Samantha: 2 YEARS OLD!

On Tuesday this week, Samantha had another dentist appointment.  Ben had to take her by himself because I had a meeting after school.  She was somewhat apprehensive about it and was trying to do what she needed to do, opening her mouth and saying "Ahh!" even while tears were coming down her cheeks.  She was uncomfortable but was trying to be brave.  Everything was looking good and they were impressed that she liked to floss her teeth.

Samantha has been really into ponies lately.  These ponies in the picture below, we got for her for Christmas and she didn't pay much attention to them until recently.    I figured that I would include some pictures and a video of her just playing, acting like her natural, toddler self (can I really call her a toddler anymore, do I transition over to preschooler?), and trying to get her to talk about her what she wants for her birthday and how old she is going to be on her birthday.  She was pretty excited about her upcoming birthday and was talking about it a lot, especially the week before.

That night after Samantha went to sleep, I worked on making her birthday cake.  We decided on making red velvet cake with cream cheese icing.  We then made a simple buttercream frosting and dyed it pink for the frosting decorations.  One of my friends lent me her cake decorating tools so I could attempt at my mediocre cake decorating skills.  Needless to say, it turned out better than I thought it would.  As Samantha's birthday was approaching and we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she always replied, "Ponies!"  Since Samantha was going to be getting ponies for her birthday, I decided to decorate her cake with little pony figures that I found at Target.  I thought Samantha would be pleased with her My Little Pony birthday cake, and I was so excited for her birthday and to celebrate my little girl being a two year old!

We had a special day planned for Samantha's birthday.  We went out for pizza at Mother Bear's, one of her favorite restaurants.  Then, we met some friends at our local mall and let all the kids take a ride on the train that drives around the mall.  Ever since this train showed up at the mall, Samantha has wanted to ride on it, but we never have let her because we wanted to save it for a special occasion.  We thought her second birthday was a perfect special occasion, and Samantha was so excited to be riding on the train with her friends, as you can see by her reactions in the videos below.  Her joy and enthusiasm is priceless.  It's wonderful experiencing the joys of first experiences through the eyes of your child.

After riding the train at the mall, our friends came back to our home for our small birthday celebration of cake and presents.  Samantha LOVES having friends over at our house and was so excited to see them pulling into our parking lot.  When Daddy brought out the cake for Samantha to see, her chin dropped and her eyes sparkled.  She was thrilled to have ponies on her birthday cake.  She even was able to blow out the candle all by herself!

After eating our yummy red velvet cake, we had Samantha open up her birthday presents.  She got a little potty book with sound buttons, an Alphabet Train puzzle, and Clock puzzle from Chicago Ema and Papa; Duplo blocks, ponies, and a T-ball set from Mommy and Daddy; and more ponies from our special friends.  She enjoyed opening her presents, but always wanted them out of the package right away.  Plastic packaging is torturous to little kids!

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Samantha's birthday, and I can't believe I now have a two year old.  I think she had a good time celebrating her birthday as well, and she got to stay up much later than she typically does.  We also continued our annual tradition of having people email Samantha at her own email address so that someday she can go back and read the messages from her loved ones all through the years of her growing up.

Just for reminiscence sake, here are pictures of Samantha when she turned 1.  It's amazing how much children change in just one year.  Still the same little girl, but with longer hair, walking legs, and a blooming, exuberant personality.

On Friday evening, we had a school party to attend.  We played outside while we were waiting to go, and I took the video of Samantha sitting on the slide, that you can see below.  Samantha loved the party, got to be around a lot of people, spend time outside, and even got to swimming with Daddy and jump on a trampoline with Mommy.  We stayed there until almost nine o'clock.  Two late nights in a row!  Samantha loves it though, she is such a socialite, she probably could have stayed longer.

On Saturday morning, we kept up our tradition of going to the farmer's market.  Samantha loves listening to the people playing live music and helping us pick out vegetables and fruit.  This week she was really interested in the radishes, I think because of their pinkish-purple skin, so since they were only a dollar, we decided to indulge her and let her try some radishes.

Samantha not only hooks together a few words at a time, you can carry on a conversation with her and most of the time you will know exactly what she is saying.  I sometimes forget that she is only a two year old because of how well she can communicate.

On Sunday, since Samantha is now two years old, we were able to move her up to the two year old Sunday School classroom at church.  She was pretty ready to move because all the kids in her old class were much younger than her, so I'm sure she was getting bored with those kids and more babyish toys.  This new Sunday School room is great because they do a Bible story plus a craft of some kind every week.  They have puzzles and play-doh in the room, which are both things Samantha loves.  She did a great job in there for the first day.  I even peeked in at her during the church service, just to see what she was doing.  The kids were all gathered around the teacher on the carpet, listening to the Bible story, Samantha wasn't sitting down, but she was standing there listening intently to the teacher's story, very much engaged in the lesson.

Here are some cute pictures of Samantha after her Sunday nap that day, snuggling on the couch with her Daddy.

Wow!  A two year old!  My dear Samantha, I can't wait to see what the next year of your life will hold and all the ways you'll grow.  I feel so honored to be your Mommy and to be able to stay home with you this year.  I love you my sweet girl.