Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn turned 2 years old last week! I can't believe that she is now a "2 year old" That seems so old, but yet I still feel like she is a baby in so many ways. To celebrate, most all my family was not around, so we didn't bother with a party since she still had no idea what a birthday was. That morning I took her to a local place called "The JumpE Place." It was awesome and really cheap so we will be going there again for sure. She had a good time jumping on all of the inflatables and going down the big slides. I think having a sibling is going to be so good for her in the long run, b/c she is finally at the age where she enjoys playing with other kids around her same age. She had so much more fun at the JumpE place when this other little boy would jump around with her. I am so sad that I forgot my camera though :( She literally had a smile on her face for about 45 minutes straight (which is rare) and I wish I could have captured some of those happy moments. So then we came home and had a little lunch and then it was nap time. After her nap I tried to take her outside to get some pictures of her since I had forgotten earlier. This is about the only one that came out ok.
That night once Daddy got home, we ordered a pizza (which is one of her favorite foods) and just made her a homemade bday cake. A very laid back birthday, but we just didn't see the need to do very much for this one. We will definitely make a much bigger fuss about it next year when she knows what's going on!

Just a few comments on this stage in her life for me to be able to look back on:

She is still fairly behind on communicating and talking, but she is starting to get better. She still doesn't say yes or no and won't say any words on demand. But she has started just randomly coming out with quite a few new words here and there which I am happy about. A stranger probably could not understand even 90% of them, but we do, and that is good enough for me for now! I guess some kids are just slower than others at talking.

In other ways, I feel she is pretty smart for her age. She can identify most all the letters of the alphabet by pointing to them when we ask her where they are and can actually say about 3 or 4 letters. Her numbers are a little harder for her. She can only identify about 5/10 of the numbers on a regular basis. She also knows all of her basic colors and will even say each of them but blue for some reason whenever she randomly sees something that color. She also knows most of her shapes: triangle, square, oval, circle and sometimes rectangle.

We haven't had our doctor check-up yet so I don't have all of the stats to post yet. Overall she gets better with age! haha. She has gotten much better with her separation anxiety and will now stay with Justin and my mom with no problems. We have finally broke her of her milk bottle and she will now drink it on her own in a sippy cup. She is currently sleeping in a toddler bed and takes one nap a day. She is a pretty good eater and will eat most anything for a bribe of ice cream or candy :)