Giuliana is TWO!

Giuliana is TWO! This is so hard to believe... I feel like she just came into the world two minutes ago. She is such a sweet little girl, she gives the best fish kisses, loves to hug, and is definitely a momma's girl. She also knows exactly how to turn the charm on her daddy to get what she wants. Smart little cookie!

Here are Giuliana's 2 year growth stats:
Weight: 21lbs 13 oz (40th %ile)
Height: 32 3/4 inches (25 %ile)
BMI: 14.62

Some notes about Giuliana at two years of age:

* Based on her 2 year growth stats, you'd think this was a different child. Giuliana was a big baby (8lbs 14 oz), but since her one month check-up, she has always been either not on the growth charts or just hitting 3rd %ile for weight. And, her height has always been in the 75th %ile range. Dr. C said that when kids start getting their height measured standing up, their height always drops on the percentile charts. And, we were all excited to see that she finally had put on some weight! She still looks like such a tiny little thing though.

* Giuliana is a great little eater. She loves or will try pretty much anything... some of the *not usually liked by kids food* includes avocados, broccoli, salmon, tilapia, pastas or any type or size. Some things she does not like include oranges. And, sometimes I can't get her to eat chicken.

* Some of Giuliana's favorite foods include soup (tomato or vegetable soup are the favorites), hot dogs, corn dogs (which she calls corn hot dogs), Kraft mac-n-cheese, pizza, turkey lunch meat, cheddar cheese, avocados, peas, and CHOCOLATE.

* Usually, I'll sit the kids down for dinner and while they're starting to eat their dinner I'm re-filling milks or trying to get my dinner plate prepped. When I sit down to eat, 90% of the time, Giuliana will get out of her seat and join me in my lap and eat off of my plate with me. I find this habit so funny. And, now during lunch, I'm noticing that when she sits down to eat lunch with Michalina (our au pair), if Michalina has something different to eat than Giuliana, then Giuilana will always want to eat some of her meal as well.

* Giuliana's favorite songs are Jingle Bells; the A,B,C song; and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She will sing them upon request and it is SO STINKIN' CUTE to hear her sing these songs. She's still not very articulate, although her vocabulary grows every day. I can understand approx 65% of what she is saying. So, when she sings these songs it's super cute because you know what the words are and what she is trying to say. My favorite part of Jingle Bells is when she yells "hey!".

* Giuliana's a great little sleeper. She still takes one nap daily, starting at 12noon. She'll sleep anywhere between 1.5 -3 hours. I'd say she more often than not averages approx 2 and a quarter hour naps on a regular basis. Bedtime is usually 8pm. And, she usually wakes for the day between 7-7:30am. The one catch here is that Giuliana wakes up usually between 11pm-2am, and says "momma? momma?" or "momma? dadda?"... and that is our cue that we must get her and bring her into bed with us. Then, she goes right back to sleep without issue. And, we get extra cuddles from the cute little monkey.

* Giuliana earned the nickname of midnight snacker back in the fall. She started this crazy habit of waking up and asking for "milky" (milk) or "wawa" (water) or "milky wawa" (milk & water)... and then it turned into asking for "cook cook" (cookie) and "fishy cack cack" (goldfish crackers). Whatever it was, it became a very annoying habit. She must have been going through a growth spurt and just needed the calories. So, in the middle of the night we'd get the request and Dan or I would have to wander down to the kitchen to fulfill the cookie request or the cracker or milk or water request. Dan traveled so much over the past few months that I actually started packing a little lunch box to bring up to bed with me that I could have by the bed with anything Giuliana might ask her JUST so I wouldn't have to wander downstairs in the middle of the night. Pathetic, I know. Just recently, the middle of the night snack requests have stopped (yes... that is the sound of me knocking on wood!).

* Bedtime also has a typical routine in our house. On most nights, we'll read a bunch of books downstairs before bedtime, give the kids their vitamins, and then we make the *go to bed* call and that means it's time to go upstairs and put PJs on and brush teeth. We typically put all the kids in pajamas and brush their teeth at the same time. Dan usually starts the process (if he's not traveling) while I clean up the downstairs a bit. Then, I join them upstairs to finish the process so we can tuck Gabby and Rocco into bed and give them big hugs and kisses. Giuliana says goodnight to her brother and sister, gives them hugs and kisses and then I put her to bed. Mommy ALWAYS has to put Giuliana to bed. She will not go to bed unless I put her to bed. (However, Dan did tell me that it wasn't an issue while I was on vacation w/my girlfriends for 3 nights at the end of January... whew!) Anyway, if she knows momma is in the house, which I always am (except for the random occasion), then she will cry or protest until momma goes up to put her to bed. So, I just fully participate in the go-to-bed routine all the time because there is no getting out of it for me! I do a diaper check, we turn on the fan, turn on the crickets (sound machine), and we sit down in the rocking chair with her favorite blankey and milky and we rock while singing songs. I always ask her which song we should sing first and she always says Jingle Bells. Then, we sing the ABC song, and then Twinkle Twinkle. Occasionally, Giuls will ask to sing Jingle Bells again. And, she'll almost always sing along with me if she isn't drinking her milk. I love this time with her... it's just so precious.

* Giuliana more often than not prefers to look at books by herself. She likes to flip the pages at her own pace. Sometimes... she'll join Gabby, Rocco and me on the sofa while I am reading books to them. But, most often, she'll grab one of the books in our stack and finds her own place on the sofa next to us and flips through the book on her own time. Then, when something sounds interesting, she'll come over and curiously look at the pictures and watch me read.

* Giuliana still LOVES pretending to be a kitty-cat. She will "meow" very loudly for attention, crawl over to you on all fours and brush her face against your leg. This is your cue to pick her up and treat her like a little kitty and rub her back.

* Giuliana loves doing animal sounds... we must have over 20 animal sounds now that she loves to tell you about.... horse, cow, goat, sheep, rooster, chicken, duck, bird, dog, cat, bumble bee, froggy, owl, bear, turkey, etc. It's always so much fun to hear little kids tell you what sound an animal makes. Her funniest animal sound remains the rooster... instead of saying "cock-a-doodle-do" she will say "cock-a-dee".

* If Giuliana hears the word "treat", she'll come running! I almost crings when I hear the "t" word... because she is so insistent on getting a treat if she hears the word, or if one of her siblings asks for one in front of her, it can be very difficult to distract her with something else or forget about "treats" all together.

* Giuliana started refusing to sit in her high chair back in the fall. Now she always sits at the dinner table with us in a booster seat. There are positives and negatives to this. For one, we're not having to clean off the high chair. She gets to feel more a part of the family, and like she is doing a *big-kid* thing. But, now we have to worry about her wanting to climb into and out of her booster seat at the table. It just opens up another opportunity for falling on a hard floor and I'm not a fan of that.

* Giuliana has a broad spectrum of toys that she enjoys playing with, including all B.atman related toys and loves to hold the figures and make them fly or drive their cars. She also loves Buzz Lightyear, AND baby dolls! You can see her motherly and nurturing skills come out whenever she has a little baby doll in her arms. Or, seeing a real live baby is ever more exciting and she observes with such curiosity and a gentle spirit... it's very fun to watch that interaction. Anyway, she loves to feed and hug and undress baby dolls. She prefers her B.arbie dolls and baby dolls to be naked. It's kinda crazy! She also loves playing with Gabby's F.isher P.rice Dreamhouse doll house. She likes setting up the rooms and holding the little people that live/play in the house. She enjoys puzzles and blocks too.

* Giuliana also loves doing artsy stuff... she loves playing with play dough, coloring, and playing with stickers.

* She is still very attached to her purple blankey. It is definitely her source of comfort and I love that she has that. And, I love that I have a backup should we ever lose one!

* Giuliana likes to think she is one of the big kids. Anything she sees Gabby and Rocco doing something, she feels she should be able to do it too. While this can be super cute, it can also cause a problem from time to time when we have to tell her *no* to protect her because she's not big or old enough. It's hard being the little person sometimes - I get that!

* Giuliana's favorite TV shows are B.atman, Go Diego!, Wonder Pets, and Little Einsteins.

* Giuliana likes to choose what she is going to wear every day. Just like her big sister did/does! BUT, she is completely opposite from Gabby, who at age 2 wanted to wear dresses every single day. If I try to put a dress on Giuliana, she has a major fit and screams and cries and I almost have to wrestle her to get the darn dress on. So, needless to say... I don't spend a lot of time putting dresses on Giuls. I/we usually just let her choose what she wants to wear. And, she LOVES to wear footy PJ's... sometimes all day long. Who can blame her, right?

* Giuliana also loves being naked (with diaper on). She loves to strip down and run around the house with JUST her diaper on. I'm not sure why... I guess it's just the freedom of being naked.

* Just when I am sure Giuliana is going to be more tomboy than girly-girly like Gabby, she'll surprise me and want to put flower clips in her hair. Or, if I'm putting makeup on, she'll want to put makeup on. Same thing with jewelry... if she sees me or Gabby putting jewelry on, she'll want to do the same.

* Giuliana is obsessed with lotion. She LOVES putting lotion on her hands. She loves putting lotion on anyone who will let her. And, when I put lotion on my face, she always insists that she gets to put on mommy's expensive face lotion too.

* Giuliana, while she looks like the sweetest little thing on the planet, also has little not-so-innocent side to her. I think this is probably something that MOST children have. However, it becomes more evident in homes with numerous children because the circumstances to be not-so-innocent, or want something that another child has, present themselves much more frequently than at a home with a single child or one sibling. She's getting better as she continues on into her twos, but for a while, she would fight tooth and nail to get what she wanted from her siblings. Odd thing was that with other kids (non-siblings), she was and still is more willing to share. It's something we continue to work on with her. Since she isn't super articulate yet, she does seem to use action more than words when something has her upset. Like, if Rocco has a toy she wants, she'll often start crying and trying to take it from him, rather than asking him for it. Then, if I come over to talk to her and tell her she needs to wait, she'll sometimes act out towards me. Dr. C. assured me that this is all very normal behavior for this age, as kids sort of learn the *sharing* concept closer to 2.5 years old.

* Giuliana enjoys getting dressed up in Halloween costumes... Rocco's old B.atman costume, Gabby's old Butterfly costume, the C.urious George costume, and just recently has shown more interest in playing dress-up in Gabby's old princess dresses. The C.inderella dress seems to fit her quite well right now!

* Lately, when I say "Giuliana, you're so pretty" or "you're so beautiful".... she'll respond with "Don't SAY that! I not pretty.... I nana!" (because Giuliana still calls herself "nana")

* Giuliana's nicknames include: Giuls (pronounced "Jewels"), Giulsy, Nana.... and Rocco often still calls her "Junynana"

Sure do love and enjoy this darling little squirt! She makes me smile so big and laugh every single day. Seriously the cutest little 2 year old on the planet right now... but then again, I'm biased!