Sonia’s 24th month was marked by emotional and mental development, more than phyisical. She has been much more willing to play independently, she can better verbalize emotions, and often pauses to think before acting or speaking. She still has a long way to go with understanding and handling her emotions (a lot of meltdowns) but has definitely improved. A new favorite set of statements from Sonia are “Mommy happy”, “Mommy angry”, “Daddy happy”, or “Daddy angry”. Definitely not always the right emotion chosen, but she is trying! School may be helping push her further in these areas.
Although she continues to be very shy outside of the house, she has developed real friendships with Noah, Sebastian and Aaron. She knows who they are, asks to see them, and is much more open around them than others. She has combined these advancements to being receptive to her friends “wants” at times. When playing at Noah’s house one time, she brought his bear to him when his Mom said he could hit his bear but not his cousin. She also gave him a different chalk piece when he wanted the one she was using.
In addition to playing by herself more often, she has tried to be more independent in other areas. She tries to undress herself for bath time, will grab a step stool if she needs to reach higher for a toy or her bubbles, and has figured out how to climb into her chair at the dinner table all by herself. Though it is nice to see her try and be more independent, it can lead to more instances of catching her in the act of relatively unsafe situations.
This month also took mommy back to work, which didn’t change Sonia’s day too much, but now she gets to ride to school every morning in the convertible (with the top up) and has daddy picking her up in the afternoon.
She also added to her flight count with another trip to see Grannie and Grandad, this time for Easter weekend. She definitely seemed to get the egg hunt idea better than last year, and had a great time in general. She also got her first taste of S’mores at Auntie Julia’s house 🙂
Last month we had the hives “scare”, but that passed with no sign of allergies. Sonia is back to bananas and nuts, with no side effects. However, she continues to roll from one cold to another, and also has started to get her 2 yr molars.
The month ended with Sonia’s second birthday party! Once again, it was at our house in the backyard with her friends, including some new ones. This time, the theme was “balls”, with a juggler as the entertainment. Most of the kids didn’t really understand what he was doing, but Sonia was definitely entranced and interested. However, she seemed to be just as happy watching daddy try to juggle in the backyard later that afternoon. 🙂
Sonia did a great job blowing out her candle, and managed to eat her entire cupcake.
This birthday also coincided with another visit from Nona and Papa, with most of the time spent getting ready for the party and then having the party! They did get to surprise her at school on her birthday with ice cream bars for everyone.
Every week we think that Sonia seems so much older, and I’m sure that will continue as the months pass in her third year. It amazes us how much she has accomplished in 24 months and how quickly our little girl has grown.