Avery is 2!

I do not know where the last 2 years have gone. I feel like she should just be turning one. The only thing that makes me realize how long it has been is not living in the house where she was born. When I think about the past year I am amazed at how much she has changed. It is actually amazing how much she has changed in just the past few weeks. There is nothing she can't do. She keeps up with everything Ethan does. Her favorite past time is going to the pool. She isn't scared of the water at all. She jumps in with her floaty, goes under and pop backs up giggling. Her favorite thing to day at the pool is snack. She will swim for a while then get out request a blanket, snack and juice. She will sit in the chair next to me until she is done then go right back in. In the past week I've let her go without her floaty because we have a zero entry pool. She thinks she is hot stuff. She loves to jump up and down and play ring around the rosy.

Her vocabulary is tremendous. She only talks in complete sentences. Where most kids her age would say "give me", she says "give that baby doll to me" or "that's mine give it back to me". I never have to wonder what she needs. She is also very good at following directions. All I have to do is tell her to get her underpants and she runs to her room and brings them back to me. She does try to put them on herself first but isn't quite coordinated enough to complete that yet.

We had her birthday party this weekend. Marmi, Gampa and the Kruger's came up from Springfield to celebrate. We had a barbecue with a few of her neighborhood friends. Ethan and I took her to the party store to pick out her theme. We went through the entire store with her saying no until we got to Princess Tiana from the Princess and the Frog. We had a Barbie cake made with our Princess Tiana doll. It turned out really neat even if she was leaning to the side. Aunt Cathy put her hair in 2 pretty french braids with a bright yellow bow in each. She started her party in her swimsuit because she was swimming with Mackenzie. She decided to change into her party outfit just before the guest started arriving. She wore a cupcake shirt with a pink and orange tutu. She looked adorable. Her 3rd change was into her new swimsuit from Cam and Mac. It was a cute red and white polka dot bikini. She was sweet as we opened her presents. She let Ethan open them and she just oohed and aahed over everything.

She had the best time with Cam and Mac. She is big enough now that her and Mackenzie will play in her room together forever. She lets Mackenzie put different bows and clips in her hair. One morning while we were getting ready Cam was in the room with them. Mackenzie and Avery would point out the bow and Cam would get it down for them. While Mackenzie and Avery were playing in her room, Cam and Ethan were playing in his. It is crazy that the time has come the boys do boy things while the girls do girly things. Aunt Cathy gave the girls a spa day on Saturday. Avery would choose everything Mackenzie had said. She chose buns, pink polish for her fingers and yellow for her toes. They put on lip gloss, blush and eyeshadow which they kept telling Cathy needed to be more because they couldn't see it. They looked so sweet when they were finished.