24 Months Old

And here we are. My baby is two.

At 24 months (ok, ok, almost 25 by now) Raye:

*has 23 teeth. Only one more to go!

*is paci-free when she sleeps. I took her paci away when Shannon left town for a couple of weeks (told her it went bye-bye with daddy). It was rough, rough going for a couple of weeks but by about a month in all was fine. She's sleeping normally (maybe even better!) now and I don't have to keep up with germ-catching pacifiers. Win-win.

*loves to dance. She's got the most moves of any of our kids, and every time she hears music she'll say, "Mama. Dance!" and start dancing or, "Mama. Song!" and start swaying to the music. She loves to dance.

*seems to have come out of the super-picky phase with regards to food. She still has her favorites, but overall she's eating much better than she has been. I think it's because she's gotten most of her teeth and her mouth doesn't hurt as much.


Sporting her birthday backpack and doing pretty well with do-a-dots.

*loves Mickey Mouse. She has finally decided that she'll watch a little bit of television, but mostly only if it's Mickey Mouse. Which I'm ok with. I've never been one to want my kids to love TV, but gosh it sure is nice when they'll be entertained for 22 minutes so I can do things like clean a chicken without being interrupted a million times. Wow, bunny trail. Anyways she loves Mickey and says stuff all the time now like, "Goofy si-yee, dance, hot dog."

*is all about doing it all herself. She wants to do everything: put the key in the door, go to the bathroom by herself, put on her own diaper, etc., etc., etc. Of course there's no way we let her do about 50% or more of what she wants to do, but we try to let her do what she can.


Still sleeps three or more hours each afternoon. I usually have to wake her up.

*loves bugs. She gets this from Lane. Lane loves bugs. Raye loves Lane. Therefore Raye loves bugs. She's held lizards, baby frogs, tadpoles, and beetles. She gets so mad when someone else is holding a bug and not letting her have a turn.

*actually likes books now. She'll sit still for whole board books and bring you more of them to read. She likes Goodnight Moon; Panda Bear, Panda Bear; Brown Bear, Brown Bear; and most all of the other standard favorites of toddlers.

*knows the names of colors but can't always get them right. Still working on this with her for sure, as well as counting correctly. My favorite is when she says, "eight, nine, ten, yellow, twelve..."


This girl is a mess when it comes to ice cream!

*is in 3T clothes for the most part. She still has a couple of 2T or 24 month things in her drawers but mostly...3T. So crazy.

*throws her hands up in the air and says, "Way!" (yay!) when she's happy or when she likes your idea.

*loves to go outside. Often the first thing she'll ask in the morning (after she asks for "puffs and O's" [cereal]) is "bye bye soon?" It might be quickly followed with, "Watch Mickey Mouse?"

*fun things she's saying, "Me too __________" Me too bwush teef. Me too co-wur. Me too new paste (toothpaste). Me too bye bye. And so on. "Ma-ma, come git me!" "See ya way-ter, abigador!"


Birthday scooters!

She's such a sweetie pie and I'm so grateful for her in our lives!

23 Months Old

Attacking her sister. A favorite these days.

I'm late. Again. Can't believe my baby, and likely my last baby, will be two in 20 days!

At 23 months old Raye:

*has her two bottom molars. They're not all-the-way popped through yet, but definitely on their way and her mood improves the more they come through.

*loves to sing, do puzzles, be read to, build with Duplos, and play with play-doh. Those are her favorites. Her favorite songs right now are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep." She sings, "Baa, baa, black sheep have you any MORE!"


What a hoot. She loves, loves, loves play-doh.

*has an ever-expanding vocabulary. She regularly speaks in sentences and although a lot of the words in the sentence are not clear, enough of the words are clear that we can understand what she's trying to say: "Uhh uhh song a bus a beep a baby" = "I want to sing the song about the bus and the horn and the baby." Some of her most-used phrases these days: "Watch dis!," "Mama's turn. Way's turn.," "Help Wayne/Wel.," "Four-tee-tee" (means hide-and-seek).



