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It's amazing to watch a little person grow up. I've had nieces and nephews, I've babysat lots of children, and I've obviously worked with a million little kids at school and watched all of them grow up. But watching your own child grow up, seeing them every single day, getting to be there for all the little milestones, is just different. You have a different connection to it. It's WAY more emotional. Jani has changed our lives in more ways than we could ever have imagined. We've both added another hat to our repertoire.
So here's to Jani at age 2. Our little spitfire...our little angel...our little princess.
1. She adores playing with play dough. She cuts it, rolls it, pretends to eat it. She's downright hilarious when she's "baking". She brings us plates of play dough and tells us it's a variety of things. Hot dogs, cupcakes, bread...the girl has an imagination.
2. Along with pretending to bake, Jani just loves to play pretend. She pretends to go shopping with her babies, pretends to cook food in her kitchen, pretends to be me. I love that she has an imagination. I always loved playing pretend with the kids I babysat and am glad we have been able to instill this in our girl.
3. Jani is a sleeping rock star. Very early in her life Doug and I vowed to sleep train her. We knew that for our own sanity, it had to be done. We wanted a child who napped well and slept well at night. She's been a good sleeper since about 2 months. Now at age 2, she says "I go to bed" at about 7:30, grabs her night things, and lays down in her crib. No tears, no talking, no whining. She just goes to sleep. I adore this about her...and am so thankful she values her sleep like I do!
4. Kindermusik is the highlight of Jani's week. She loves playing drums, singing, dancing, anything musical really. I enjoy getting to watch her try new things. It's amazing to see her figure different things out.
5. Coloring and drawing is still at the top of Jani's list. She is always writing something and telling us what it says. As a teacher, I love that she does this. She is definitely in the first stages of writing development!
6. Jani loves to sing. She sings her ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Muffin Man, and a variety of other songs. It's hilarious to listen to her because she butchers some of the words. Takes after her dad :)
7. Fall has been great for Jani because she adores football. If it's on TV or we're at a game, she is enthralled. Doug got lucky with this one!
8. Favorite words and phrases: Whatever, I do it, What that?, and I pretty. I am amazed at the amount of things she says. I swear she wakes up with new things to tell us. I'm sure that's what we get when Doug and I never stop talking. In my future I see a teacher saying "Jani is a bright little girl but she talks too much".
9. Jani adores the iTouch. I am amazed at how she can navigate this thing. I use them in my classroom and have found quite a few different apps for her. She now knows what folder they're in and how to open and close them. She loves listening to books and playing music.
10. She is a social butterfly. Her Halloween costume this year is butterfly and I keep telling her she's dressing up as a social butterfly. Jani would love to be surrounded by people from sun up to sun down. She takes after her mama.
Happy Birthday Little J! We love you so very very much!!
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