Signs of Spring

Just a few little glimpses of coming spring Gabriella and I found on the way to preschool.

Oops

Giggle Giggle Quack

Last weekend we received four free tickets to see the Oregon Children's theatre's production, Giggle, Giggle Quack. I was excited to take Gabriella downtown to see her first real play in a real theatre. I didn't take many pictures to share, but it was a fabulous afternoon. Gabriella was entranced by the super cute production, Juliana was entertained and sat through the entire play quietly (a big deal for a 2 year old) and I will have the song "Giggle, Giggle Quack" in my head for weeks.

Gabriella waiting to have her program signed...

A lovely day to enjoy downtown Portland...

A swan a day keeps the doctor away

Can your Daddy turn apples into swans?

Our two year old

My, my, my.... Our baby girl is two. And boy is she two. Tonight I fixed whole grain pancakes for supper. Juliana loves pancakes and was pretty pumped about it until I set them on the table. Then, she exclaimed that she was scared of pancakes and ran off to hide in the new play tent she got for her birthday. She finally rejoined us at the supper table when I took the scary pancakes off the plate. She ate her fruit and yogurt happily enough, yet all the while suspiciously eyeing Gabriella's pancakes. Then, she decided to use the yogurt for body lotion.
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Juliana's two year appointment went well. She weighs 27lbs 14oz and is 34 inches tall. That puts her in the 70ish percentile for both height and weight.

Dr. Sarah was very impressed with her language. Gabriella wasn't along so Juliana was pretty chatty. She still has reflux and will remain on prevacid. We're supposed to keep track of how often we have to give her Malox in addition to the prevacid. She may eventually need to see a specialist.

Juliana had two shots at this appointment. For the first she said, "Ouch! That hurts!" and for the second she let out a little squeal, but stopped as soon as I pointed out that the nurse had a pink band aid. As soon as that band aid was on she thanked the nurse and was bright and cheery. The nurse was a little surprised. I don't think she gets thanked after shots very often.
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Juliana still wears mostly 18 month size clothes, but I think that has to do a lot with how she is built. She has a long torso. 2T pants are still way too long. 2T tops work OK sometimes, but are still pretty long in sleeve length.

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One of my favorite of Juliana's phrases is, "Aww man!" Sometimes this is accompanied by a dramatic slap to the forehead. Love it.

One of my favorite Juliana words is, "Sunggle" (snuggle.) That girl really knows how to snuggle and goodness knows I'm a mama that is always up for a snuggle. Juliana loves to play tiny baby. I swaddle her up in throw blanket and Gabriella does the same with one of her dolls and then we exclaim over our "newborns" while I unabashedly sneak in extra sunggles.

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The other day when Jonathan went off to class Juliana said, "Good bye! Have fun with Shanta!" Shanta is Gabriella's preschool teacher. Evidently all this time we've been saying that Daddy was going to class she was envisioning him going to Gabriella's preschool class.

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Juliana has an imagination that may even rival her sister's. While Gabriella has imaginary husbands and royal titles, Juliana sees imaginary dinosaurs and monsters (and, you know... menacing pancakes). She loves to play scared and ends up in hysterical giggle fits over her own imaginary creations.
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Juliana has started making some little representational drawings. I'll have to scan in the little face she drew (don't let me forget!) She has some crazy fine motor skills for having just turned two. She has always loved to draw and color and she loves to pretend that she can write like her sister.

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Juliana Jayne is all sunshine and spunk and sweetness and sunggles. I can't get enough of that girl.

At least someone around here is writing something

I know I really need to update. I have a few half written posts saved in the queue, including a two year update for Juliana.

So, basically I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive and haven't given up on blogging. In addition, this is what is happening at our house right now...

The girls are at the table writing. Gabriella is practicing lowercase letters. Juliana is making hieroglyphs and pronouncing what letters they are and what they spell.

Juliana (triumphantly): "I'm bwiting La-La!" (La La is what Juli calls G)

Gabriella: "No dear, you're not biting LaLa, you are writing "LaLa." Rrrr Rrrrr "Writing" See?"

Juliana: "Oooooh I'm writing La La"

Two

Happy Birthday to my sweet, vivacious, affectionate, joyful Juliana Jayne. We love you so much. You are such a blessing to this family.