid face and do the thing I just told her not to do. She insists on putting on her own shoes and coat and backpack and hat and doing her own top buckle on her car seat. She is very bossy about the radio and wants me to play “More Macklemore! MACKLEMOOOOORE MOMMY!” in the car, although she’s also a fan of Beethoven and Laurie Berkner.

She absolutely REFUSES to look at the camera when I want to take pictures.

Likes including singing, dancing, jumping, water, running, ducks, apples, watermelon, juice, cheeseburgers, dogs, kitties, sharks, the aquarium, boats, princesses, pants, sparkly things, lollipops, rainbows, caterpillars, school, making a mess, ruining things, “helping”, insisting on going potty in disgusting public bathrooms, Phineas & Ferb, Diego, Minnie Mouse, books, more books, socks, ALL THE BOOKS, cuddles, Daddy, Mommy, Evan, cheese, sprinkle donuts, and swinging.

Dislikes include nicknames, being told “no”, going home when she’d rather be at the playground, getting stuff in her eyes, and when people won’t share food.

p.s. ERIN DON’T LOOK THERE ARE BIRDS!! (Erin doesn’t like birds.)

 

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Humidity makes her hair super curly. I’m so jealous.

29 Month Milestones (BabyCenter changed their milestone chart so it’s just a list. I’m using Evan’s old milestone posts to see specific months – here’s his 29 month post!)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Brushes teeth with help – She mostly brushed them on her own and does a great job – no cavities! AND AND AND she let the dental hygienist brush her teeth at her appointment without a single complaint.
• Washes and dries own hands – Washes, yes. Dries, yes, if you mean “wipes them on Mommy’s pants EVERY TIME.”
• Draws a vertical line – She draws circles. Just circles. Counter-clockwise circles. It’s a little creepy at this point, like she’s trying to convey some alien message.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Draws a circle – See above.
• Balances on one foot – Balances on one foot ON A BALANCE BEAM because my kid is totally better than yours.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Puts on a T-shirt – Sort of. She can put on her jammies but usually backwards.
• Names one color – She can name a whole bunch of colors, but mostly only notices if stuff is PINK or PURPLE.
• Names one friend – I just asked her if she had a friend at school and she said “Yes! William! William just pushed me at school!” so apparently she has a friend named William and also WTF WILLIAM??  Mostly she tells me I’M her best friend (or Daddy, or Evan).

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Girl

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012


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Caroline’s Winter Fairy Birthday Party

Monday, December 17th, 2012

 

Hello, welcome to our magical winter fairy birthday party wonderland! We’re so happy you’re here to celebrate Caroline’s second birthday. Our theme this time is winter fairies, who like the ice, snow, cold weather animals and of course, pine cones:

Fancy Chalkboard

Fancy Chalkboard

Winter Fairy Birthday

Fairy house and magic tree

Winter Fairy Birthday

Welcome to my cottage, friends!

Welcome to my cottage, friends!

Winter Fairy Birthday

Caroline’s yearly books, from her first day til this month

fairy tent over food table

Winter Fairy Birthday

Don’t forget proper fairy attire:

Fairy party wings

Wings, headbands & antlers!

Winter Fairy Party

I spy some fairies!

Please have some food:

Winter Fairy Birthday

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Thumbprint cookies (so, so, so good. Insanely good. You won’t believe it good.)

winter fairy birthday food

Candy Cane Chex Mix, Caramel/Chocolate/Candy Appples

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Sparkling Brie Bites (these are now a tradition, since we had them last year too)

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Gum drop fudge (I used those sparkly gummy fruit wedges – DELICIOUS)

Winter Fairy Birthday food

My mom made her traditional Christmas coffee cake

winter fairy birthday food

Coconut snowballs, Pita Trees

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Pancake tree-tower, dusted with powdered sugar and surrounded by extra sparkling cranberries (I used the store brand complete mix, which was surprisingly good!)

