Two Years Old

Helena turned 2 a few weeks ago, but believe it or not, her birthday celebrations were supposed to continue on until tomorrow.  Yes, it's a birthday that was going to be celebrated for over 2 weeks.

Here's why - sickness seems to be attracted to her "big" days.  Her birthday week was the week all three of us had the flu.  So we did a family celebration 2 days after her real birthday in the hopes that Helena would eat some of her food.  Her birthday outing was postponed for the next weekend, with the intention of having everyone well.  Everyone was, that is until Helena got sick at the party and continued to be for the next 12 hours.  So, her friend & family were going to join us for brunch tomorrow morning so we could do party stuff, and then I got the stomach flu last night.  Brunch has been canceled and we're calling this birthday officially over.  But really - will this sickness ever end?

Despite all of the sickening truth above, Helena has LOVED turning 2.  It comes up in conversation at least 5 times a day, and the birthday song is still being sung around here!

For her birthday, she wanted chocolate.  Chocolate for breakfast, chocolate for dinner (we talked her into pizza), chocolate for dessert and chocolate for a gift!

Helena is quite the little mommy.  She has named all of her dolls and despite having a few favorites, takes care of them all.

Funny little story - Helena often points to her mommy's tummy and says "Mommy's tummy baby," then she points to her own tummy and says "Helena's later."

Her usual bedtime pal is Baby Brianna but on Helena's birthday Brianna was replaced with Bob the horse.  John & I are regularly amazed with Helena's memory.  Her grandpa's horse is named Bob, and even though we hadn't talked about him for a month and a half, as soon as she opened her gift, she named her horse Bob.

Helena & her mommy are good friends.  Snuggling in bed together in the morning, cooking, playing with toys, doing crafts, putting away groceries, reading, cleaning (Helena truly is a big help in that area!), running errands, visiting friends...we do almost everything together and love it!

 

Despite all the fun Helena & her mommy have during the day, it's obvious who has been missed once our front door's knob starts to turn.  Helena and her daddy have great times together playing with Duplos and other toys, singing with the guitar, going out on adventures, and building forts.

Her closest pal is Holly.  Oh how those girls giggle and laugh and play and read together!  Holly & Helena and their parents went 5-pin bowling for a birthday outing.   The girls had lots of fun bowling, but during the outing we ended up with one girl getting a bloody nose and the other vomiting.  I guess something always happens at birthday parties, right? 

 

And if you haven't gotten your fill of Helena at age 2 info yet, read on.

- Talking like crazy.

- Needs her Auntie Kari blanket, Nani blanket, Grandma Helen blanket, baby, and water for bed every night.

- Loves tattoos.  As she tells me often, they "not hurt".

- Hates mittens with a passion.

- Is learning her letters and enjoys pointing them out everywhere.  All the letters she knows are connected to people or things, so it's almost always "G Grandma" or "Z Zoe", not just the letter itself.

- Can count to 11, if she can make it past that hard number 5.

- Loves looking at photos.

- Favorite book series are currently Maisy and Curious George but is really happy to read anything if you're reading to her.

- Is loving reading her Bible and stories about Jesus.  Just today John taught her the Zaccheus song, and she walked around the apartment singing "Wee little man, wee little man, climbed tree, hello Jesus.  Song!"

- Seems to be becoming a pickier eater as each day goes on but her favorites remain the same - cheese, fruit, meat on bones, peas, roasted broccoli, raisins. And chocolate.

- Loves to play with Duplos and is pretty good at making simple things on her own.