*can count to 12. She usually does it when someone else has started counting and then she'll finish up with all the numbers she knows. She doesn't itemize things yet.

*is still taking about a 3-hour nap during the day. At night she goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and usually wakes up around 6:30. She's still in a size 6 shoe and is in all 2T/24 months clothes, but I pulled out the bag of 3T stuff the other day. Some of her 2T shirt sleeves are too short already.



*has reached the "I do it!" stage. She wants to do everything: put on her clothes, go to the bathroom, climb up and down stairs, wash her hands, and so on. Of course she can't do a lot of these things too well yet so ends up asking for help. It's frustrating.

*still loves to be outside. She loves to hang from bars. She loves to swing. Yesterday we walked to the store and she pulled a neighbor's toy truck with a string attached the whole way there and back. I think we'll be buying her a pull toy and a couple of large balls for her birthday. She loves to climb, chase after animals/birds, hang from monkey bars, attempt to balance on the barrier between grass and the sidewalk or road, and of course, play in the dirt.



She's quite the character and is so good most of the time. She definitely has her moments and is still learning boundaries, but overall she's not whiney, is obedient, and loves her sisters. She is a joy to have around and I'm so glad I'm actually getting to enjoy her. This is my first time with an almost-two-year old where I haven't been either exhausted from pregnancy or having a newborn. It's pretty nice.

22 Months Old

A middle-of-the-night snooze in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.

We were traveling the whole month of February so I'm a bit behind on my kids' posts. But as bad of a blogger as I am, I've tried really hard to keep track of their first two years' of life, so here I am. I'm a little in shock that Raye will be two in just two months. It feels like the time has flown by. But I very well remember this time just last year and how much of a pit I still felt like I was in with the first-year-with-a-baby things, and I'm just grateful and glad that we're not still in that first year, as cute as they are. I'm enjoying my toddler.



At 22 months old Raye:

*is potty trained. I think it's official. She tells us when she needs to go almost always. We flew across the world twice and she only had one accident with all of that. I think it's safe to say she's there!

*is a chatterbox. It started in January, a week or two after she turned 20 months old, but has just continued and she's just talking a lot. She says all sorts of short phrases ("bye, bye, poops!", "up peeze," "Uh got it," "'Ere are ooo?") and so many individual words that I just never bothered to write them down. She went from just 15-20 words to BAM! a hundred or so in just a week or so and she's getting new ones every day. It's very, very fun, and I love being able to tell her to stop pitching a fit and to use her words and to know that she probably actually can!



*has 16 teeth and I think is working on a molar or two. Thankfully she's not that grumpy yet, but I do think they're starting.

*went to the doctor while we were in the States and is a whopping almost-36-inches tall. It's like 98th percentile. And she weighs 27.25 pounds (85th or so). No wonder everyone thinks she's already 2. I guess we have a monster child.





*loves to be tickled. She also loves to play hide-and-seek. She likes to be chased, to throw balls, to run, and all the other crazy things that all toddlers love. She also loves her sisters. Noel is often a little too in-her-face and Raye gets mad at her, but she really does love them and wants to be in on all the action.

*loves the song, "Five Little Ducks." It's her favorite right now and I'll catch her singing it to herself sometimes. Totally cute.

*loves animals. She will watch animals and chase them and does not care if consequences might follow. She got scratched by Shannon's parents' cats quite a few times because she just wouldn't leave them alone.



*is such a good traveller. She spent 1000 or more miles in the car when we were in the States and she would just sit and look out her window. Sometimes she'd want to play peek-a-boo with us or tell us "Knock knock" (Who's there?) "Daddy" (Daddy who?) "Knock knock..." over and over and over again.

*loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Wiggle Waggle, Peek-a-Who, and Dear Zoo. These are her favorite books and she will actually sit still for them now, whereas before she'd just flip through the pages like a crazy person.

