Eleanor and Miranda turned two! We posted some pictures from the last month. The girls’ birthday party is on Sunday though, so you won’t see any birthday party pictures until next month. Eleanor and Miranda got an expansion set to their Mega Bloks and a bubble machine from Albert and Erin, and a set of walkie-talkies and a twenty-four piece puzzle from Agnes’ friend Sophia. She also gave us a small playhouse that we can set up either in our patio or in our backyard, but we haven’t set it up yet.
This month started off a little rough with Eleanor going through a couple of weeks of throwing tantrums. Eventually, we all settled down a bit. We as parents have a better sense of what sets her off (rushing her, not giving her enough warning of a change in activity, letting her get too tired or hungry, etc.), and she seems to have gotten a little less sensitive to the things that bothered her. There were many days where Miranda would observantly comment: “Eleanor mad”.
We have also been trying to do a better job of preparing our girls for things coming up. We bought a toy doctor’s kit and a book that shows what happens when we visit the doctor. Miranda and Eleanor both seemed to like the toy hypodermic needle the best. They’ll stick it in their leg and exclaim “Ow!” No actual needles are used, of course. Their doctor’s appointment went fine, for the most part. Miranda is 33 inches tall, and 21 pounds, 12 ounces. Eleanor is 33.75 inches tall and 22 pounds, 10 ounces.
We also picked up a toilet training doll that has a water bladder that one can use to simulate using the potty. Eleanor really likes it and hugs it whenever she gets the chance. We named it Annie (no offense to any of our friends with that name) and we found that we had to buy a second one for Miranda. Neither of them seem bothered that we have two identical dolls both named Annie. We haven’t really started our toilet training in earnest though. We kind of feel we need to work our way up to it.
Last month, Eleanor would often string together long sentences where everything but the beginning and end would be a string of nonsense syllables. She’s doing that a lot less and seems to be concentrating on putting together actual words to convey what she means. Miranda strings together longer sentences than Eleanor at this point. At Agnes’ prompting the other day, Miranda told me “Daddy no touch it” when she didn’t want me to add to her block structure. Miranda’s also big on saying “Miranda do it”. Me, my, and mine are also starting to show up pretty regularly.
Eleanor and Miranda still squat and ease their way down stairs, and they neither jump nor run. They’ve learned to hold each other’s hands and they know not to wander off when we ask them to stay close–at least most of the time. Eleanor has wandered off at least two or three times this month. We had to chase her through the Mitsuwa food court.
Eleanor knows all of her letters and seems to understand how to count how many of something there are. At least when I ask how many there are, Eleanor will start counting and stop when she reaches the right number.
Miranda continues to be more fashion conscious. When I asked her to get her socks the other day, she returned from the sock drawer with every single colored sock. I suppose the white socks are Eleanor’s. Miranda insists on wearing one red sock and one blue sock. We constantly get comments on her color choice at the daycare, and you’ll see her in these mismatched socks throughout this month’s pictures. Agnes is predicting we’ll see this at least for the next year.
Stop signs, bicycles, and motorcycles seem to be the big things that catch our girls’ attention these days. They point out every one of them that they see. Favorite books these days include One Fish, Two Fish, which Eleanor can practically recite, and we’ve seen a resurgence of popularity for Goodnight Moon.
On their birthday, the girls went to see the doctor in the morning, and then we dropped them off with some cupcakes at daycare at lunchtime. Miranda was quite upset that she was told she had to eat her lunch before her cupcake, but the daycare teachers stood firm, and the girls ate their cupcakes for their afternoon snack.
I think it’ll be another year before girls know enough to look forward to their birthday. Right now, they’re just happy to get a few new toys, and maybe get some cake and ice cream.