1 and 2

 I can't believe how long its been since I updated this.  Makes me sad. I've sat down a few times to do it, and I feel like each time I was overwhelmed by how long it had been, so I just avoided it.

I have a 1 and 2 year old.  I can't believe my baby is one. I'm milking her baby-ness like crazy, I set as little expectation on her as possible, ha.  I don't know why it feels so much harder to watch her turn into a toddler than it was with Charlie.

This is going to be a long update that will probably only interest me (just a heads up).

June- she is still so sweet, cuddly and EASY-going.  I'm sure I only have a little while longer to say that ;-).  She crawls everywhere and is fast as lightning.  She can climb slides and stairs like a professional, and will climb up on little chairs, and the other day I caught her mid-fall into the bathtub.  She walks around the house with one of those toy push walkers.

  

She loves to open and close doors and cabinets and is already pulling EVERYTHING out (I thought I might be spared the tasmanian devil moves with this one, but it doesn't look like it).  For a while there we thought she would never get the hang of eating, but now she eats like a grown man, but don't try to feed her with a spoon.  She is still a crazy mess when she eats but it seems to be getting a little better.  She loves green smoothies, turkey, blueberries...and anything she can find and eat off the floor.

She is obsessed with her mom and usually doesn't want anyone else if I am around, but dad comes in a close second.  She goes to daycare two days a week and they rave that she is the easiest baby and the best eater, Steve says they love her, which makes me so happy.  She says bye-bye, dada, mama, and tries to mouth a few other words. I haven't taught her a single sign, ha.  Her favorite toy is Charlie's potty, I know, gross.

Charlie Belle- She can be so fun and so crazy.  Some days I feel like we are having actual conversations and its amazing, and other times I wonder why we encourage her to speak.  She says everything, but she is still hard to understand.  She sings constantly, and usually sings herself to sleep.  My girl that loves to go to sleep had a couple weeks of fighting it hard core, but she is back and I am thankful.  I am thankful for Steve who stopped me from giving her more... water, or food, or snuggles, or kisses....so it didn't end up becoming our new nighttime routine.  She loves to dance and loves to go out.  We are professional park-goers, I have no idea what we will do to get our wiggles out when its 100 degrees. Sometimes she acts really shy and other times she hams it up and says "hi" and "buh-bye" to anyone and everyone.

  Steve and I must be getting pretty boring, because anyone that comes over Charlie immediately tries to get them to play with her.  Independent play is really difficult for her, she is constantly telling us to "sit down."  She drags this elephant ball thing around all over the house so she can press the button that plays music and break out into a crazy jumping dance party.  She still loves to eat, but her preferences change every day (or every 30 seconds). We try to offer her one thing we know she likes so that we aren't playing the "here is 30 different food options" game at every meal and snack.  She can be so sweet and gentle with June and then turn around and try to ride her or slam her fingers into a cabinet. We are constantly reminding her to share and have a happy heart.

She  is a really good little swimmer, and even after a couple months break, remembered her fishy ways.

 I love running errands with my big girl now, I cherish the one-on-one time and when she breaks out in song at Publix it cracks me up.  She sporadically pees on the potty, and has even told us a few times she needed to go, but most of the time she just wants us to stop what we are doing and read her a book or put a show on for her...toddler manipulation, it's an amazing thing. Oh, and she loves school now! She seems really excited to go 2 days a week and comes home with lots of art and singing lots of new songs (and I love that she comes home with art because it takes away some of the guilt I have for never sitting down and doing projects with her).  Steve says she barely looks back when he drops her off.