And there you have it. A snapshot of my crazy-cute 22-month old. She's much more enjoyable now than she was a couple of months ago...she's talking some, not cutting eye teeth, and just generally more fun and less...into everything. I love her. #stinkerbritchesraye.

20 Months Old

A week or so ago Raye turned 20 months old. She's:

*potty trained! Or we're working on it, at least. She's doing pretty well, has an accident every now and then, but for the most part she's doing well and telling us when she needs to go. Hopefully by the time we go to the States in a few weeks she'll be doing even better. Yippee! for only two diapers a day!


Enjoying her Camelbak that she got for Christmas.

*talking a bit more. New words: pee-pee, poo, bowl, bird ("bee"), play (bay), ow, cup, mine, car, bed (beh), bath (baa), bird (bee), treat (tee). And a lot more that are barely words but are pretty consistent.

*into everything. The other day I was making cornbread and knew I'd need to make another pan so I left a lot of the ingredients on the counter while waiting for the first pan to cook. I came back a little while later and there was salt. everywhere. She loves to pull up the step stool to the counter and play with the utensils and touch everything on the counter...she totally went crazy with the salt that day. I have to be more vigilant at moving stuff out of her reach.



*into issues. She knows to blow her nose with them and is actually pretty good at blowing, but if she sees a tissue or a napkin lying around, or if she can reach the box of tissues, you can be assured that there will be tissues or shreds of napkins everywhere. Or she'll go into the bathroom and try to get some toilet paper to wipe her nose.

*finally cut some eye teeth. She has three of them and the last one is closecloseclose to popping through.


Thanksgiving morning.

*is in love with a little Duplo cat, swing, and "bridge" thing that holds the swing. These are her most favorite pieces of all the Duplos and she gets very upset if we can't find them. Lane and Noel have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that the cat and swing belong to Raye.

*pitches quite a few fits, but will take herself to time-out if we tell her to go. She'll stay there until she's done crying and then will come out. It's pretty funny.


She loves play doh these days.

*is very empathetic. When one of her sisters is hurt or in trouble she'll bring them their blankies, water bottles, or something else to "comfort" them. She'll also give hugs or just lean into them to help them feel better.

*is into everything and we definitely have to keep an eye on her, but she's really fun and sweet. She wants to do everything her sisters are doing and thinks she's big like them. She likes to build blocks and play Duplos and snuggle under the sheets in my and Shannon's bed. She mimics her sisters and is a ham, thriving on our attention. She's just altogether sweet.

18 Months Old

My girlie is a big 'ol year-and-a-half. She's a hoot, too. At 18 months, Raye:

*is a jabber jaws. Her words are not nearly as clear as Noel's were at this age (nor does she say as many!), but she sure is trying to communicate. She says "more" and "buh-nuh" all the time. It's really too bad we can't figure out what "buh-nuh" means, since it doesn't mean banana (well, sometimes it might). She is also very good at nodding her head now and when we say, "say please," or, "say thank you," she usually just nods her head. She doesn't seem to understand that we want her to reproduce a word. Ah well. She also says shoes, apple, and...I'm drawing a blank. Something like "puh-duh" for potty.

*can put all the shapes into her shape sorter. And all the big shape pieces into her shapes puzzle.

*is very empathetic. If someone is crying or upset she'll give them a hug. She loves to give kisses at bedtime or when someone is leaving. Or if someone else is kissing someone, she wants in on the action. She's sweet.



*still has not gotten those stinkin' eye teeth. In general Raye is laid back and easy going and I can just tell that she's more irritable than usual. Just waiting on those teeth.

*is still interested in the potty and showing us that she needs to go sometimes. She goes through phases of being completely interested (going 4-5 times in a day) to being completely uninterested. I think we'll try to train her around Christmas/New Years when we have a little break in routine. I really just feel like she's too young. She can do it, I'm sure, but I worry about her communicating to us that she needs to go since she's not as verbal as Noel was when we trained her at 20 months old.