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Caprese Pops (pin link, original pin goes nowhere)

winter fairy birthday food

Reindeer Cookies –  E said these are his new favorite Christmas cookie

winter fairy birthday food

Cucumber sandwiches – ALWAYS a hit

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Pinecone cheeseball – I ignored the recipe and mixed 1 block cream cheese with a tub of Rondele herb cheese and added a little dill and garlic powder. Then I ate ALL the leftovers for dinner.

winter fairy birthday snowman pops

Snowman marshmallow pops

winter fairy birthday food

Microwave popcorn in paper cones I made with scrapbook paper and a hole punch

Winter Fairy Birthday food

Olive wreath – This was the only thing that was TOTALLY gone at the end

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Fruit tree – thanks to my mom for doing all the work on this

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Cupcakes – white box cake mix with homemade frosting (1 stick butter, 1 block cream cheese, 1 2 lb bag of powdered sugar, the end)

winter animal cupcake toppers

Sparkly polar bears! Reindeer! Narwhals!!

Winter Fairy Birthday food
Extra cupcakes

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I forgot to take a picture of the buttermints, but they get 5 stars definitely will make again

Help yourself to a drink:

Winter Fairy Birthday hot cocoa bar

Winter Fairy Birthday drinks

Homemade gingerbread donuts on “milk bottles” (actually those store-bought frappuchinos) (idea from here)

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On the hot cocoa bar: candy cane dippers, peppermint sticks, mini M&M’s, mint marshmallows, regular marshmallows, whipped cream, 2 kind of creamer, whipped cream vodka (THIS IS A THING), peppermint schnapps, Bailey’s, sugar sprinkles, milk hot chocolate, dark hot chocolate, coffee, hot cider.

Decorate a tree to take home (or eat right now because they’re delicious):

Winter Fairy Birthday activities

Winter Fairy Birthday activities

Winter Fairy Birthday activities

Winter Fairy Birthday activities

Winter Fairy Birthday

Winter Fairy Birthday

Winter Fairy Birthday

Caroline really enjoyed this part of the party

Winter Fairy Birthday

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Winter Fairy Birthday activity

MESS.

Don’t forget your party favors:

Winter Fairy Birthday favors

Red & white glitter play dough in mini mason jars with printable tags

Winter Fairy Birthday favors

Magic wands I made from dowels, tiny eye hooks, ribbon and jingle bells (I totally forgot to give them out!)

Winter Fairy Birthday activity

Foam ornament decorating

The birthday girl had a wonderful time (even though her brother blew out her candles):

Winter Fairy Birthday blow out the candles

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Thank you friends for coming!

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I actually missed photographing a lot of details and people because I was too buy enjoying my own party (for once!) Despite a lot of things not going as planned – Caroline refused to wear EITHER of the “princess dresses” I planned for her, misplacing her beautiful hair bow (not that she’d wear that either), forgetting to give the kids their magic wands, not getting many photos in the photo booth – I think everyone had a really good time and that’s what is really important at a 2 year old’s birthday.

Sites and Sources:

My Pinterest Board

Tips for writing on chalkboards (dipping the chalk in water worked REALLY well)
I made the chalkboards using garage sale frames, spray paint (silver and chalkboard colored) and a piece of particle board
Wings are from both a local bargain store and The Hair Bow Company
Headbands and antlers from Oriental Trading
Tissue paper snowflakes from Oriental Trading
Branches, crystals, ice cubes, paper stars from Save on Crafts
I made the tent with Ikea curtains and an embroidery hoop (
tutorial here)
Balloons from Oriental Trading
The Fairy House is a the Discovery Kid’s Playhouse I bought on clearance after last Christmas for $10
Mini light strings, paper gingerbread house, red lanterns, various other Christmas decor from Ikea
Hot cocoa k-cups purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond
Deer cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, paper straws, sprinkles from Bake It Pretty
Super awesome tree stump stands were made by my dad
Winter animal cupcake toppers were custom made by PaperPartyParade
All banners, signs and labels were made by me using cardstock, my printer & free fonts found online

Pretty much everything else is from Target or Michael’s

That was really fun but I am SO glad it’s over and I can concentrate on wrapping Christmas gifts and not baking for 12 hours a day. I think my theme for next year is just going to be “Milk & Cookies” and I’ll spread out all the cookie-making over a month so my feet don’t feel like they’re going to fall off from standing in front of the stove. Mmm…cookies.

Winter Fairy Birthday Invitation

p.s. I forgot to include the beautiful invitations my friend Denae designed for me! She did Evan’s dino invites too & is so talented.