Two Years!

My sweet baby Lani turned "2" on June 24th and for some reason I have had the hardest time sitting down to write this post. Maybe it's because her crazy temper tantrums have been consuming my time and my thoughts for the past 3 weeks? Or maybe it's because I am not emotionally ready to write the "two year old post"!! Lani is my last baby unless we come into a lot of money and can afford a bigger house and adoption:)

What can I say about our Lani Bear, as we affectionally call her? She is absolutely amazing and so freakin' cute!! There isn't a day that goes by when I don't laugh hysterically at her or cry because of something adorable that she has done.

Lani is a smarty pants! I think this is a huge part of her tantrums. She knows exactly what she wants and we sometimes have a hard time figuring out what it is. Lani is a little OCD and routined. If we go out of that routine or don't let her do something than watch out. It turns into a bad scene. Lani MUST close and open all doors, drawers, etc. She MUST go into the bathroom with us. She MUST push the buttons on the microwave. She MUST put covers on soy milk, cups, etc. She MUST line all her animals up the same way. She MUST pick up her baby and cup from the floor before going to bed. She MUST hand me her toothbrush and toothpaste. She MUST open/close the garage door. Okay, you get the point. We are teaching her to ask us calmly and nicely instead of the screaming and crying that we normally get. This has been working although Lani has been put to bed a few times having a full blown tantrum because I turned her AC on. Sorry, but I am not going to turn it off just so she can turn it on. I don't want her to learn how to do that then fall out the dang window. I will say that she has never cried about it again.

Lani has a HUGE vocabulary and is telling us all kinds of stories. Her favorite thing to say now is "Mommy why you be mean a me?". It cracks me up because it's normally when I put her shirt on and her hair pulls a little. If Michael and I are having a discussion she will say "Daddy no be mean a Mommy!" HEE:) That's right! Us girls gotta stick together. We sing A LOT in this house. Michael has learned to play all of Lani's favorite songs on the guitar so we sing and dance while he plays. Tons of fun and good exercise for me;)

Sleeping still is going well. Lani sleeps through the night and takes a 2-3 hour nap. Thank goodness for this because nap time is when I gather my sanity from all these kiddos. Eating is still an issue. Lani is still pretty darn picky, but she eats A LOT of what she does like. We have gotten her allergies under control. The last time she had any hives was when she had a glazed munchkin from DD's. She's had them before so we are not really sure why. It could have been a cross contamination. Luckily it was only one or two so we didn't even need to give her Benadryl. It's been almost a year since we tested her so we will be going back soon for some blood work and to retest her. UGH! I am not looking forward to that but I am so curious to see if there has been any improvement.

Here are some of her favorite foods: )

*chicken nuggets

*turkey kielbasa
*cheeseless pizza
*Tings (dairy free cheese doodles)
*veggie booty
*cantaloupe
*watermelon
*peaches
*apples
*grapes
*oyster crackers (funny)
*"ice cream" (soy)
*Very Vanilla soy milk (she drinks it now)
*pancakes
*waffles
*cookies
*fry fries (french fries)
*"noodles with meat" (spaghetti with turkey burger in the sauce)

As you can see there are not vegetables, but we are working on that. They are always offered, but always refused. I am just thankful that Lani eats any fruit and also is drinking the Very Vanilla soy milk. It's fortified especially for children with all kinds of vitamins and minerals that she really needs. Her weight at this weeks appointment was 24 pounds and that puts her into the 10th percentile. That's better than the 5th that she has been in for the past year!!!

I am still watching children at home and I am still dealing with Lani's jealousy. I admit that I use the TV as a babysitter at least once a day! When I need to feed Oliver Lani will be right under me screaming "mama" over and over. Now I just put on "Word World" and she is happy for the next 20 minutes:) I can be happy that it's an educational show!! It's totally worth it so I can get Oliver fed quickly. She and Alex have been together since infancy so they interact like siblings. The fighting is constant, but there are also those sweet moments when they actually play so nicely together. He is the only one that I have ever seen Lani hit. She will walk up to him and smack him right on the head. UGH!! It's actually a very sweet relationship and Lani really misses him now that he is off for the Summer. His Mom works as an OT at the local elementary school and gets the summer off. Lani still asks for "Akek" every day!

Lani is a busy girl and doesn't take much time to relax!

Some of her favorite things to do are:
*singing
*dancing
*playing with babies
*lining up her little people and animals
*closing and opening everything
*playing outside
*going for walks
*throwing rocks in the lake
*cartoons
*Pretty girls (Disney Princesses)
*reading books (she actually sits for longer books)
*pretending to go "night night"
*go to the beach

Now we venture into Lani's third year of life! I am so excited to watch her grow into such a smart, sweet, and fun little girl. It's been so awesome having you all with me through this crazy adventure that we have been on! Lani is the reason I started this blog and have met so many awesome people. Thanks so much for sharing the good and the bad with me!! Your support and friendships means more than you know!!