*gets very excited about a treat or M&M after going on the potty. When I mention a treat she kind of pants and goes "oh, oh, oh" with her mouth all smiley and open. So cute. She also does that when she's just excited in general, about going bye-bye, eating when she's hungry, and so on.

*is becoming interested in drawing with markers or crayons. She used to just want to put them in her mouth...she's actually put some marks on paper this month. She also likes play-doh.

*loves it when we dump all the blocks or legos out and they make a loud noise. She says, "OOOHHH!" She also likes to put legos or Mega Blocks together, most of the time she stacks the same kind of blocks together, but sometimes she'll try to add onto a structure. She's not as big on the regular wooden blocks, I think because we don't have as many of them and her sisters come and build with them, too, so she isn't left with many to stack. But she does enjoy them when she can have a minute of peace.



*loves to be chased, tickled, given zerberts, and so on. She loves for you to sing with her and kiss her neck, blow on her cheek, anything that shows that you've got all your attention on her.

*is into everything these days. She so wants to play with her sisters but of course she doesn't play the way they want her to, so they do everything they can to prevent her from playing with them. She's getting better at actually playing: stacking blocks, wanting clothes on or off a doll (speaking of dolls, she gives their baby that makes noise hugs when it "cries"), and so on. But she's also all toddler and quite a destroyer.

*is definitely an extrovert. She waves to everyone when we're out and about and will let people (usually she's more ok with men than women) pick her up. She might be a little more reserved with people in our home, but not much.

16 Months Old

Raye is such a cutie-pie these days. She's:

*talking a lot. Lots of words that start with "b": ball (buh), bye-bye, bird (also "buh"), baby, and something that sounds like ah-ne, which we think means "another." I've heard her say "I love you" this month, too, which was really sweet. She says some other things, too...I'm just having a hard time remembering them at the moment.

*working on more animal sounds now: "oooooh" for a cow, "buh buh" for a chicken, "kah kah" for a duck, "baa baa" for a sheep, "nay nay" for a horse, and of course the ones she already knew. For an elephant she'll raise her arm in the air and make a squeaking sound, and for a lion she'll do a very quiet, low growl/roar sound. It's awesome.



*more picky about food this month. I think a lot of it is due to all the fruit we've been having...'tis the season for yummy, cheap fruit, and we have been enjoying it. And so has Raye. She always loves fruit, crackers, and cheese...it's actual meals she might not be down with. Honestly, she's still a pretty good eater and not too picky, but she gets really grumpy when hungry so if it's not meal time yet or we're out and she's a grump because she's hungry, well, I give her a snack. So she often doesn't want all of her meal. And so the cycle continues. Mama can't handle the crying. #thirdborn.

*very sweet when someone else is in trouble or just upset. She'll pat them on the head (she also loves our friends' new baby...she loves to give him kisses and hugs), give them a hug, or just break down in tears that they're so upset.

*saying, "oooh" when putting on a necklace or a skirt/dress, and "mmmm!" when she likes something she's eaten.



*picking up phones, pushing buttons, and holding them up to her ear and saying "heh-doh!" Over and over and over again. She'll also do it with things that are not phones...pretending already. This is one of my favorite things she's doing these days...it's too cute.

*loving books these days. She doesn't necessarily want to listen to all of them, but she loves to look at the pictures and point to things she recognizes, saying them if she knows the word. Her favorite book is this book about feelings, and there's a page with a girl who is grumpy who's saying "hmph!" Raye will grunt and make "hmph!" noises forever...it's so funny.



*finally back in cloth diapers! I'm so happy to not be going through packages and packages of diapers each month. Speaking of diapers, she likes to get a wipe when I'm changing her and wipe herself. And she's interested in the potty. This month she actually stopped going in her diaper once in order to go to her potty. She didn't actually go in the potty, but she knows what it's for, I think. It gives me hope that we'll have another one potty trained early and be done with diapers.

*climbing up and down stairs while holding onto the rail, up a ladder if the rails aren't too far apart, and practically running, although she's still a bit clumsy. She loves to slide and swing and just be outside.



