Happy 2nd Birthday Zoey!

Today Zoey turns 2! It is amazing how fast the time goes. I can't believe two years ago I was just going into labor and got to meet my baby girl!

Of course, she isn't a baby anymore. She is very insistent on being a big girl. She now has an opinion about what to eat, what to wear, what movie to watch and what books to read. I love that she is able to make decisions now, it makes life a little more interesting and more fun.

Zoey LOVES to cook! She can even make scrambled eggs all by herself (with supervision of course.) She can crack an egg all by herself about as well as I can, she gets few if any shells in the bowl. She will scramble the egg in the bowl, pour it in the pan and stir it around. I help with this part, but she completely understands the rules of the stove and has proven herself to be safe while she cooks. She helps me cook dinner almost every night. It is a joy to be able to share the kitchen with my little helper.

Zoey not only loves to help cook, but she is quite the little helper all over the house. She will help me wash dishes, put up dishes, fold laundry, sweep, vacuum and pick up. She will also help me in the garden while I am planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. She will also help Stephen with any odd jobs he does. For example, the sink was leaking and Zoey was right with him whenever he fixed it. I am very excited that Zoey loves to help me and I am taking full advantage of it while I can. Even when she is "too helpful" and it takes me longer to get things done I try to remember that she is learning how and I'm not going to discourage her attitude to help.

Zoey's other passion seems to be music. She loves listening and dancing to music. She will also play the guitar, drums and piano any chance she gets. She actually has some amazing talent for a 2 year old, it's even sometimes on beat. The best thing is lately I've been hearing Zoey sing to herself while she does things. Yesterday she was coloring and just singing a tune to herself as happy as can be.

Arts and Crafts is another one of the many things we do together. We both love coloring best at the moment. It is very relaxing to get out a coloring book and some fresh crayons and go to town. Zoey will stretch out in the floor and sort of zones out a little while she colors. It is really cute and fun to do together. She also loves stickers and her new love is stamps. We also do special arts and crafts to make projects. She seems to enjoy glue a lot, which is always a fun mess to play with. Painting has always been a favorite, though one we only do once in a while. Finger paints are always fun, but we have upgraded to watercolors with a paintbrush and lately even to acrylics. She does really well with them and makes some really pretty pictures. I love that she mixes all the colors and is not afraid to experiment. It reminds me to just have fun and not worry to much about the details.

Zoey sleeps very well and thankfully rarely wakes up at night. She has a few stuffed animals and blankets that I would call her "loveys," but they don't seem to been a necessarily attachment. She has Minnie, Mickey and Tigger that are her "regular" stuffed animal friends with a couple other rotations. And she has her "Granny blanket" (the blanket her Granny made for her when she was born) and a butterfly blanket that she gravitates too, but most any blankets seem to make her happy. She collects all her friends and a couple books and is ready to be tucked in at night. She is loving her big girl bed and we don't even take a crib with us when we travel anymore. She really is growing up.

We are working on potty training. It is sort of funny the stage we are at. She will run to the potty, sit on it for a bit, wipe herself, get up and flush the potty without ever actually using the bathroom. She is doing really well overall, we are just working on the when to go. I am very proud of her for the progress she has already made.

Zoey can count to three consistently and can say more numbers but she doesn't "count" them yet. Her favorite is "one, two, three, go!" She can also say and recognize 11 letters (a, b, c, d, e, i, k, o, t, u, w). She got the vowels down first and I'm not really sure what sparked the other ones, especially w, which I figured would be the hardest one to get. However, she has impressed me by being able to pick them up and repeat the letter.

Right now her favorite cartoons are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Blue's Clues and Wonder Pets. She has also gravitated to this leap frog video about letters ("Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park" or something like that--yeah for Netflix.) Her favorite movies are Cars and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We watch both of these at some point pretty much every week. I love that she will watch and enjoy the "old" Disney classics with me too. I feel like I am educating her somehow. Or at least sharing my childhood memories and favorites with her.

Two is a very fun age. Zoey is learning more and more words everyday. We are slowly starting to communicate with words as well as gestures. I love that she gets involved with whatever I am doing.

We are truly blessed. Zoey is such an amazing little girl. She is curious, fearless, outgoing, innovative, creative, intelligent and just plain fun. It has been a great couple of years and I can't wait to see the young lady Zoey is turning into.

I love you my Zoey-bug!