2 years with Coco

Chloe turned 2 on December 10th.  I was in a little bit of denial at first, but this girl is definitely a 2 year old, and sometimes more like a 13 year old...so I guess I've had to let it sink in.  Sometimes when she's in the right mood, she'll snuggle up with me or Matt and it seems like just yesterday she was this sweet little newborn...

Now look at her.  Two years later and she's definitely not a baby anymore.  She picks out her own clothes, and usually asks to change outfits 2-3 times a day.  She picks out hair clips and says "thank you" more than most adults I know.  I confess, it's so hard to say no to that sweet little face when she wants something.
  Truly, could you resist this face?

Obviously we tell her no plenty, but she really does make it difficult.  She's so super sweet, especially when she wants something.  She absolutely adores her brother, and if he's not giving her the attention she wants she provokes otherwise even-tempered Noah into hysterics (but then she gets attention...smart girl).  She's quick to say "sah-wy" and give hugs and kisses (which happens a lot).  She talks practically non-stop, most of which Matt and I understand, but much of which others couldn't.  She loves to spin...and she can spin for a long time without falling down, it's kind of amazing really.  She is very stubborn (no clue where she got that from) - when she gets her mind set on something it will take an act of God to change it.  She thinks that she's Noah's age and gets very upset when we treat her any differently than her brother. She is very expressive, so much so that she leaves you in no doubt of what she's thinking.  It makes for some pretty funny, and sometimes downright mean looks she shoots at people.  When she's happy and laughing, you have to laugh with her...there's no way you'd be able to keep a smile off your face when Chloe's smiling at you. 

I just love this girl.  The past two years with her have been such a gift...and I know that the year ahead will be full of lots of laughter, and probably lots of time-outs too.

Oh, and for those of you wondering (stop reading if you don't want to hear about breastfeeding)..Chloe is FINALLY fully weaned.  And yes, it did happen before her 2nd birthday.  My goal was to have her weaned at 18 months, and she was except for the occasional middle of the night sick baby nursing and the right before bed (nightly) nursing.  But she held on to that last one for a long time.  I'm really glad that I didn't force her to stop sooner, cause with all the transition we've had going on, I know that it was a big comfort to her to have that time.  It was also nice for me to have those peaceful moments with her.  So we had been talking about how Chloe is a big girl and nursing is for babies for several weeks and I finally decided to cut her off about a week before her birthday.  She cried (the screaming in agony kind) for about 35 minutes and then settled down.  She only fussed about it one other time, and has only asked to nurse a handful of times after that.  So the first day was rough, but it needed to be done.  I wanted to make sure she had a good break before she saw me nursing Baby 3 (and hello...it'll be nice for me to have a break too).

Here are some photos from her birthday.  I ran out of space on the memory card about half way through and did get some good video...but can't figure out how to get the video off the camcorder...so for now, just pictures.