*solidly in 18-month clothes. I think if she were in disposable diapers she could still wear 12-month onesies, but the cloth-diaper booty dictates 18-month onesies and bottoms. She's in a size 5 shoe.

*loving to dance. She'll look at my computer and start bouncing, which means, "come on, mom, turn on the music!" And then she loves to be picked up and bopped around, although she's also perfectly happy and capable of bouncing on her own. If she hears music while out-and-about she often can't contain herself and starts bopping up and down.



*learning more body parts. She can identify her hair, head, tongue, teeth, mouth (she either opens and closes it or she'll put her hand over her mouth and make that "uh-buh-uh-buh" noise that happens when you move your hand in front of your mouth), hands, ears, nose, and eyes. Oh, and don't forget the belly button!

*surprisingly good at following directions. She waves when told to "say hi." She'll take something to the trash can or go find someone's blankie, take a toy to another room, put her spoon in the sink, and so on. She understands a lot, even if she's still not saying too much.

15 Months Old

At 15 months old Raye:

*says "oof oof" for a dog sound.
*loves to be outside. Just yesterday she brought me her sweatshirt, throwing it in my lap and grunting to go outside. She'll also bring you her shoes or your shoes, bring the girls their shoes, and so on, when she thinks it's time to go. When we're outside she is pretty content to walk around, chase birds, pick up rocks and sticks and pull up grass. When we're inside...she pretty much just wants to go outside. Or look out the window. But mostly to go outside.




Trying to be big like her sisters and climb up rocks.

*loves animals. I mean, there are not words to describe how much she loves them. If we're outside and she sees a bird or a squirrel she will chase them until she can't see them anymore, and if they're in a tree she'll stand at the bottom of the tree, looking up, and yelling/jabbering at them. If you pick her up she's content to just be at the bottom of the tree watching the bird/squirrel. She likes to pet dogs or cats, and she got to pet a sheep the other day and was in hog heaven.


Her face perfectly displays her excitement at being with the animals.

*says a few more things, although not consistently. We've heard her say "amen," "thank you," "I love you" (unfortunately for me only Shannon has heard that). And maybe some other things, too, but like I said, she's not consistent yet. She is very much a jabber-er and is constantly chattering, but we don't have any idea what she's saying.
*is a great eater. She especially loves most fruit, cooked carrots, and pizza.


4th of July outfit. Totally ridiculous, but I loved it.

*loves balls. She says "buh!" and just loves to have a ball in her hands. She doesn't really care about throwing them, but she loves to carry one around.
*loves to swing. There are lots of really great swings for babies / small children here in Finland so she's gotten to swing a lot and will sit there for 30 minutes at a time some days.



*will sit down when she comes inside and take her shoes off.
*knows where her belly button is and if you ask her where it is she will immediately lift up her shirt and start looking for it. If she sees your belly button she'll immediately start looking for hers, or sticking her finger in yours. If she hears "belly button" at all she'll start looking for hers, too. It's really cute.


Speaking of belly buttons. She loves to hang from this bar...usually she's grinning from ear to ear. 

*is very attached to her pacifier. We had already taken Noel's paci away by this point, but we just can't do it yet with Raye. While Noel only used hers at bed/nap time and if she was very upset or cranky, it seems to be the only thing that will help Raye calm down a lot of the time, as she is still quite the tantrum-thrower.
*is super sweet. She still has her moments (umm, almost any time she's told "no" about something or made to do something she doesn't want to do, like sit down in a chair), but overall she's very sweet and good-natured.

14 Months Old

I'm a little late, as usual. This month has been a fun one for Lil' Miss Raye. Her personality is just coming out more and more each day and it's just really fun.



At 14 months, Raye:

*can climb on anything. Ok, maybe not anything, but she can get onto our chairs, the table, the vacuum cleaner (today she got her foot stuck inside the spot where the canister sits while I was emptying it), the step stool, the girls' small table and chairs, and so on. She's fallen a lot this month and has gotten many small pops on the thigh for crawling on the table, trying to climb the bookshelf, and so on. It's exhausting. She's also walking well and although she's still a little wobbly, she doesn't usually fall down.



