Cadence is TWO!

That’s right. We now have an official two-year-old in the house!

She is morphing and changing into a little person right before our eyes. I feel like I know Cadence so well, because I have Adelaide to compare her to, and let me tell you, these girls are night and day. Yet at the same time, so wonderfully complimentary. The most important thing is, they love each other, and love being around each other and I am so, so, so thankful for that!

When we drop Adelaide off at preschool, it often ends in tears. Not Adelaide’s. Not mine. Cadence’s. She wants to stay and go to school SO BAD! She walks right into Adelaide’s classroom, says “hi” to the teachers and then tries to sit down and start doing whatever activity is set out. LOL!  This girl is not shy!

She talks constantly. I was worried, being the younger sister, that Cadence wouldn’t talk much because Adelaide would do all the talking for her. No-sir-ee. This girls T A L K S. And yells. And laughs. And screams. And sings. And dances. And cries. And laughs again. She is all noise, all the time. She is the quintessential toddler, where, if I don’t hear any noise, then there is something very wrong.

Some of my favorite things Cadence says:

• “Wow! So cool!” – She says this about anything you show her. Most of the time it’s said very matter-of-factly

• “I DO!!!” She yells whenever you ask if she wants to do/eat/go somewhere/something.

• “Where Addie go?” Asked at least once every 20 minutes when Adelaide is at preschool.

• “Nigh-night! I love you! Sweet dreams! See you in the morning” Said for bedtime and nap time. All at once. Always in that order.

• “Oh, ok. Good.” after we explain something to her. LOL!

• “I’m ok!!” All day, everyday.

• Turns to me and says, “I love you more!” to which I am supposed to respond, “I love you most!”. This might be my favorite game ever <3

She is our resident door closer. Any door. Any where. Any time. If this girl see’s it open, even a crack, she will make it her priority to close that door! We’ve had a few pinched fingers, to say the least…

She plays well with Adelaide, mostly because she follows directions very well and is very good at sharing. If Cadence ever decides she doesn’t want to do something that Adelaide wants to do, Adelaide will be the one in tears, not Cadence. haha! She is just so much more independent than her older sister. It’s crazy to see their two personalities side-by-side.

She knows her shapes, most of the letters in the alphabet, a handful of numbers 1-10 but just can’t seem to master colors. I remember it took Adelaide a while to learn her colors too. Cadence got a book on colors for her birthday…

She LOVES bath time and the only thing that gets her out of the tub, is the promise of getting to brush her teeth with her Ariel tooth brush.

She’s gotten very good at going to bed, but still wakes up once a night and only wants mommy and some milk. *sigh* I just keep telling myself that she will grow out of this eventually, and someday in the future I will get eight straight hours of sleep again.

She currently sleeps with her ba-ba (blanket) and Bunny-Bunny, and falls asleep sucking her thumb, which I think is just the cutest thing ever. It will break my heart someday, to have to tell her she can’t suck her thumb anymore. At least she’s good about only sucking her thumb when she’s tired. It’s her “tell” 😉

She’s gotten better about eating. I’ve mostly eliminated (or severely limited) the girls afternoon snacking and this has helped tremendously at dinner time. Hunger is the best seasoning!  She would eat mac and cheese and chicken nuggets every day for every meal if she had her way. Those are by far her favorite foods. Yogurt and pizza would be a close second. She’s finally eating solid fruits and veggies pretty consistently. Her favs are broccoli, green beans and peas in the veggie department, and strawberries, bananas and apples for fruits. She’s ok at eating meats at meal times but definitely prefers grains. (Sounds JUST like me…le sigh)

This girl LOVES to sing. She has memorized more songs than I knew a two-year-old was capable of, and seems to always be jumping/dancing/moving to the music in her head.

She’s great about playing by herself and I often find her and Adelaide in two separate corners of the play room, each doing their own thing. On the days I have Cadence by herself, she usually prefers to play by herself, rather than with me. I’ll sit down and we’ll start a game together, and inevitable she says, “no mommy I do it myself” and then that’s it she doesn’t seem to care if I’m in the room or not. It is SUCH a change from Adelaide who would have me by her side playing with her for 24 hours of the day and STILL she’d want more.

Cadence’s favorite games to play are almost all pretend play in nature. She loves to dress up and take care of her baby doll and play in the play-kitchen. She sets up tea parties all the time and loves to pretend to drink the tea and then say “YUCK! Too hot!” and go back to perfecting her tea recipe.

Her second favorite game to play is tickle-time with Daddy. She LOOOOOOOOOOVES when daddy picks her up and tickles her all over and then they fall down on the floor and roll around tickling and trying to get away, but not really, and laughing and laughing and yelling “more! more!” until they’re both so out of breath no one can move. And then still she wants more.

Her laugh is the sweetest sound on earth. No matter where I am , or how horrible my day has been, when that girls laughs, it’s infectious and soon our whole house is laughing along with her.

It has been a joyful two years with Cadence in our family and I am so, so, so looking forward to getting to know her more, as her personality continues to emerge.

Thank you baby girl, for joining our family and making us laugh and smile and love, deeper than we ever did before. We love you!!

Blowing out the candles video