Taelyn - 2 Years

At two years old, Taelyn is now 26.8 lbs., and 34 inches tall.

Taelyn is definitely a big girl now that she is two. In addition to sleeping in a bed, she also likes to sit at the table in a big girl seat instead of her high chair, reads big girl books (not board books), and she now refuses to take a bath. Instead, she wants to take a shower! And the initial stages of potty training have been going on for quite a while. Taelyn will tell us when she needs to use the toilet and will sit there for a while until she gets bored. Then we put her diaper back on and she ends up going to the bathroom shortly after. She has had one successful toilet attempt so far. Potty training is by no means complete, but she's getting there.

Taelyn's talking has grown quite a bit as well. She is speaking full sentences, using phrases and words that we have never specifically taught her. She learns from everything around her. She especially loves to tell us when she is hungry. She will announce that it is breakfast time and that she wants to eat Honey Crunchies cereal. Or if she wants a snack, she will say, "Mommy, eat snack... T eat dried fruit." The girl loves to eat! Taelyn also knows all of the letters of the alphabet (although she still has trouble saying V and W), basic colors, and at times she can count up to ten. We are still working on her counting and identifying what each number looks like. Sometimes she gets the numbers right and sometimes she doesn't. But she seems to have mastered 1, 2, and 3.

Some other activities that Taelyn loves are coloring, painting, playing with play dough, making a "tent" to crawl in to, reading books, playing with stickers, dressing up as Abby, going for walks, playing at the playground, swimming, and smelling flowers. Whenever we go for walks, she stops at every flower to smell it. And she always says, "No pick flowers. Hmmm [as she smells them], smell nice." She likes to give herself little reminders about what is and is not acceptable behavior, and she knows that she should not pick flowers from flower beds.

Taelyn also loves to play with her sister (and fight too). When we make a tent, she insists that Kaelia comes inside to play with her. Taelyn will also "read" books to Kaelia; this is pretty comical because the book is always facing Taelyn, and she tilts it upside down to show Kaelia what is on the page. Taelyn will also try to make Kaelia laugh by making funny faces and tickling her. While she loves her sister very much, Taelyn also likes her own space and doesn't want Kaelia to touch her or her things at times. One of Taelyn's most common phrases lately has been "No, Kae-ya" over the many things that Taelyn doesn't want Kaelia to touch. We are working on the phrase "No thank you, Kaelia" instead.

Here are some of our favorite Taelyn pictures and memories from the past year.

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