*absolutely loves her sisters. She will immediately walk to them in the mornings (she's usually up before they are) and give them open-mouthed kisses and a big hug. It's really, really sweet.
*can drink from a regular cup w/o help, is trying to use a spoon or fork but usually ends up eating with her hands, and loves coffee. Yup, coffee. And my CamelBak. Weirdo.



*has got a temper. She doesn't seem to go back immediately to doing stuff she's been told "NO!" about, but she sure does let you know she's unhappy. She'll cry for a minute about getting told "no!" or for getting a pop on her thigh, but then she switches to just whining/crying/screaming very loudly. Sometimes she'll stop if we give her her blankie, but other times she just wants to pitch a fit for awhile. I put her in her crib a lot of the time if it goes on too long.
*says "ooh ooh ah" or something similar for a monkey sound and "aaoooww" or something along those lines for a cat sound.



*loves animals. She gets so excited when she sees birds or a dog or a cat...she'll bounce up and down in excitement or just start jabbering up a storm...she loves to walk after them, chase them, touch them, and so on. The girl likes animals.
*has some new words: "BAH!" for boo!, something that sounds like "Ah do" (I do) for yes.



*can usually follow simple instructions like give the phone to mama, put your diaper in the trash, etc.
*can identify her belly, tongue, and teeth when asked where they are.
*is mostly in 12-month clothes but since her sisters were wearing 18-month clothes in the summer I pulled some of those out the other day and she's wearing them, too. All of her 9-month things have been put up.

13 Months Old

At 13 months old Raye:

*says a few words: mama, dada, baa (ball), and buh-buh (bye-bye). She also is a babbler, yakking up a storm but we have no idea what she's saying.
*has 12 teeth. Her bottom two molars have popped through...one of them is almost all the way in and the other has broken the surface but is still working its way all the way in.


Get a good look at all those teeth! And the scrambled egg on her face...

*loves rocks. She especially wants to eat them and gets mad when we won't let her.
*is finally walking! She still falls a lot but overall she prefers walking these days. She's still pretty wobbly and uses her arms to balance herself (flailing them everywhere), but she's super cute waddling around.


Practicing walking.

*points to herself when you ask her, "Where's Raye?" She also usually points to or pats her belly when you ask where it is. And sometimes she'll stick her tongue out when asked where it is, but it's pretty hit or miss.
*loves to go bye-bye. I've caught her climbing into her stroller, standing in the seat, and yelling (while waving) "buh-buh!"


She loves to be outside. Here we're working on "the grass is really ok to touch..."

*loves to eat. She's not a fan of raw vegetables yet, but other than that...anything goes. I don't think we've fed her anything that she refuses to eat (except raw veggies). She especially loves strawberries these days.
*likes to sit in her high chair and wiggle/shake the whole time. I'm not sure if she likes the fact that the whole table is moving or what...but she rarely sits still.


Just doin' some playin'.

*has figured out that she can make a noise when we're on a bumpy road and that it will make her voice vibrate. She thinks it's hilarious.
*can climb on our couches and onto Lane's bed if Noel's bed is pulled out. She also can get onto the lower step of our step stool, which is kind of funny because she can't get back down.


She loves to collapse onto pillows or beds.

*has a short attention span. I think this is pretty normal, but most of her toys don't hold her attention for very long. She's always wandering off to find the next forbidden thing: rifling through my purse, climbing on the couch and then the TV table to grab the remote, trying desperately to get the toilet seat up so she can fish in the water. She's a hoot.


She loves the slide. Going down it, too, but mostly just playing on it.

*likes books but will. not. sit. still to look at one. She prefers to turn every page and try to rip the book out of your hands. She does like to look at pictures of animals, though, and had correctly identified the cat on a page before.
*does not like to have her fingernails cut or her face wiped. But she'll sit almost perfectly still for me to put a ponytail holder in her hair.