Arden is 2!

Arden is now 2 years old!

Parenting is a role that never ends, but these milestones are a good opportunity for celebrating little accomplishments when we can. I can now proudly say that we successfully raised a baby into toddlerhood!

Arden is pure joy at this age. She loves exploring, learning, singing, reading and playing. Her interests change from day to day, but she's recently taken a liking to dinosaurs, Thomas the train, and drawing with crayons. She has incredible eyesight, spying little insects in the grass and planes from far away, and her sense of rhythm is really good for her age. She loves dressing up (on her birthday, she insisted on changing outfits at least four times before her party...) and is looking forward to getting more hair so she can wear hair clips and pigtails and all that. 

Arden loves walking around the neighbourhood, and is getting better at following instructions - but she still prefers to be carried 90% of the time, which is challenging because we walk everywhere, and she's definitely getting harder to hold as she grows. She still generally dislikes her stroller, although if I'm going for a jog, she sits nicely (with snacks, of course) and shouts "Mama, run!" whenever I slow down or stop for water. I can't really tell if she's a very encouraging child, or if she's become my new bossy personal trainer.

Two is a really interesting age, because now we can finally start reasoning with her and/or bribing her to do things. Which makes some things easier (like giving her medicine, or putting her down to bed at night). But sometimes... I'll offer her animal crackers if she'll let me put a jacket on her, and then tortilla chips if she'll let me put the "prettier" coat on her, and then fruit snacks if she'll just put on the leopard print vest so we can go to swim class because we're running late... and then I feel a bit ashamed. 

Sleep is... a lot better these days. It's not perfect, but much more manageable than when she was an infant. We're now able to put her in her crib awake (after a very very long bedtime routine), which is a welcome change from rocking/nursing her to sleep and gingerly setting her down again and again. Naps are still carried, by me, but it's only once a day now. And I'm sure plenty of other parents carry their toddlers for all their naps, right? It's normal. I'm normal. We're normal... just kidding. This is not normal, but hopefully by her third birthday she'll be capable of napping in her crib...? 

During our visit to the States this summer, I decided to interview our families about their favourite memories of Arden at this age for this year's birthday video:

Arden's reaction to her birthday video.

On Arden's birthday this year, we invited some friends over for an outdoor barbecue (as we did last year), but it was a terribly windy day and we ended up moving the party to our apartment for cake and present-opening. Arden is just starting to get the hang of opening presents, and was fond of all her gifts - especially the bubbles.

bubbles are always a hit.

Happy birthday, sweet girl. Here's to many many more years of chasing after bubbles, pure excitement at seeing puppies and birds, overwhelming joy while dancing to music (or "la-la"), and so many more things to discover and experience.

for Arden's third Halloween, we finally got her a proper costume - Supergirl!

CK