"Two" Big!

Adele turned two last Friday and we've been celebrating ever since!

She is completely into showing us just how "big" she is!

She has learned to:
Open the refrigerator door...
Take the milk jug out of the refrigerator...
Open the milk...
And sometimes get some milk into her mouth!

She also has figured out how to...

Climb through the rails on the banister on the stairs, therefore bypassing the baby gate...

She also sleeps in a big girl bed, and has figured out that at naptime (and sometimes bedtime) it is more fun to:
Open all of her dresser drawers...
Put clothes on and take them off all by herself...
And remove her diaper...
She can't put a diaper back on by herself yet, but she sure can make a mess with a dirty one!

She also learned how to get out of her bedroom even though she can't quite reach the doorknob.

I went to the store and bought some doorknob covers. I laughed when I read the instructions and they said something like, "Remove from door once child has learned to defeat the product." Not quite 24 hours later, Adele somehow learned how to defeat the doorknob cover. She's only done that once, so I left them on for now...

It seems that our big two-year-old is a little too big for her own good...but we wouldn't have her any other way! And so far, except for a few messes, she hasn't caused any real damage-especially to herself, so I guess we just have to be sure to keep an eye on her at ALL times!

Adele-isms

Several years ago, a parent of one of my students introduced the term “Gropp-isms”-terms that her son brought home from school from my classroom. My favorite was that I apparently said (during one of MJ’s scandals, no doubt), “Michael Jackson is not appropriate in second grade” or something-what I’d meant was that it was not okay to sing MJ songs and grab your crotch while in line, but somehow, weeks later when MJ came up at said boy’s dinner table, he made sure to announce that Mrs. Gropp said that he (Michael Jackson) was not an appropriate topic of conversation. As much as I’d like to sit here and embarrass myself about the silly things I’ve said as a teacher, this blog is about Adele, so I think I’ll change gears and share some recent “Adele-isms”

She has recently started talking quite a bit. It’s tough for most people to understand her, the kindergarten teacher in me is recognizing that she drops initial consonants, especially s’s, can’t pronounce k’s, etc, but mostly, it’s just cute listening to her talk! Here are some Adele-isms, and their translations:

A-na Tate! (With a long A!) Anna Kate-she ALWAYS says it with enthusiasm!
Ah-et (Target)
Ninner (Dinner, or lunch, or breakfast for that matter)
Aah None (All done)
Tay Here (stay here- a new favorite at bedtime!)
Del tome (Adele wants to come too)
A-leh-lah (Cinderella)
Laless (Princess)
Bapa (Grandpa)
Momo (Gizmo, memaw and bapa’s dog)
Doh (go)
Per Less! (Polar Express)
Too too (Train, choo choo)
Atch (watch)
Aah ah-lat (or something like that: Hot chocolate)
Ah-lat Milt (Chocolate milk)
Ah-ee (sorry-usually followed with “Mommy”)
Del (Adele)
Bow (Bowl)
Ee Tartul (Be careful)
Poon (Spoon)
I-no (I don’t know-an immediate response to EVERYTHING!)
Baper (diaper)
Boppy-(still working on this one, sometimes it means Barbie, sometimes happy,
sometimes, ???)
Mer (More)

I'm sure there are plenty 'mer' but I can't think of them right now, so I'll just have to add them later.

Ringing in the New Year at the Children's Museum!

We decided to try out the Children's Museum today. I figured it would either be extremely busy, or nearly empty. As it turns out, we were lucky, the crowds were pretty small, which meant Adele could really have space to explore!

We took her last winter, too, and it's amazing how different she is in just one year!

This time she was VERY interested in the trains (Polar Express is one of her favorite movies right now-we watch it at least once a day, it seems!)





Braving the "Yule Slide" with Daddy:



Carousel:

Playing with Memaw:

In the Mirror Maze:



Checking out the cutie in the mirror:

Water table in Playscapes:

She could pedal this with her hands all by herself (and could go forward and backward)!

Taking a little rest:

Indy Car Driver Adele:

She loved looking at the Barbie dolls, but was absolutely the cutest while acting as a receptionist:

Wrestling a 'gator in Egypt: