Aria turned two on the 24th. In the second year of life we are constantly changing. I can’t recall even a fraction of what Aria has done and been interested in this year, but I thought it would be fun to document what she’s into currently.

Recently she’s begun speaking a lot, and in just the last week or so she has begun speaking in full sentences. She’s very communicative, and I appreciate that. She even uses words sometimes to express her frustration or that she is sad (which is really just another form of frustration, more than it is sadness). It is encouraging to me when she expresses those things, because I am glad she has the ability, and especially that she understands that it is safe to say so.

1. Imaginative play. She likes to take care of her babies, make us food in the play kitchen (today she asked me, “Want tea?”, then brought me a “drink”), and clean the house with her toy broom or whatever rag she can get her hands on (dish towel, tissue – she’s not discriminating). She also likes to help with chores. She wants to be involved in bathing Noah, and likes to cook, clean, and do laundry with me. She’s wonderful about picking up toys and pacifiers when Noah drops them, and throwing trash in the garbage.
2. Blocks and puzzles. She likes to sort and arrange. The engineering bent of her mind has been obvious since she was tiny, so it’s not surprising that she likes to arrange, ponder, and rearrange. She’s careful to always put things away, and she is driven to do so “correctly”. That’s intrinsic to her, because I have been careful to never correct her when she willingly did something but did it in a haphazard baby sort of way. As she gets older, she gets more and more careful all on her own.
3. Drawing on the iPad. She asks to draw multiple times each day. She’ll let me know what types of things she wants to draw, and when she would like a new page. Today I showed her how to clear the picture on one of the drawing apps, and she caught right on and started doing it for herself.
4. Her baby brother. Oh, dear, she likes him a lot. She gets right in his face and jabbers to him, tossing her head from side-to-side. He eats it up. She’s also prone to climbing on him and bringing him toys to drop in his face. But, hey, I’ll take it. She loves him.
5. Her cousin Emma. Emma is a current obsession of Aria’s. She follows her around calling her name, and when we’re not with her she asks about her. Emma rode in the back of our minivan once in Aria’s memory, and now Aria asks for her and points to the back of the van nearly every time we go somewhere.
6. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. She is also obsessed with “Kitty Kitty”. She talks about him at least as much as she talks about Emma. Daniel Tiger is an animated spinoff from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, which we have also begun watching. She likes it nearly as well (much to my relief, as I prefer it).
7. Books, books, books. She loves books. Right now her favorites include several of our Boynton books and Madeline’s Rescue, which her Aunt Jo gave her for Christmas. She takes a board book to bed with her each night. She also loves her Bible, and even asks me to read my books out loud to her.
8. Snow. She talks about “no!” all the time. She likes to draw on a specific snowman app on the iPad. She likes to read her book about snow.
9. Current favorite foods include eggs, rice cakes, and turkey deli meat. Blueberries are always popular, as are oranges. She likes to drink regular and dark chocolate almond milk, as well as plain iced tea, and water.
10. Church. She loves going to church on Sundays. Sometimes she asks for it on random days, and she gets excited when I tell her that’s where we’re going. Yesterday when we got within sight of the building she called out, “Chuch!” (there should really be an umlaut over that “u” for full effect). That thrills me more than most things, because it means she loves being with our people. We have no children’s service – she stays with Mommy  (and family) during the service – so she’s not just excited because she’s going to be passively entertained the entire time.

It’s already obvious we are in for more major changes in the next 12 months. I can’t wait to see them! She’s really a fantastic little person, and I enjoy her thoroughly.