My little girl is TWO

Here we are...Olive is two years old. Before I go on and on (and on) about her, let me give you the stats from this afternoon's two-year check-up:

• Weight: 27 lbs., 7 oz. (75th percentile)
• Height: 35 inches (75th percentile)
• Head circumference: 19 1/4 inches (80th percentile)

Our doctor said that Olive looks like she's going to be a tall girl. Kinda like her momma, eh? The doctor's visit was thankfully uneventful. Olive is healthy and developmentally right on track or even ahead. The doc asked me if Olive was talking much, and I was like, uh, yeah. Like a lot. But Olive was completely silent for most of the visit. I kept asking her questions, trying to get her to say something, anything. But she just gave me a look, like "As if, Mother. As if." Olive gave us just one nugget of speech. She was looking at a Sesame Street book, and said something like "Dat's Big Bird righ dere by Oscar da Grouch too." And the doctor said, "Yep, she can talk all right--like a four year old!" I was proud.

Olive is hilarious. Just before getting in the bath, when she's stripped down to her diaper, she does a naked dance. She bobs and sways and tips her head back and forth, saying, "I'm naked, I'm naked, I'm naked!" I really really want to get it on video. But every time she sees a camera, she says "I see me?" and comes over to see the picture. So I have a lot of video of her saying that and no video of the naked dance.

Olive has officially quit using her booster seat. She sits at a regular grown-up chair. Mostly on her knees, but sometimes just on her bottom. And when she stands up, I threaten her with going back to the booster. She does still use/need a bib. She drips a lot of food and tends to be a little messy. She doesn't like being messy. Frequently while eating she'll pick up her non-finger-food food, and then get upset that her hands are messy. She insists on us wiping them midway through the meal. Then she gets them dirty again, and the cycle continues.

Her hair is getting longer (obviously) but not so long that she's had a real haircut. I've trimmed her bangs a few times, and today my hairstylist trimmed her bangs (does that count as a first haircut? I say no, because I didn't take any pictures), but that is just to keep her hair out of her eyes. Now that she's more okay with hair ties and clips, I might quit cutting bangs. Not sure.

Olive is still missing her incisor teeth. I think they're on their way in, though, and then she'll have everything. I think. I'm no tooth expert.

Olive is still into the things Milo is into, though her interests have begun to develop individually as well. When it's TV time, she requests Chuggington (Milo's train preference du jour). When she picked out a sticker at the doctor's office, she choice a Thomas sticker. They both love Fancy Nancy and books of all kinds. As for her own interests, she has gotten into Winnie the Pooh and friends. Her pronunciation is sweet: "Winnie Pooh, Plig-a-let, Kangaroo & Kangaroo, Lowl, Tigger (okay, that one's pretty normal)." She's more into baby dolls than Milo, but he's getting into pretend play and wants the babies too ("I'm the daddy and you're da mudder, Olive. And this is our baby.").

Olive likes to be carried. She loves her paci, and lately has been sneaking it out of its place in her room when we're not looking. (Contraband soothing.) She likes music in the car. She always wants to wash her hands. She likes dancing. She repeats things until we acknowledge that she has spoken.

She's not great a cleaning up. Takes a lot of urging before she joins in. It's usually the threat of losing her dance party privileges that does it.

She's getting better at letting me comb her hair. "Tangles in my hair," she says. But where she used to scrunch away from me and not let me comb, she now sits still while I work out the tangles. Sorry, sweetie, that just comes with the girl territory (at least until you're old enough to decide differently).

Olive has recently starting telling me that she loves me. Swoon. Sometimes it's after I tell her I love her. "I love you too, Mommy!" Sometimes it's out of the blue, like as she leaves in the morning to go to daycare. "Byebye Mommy, I love you." Oh em gee, it is adorable. She gives random attack-hugs and kisses too. I soak them up.

My Olive is still a snuggler. When she is sleepy or overwhelmed by people, she wants me to pick her up, and she lays her head down on my shoulder. She wraps her arms around me, holding on as tight as she can. Then she pops her head up, brushing my hair away from my shoulders. She likes no hair to be in her way.

Likes: candy, monkey game on the tablet, ABCmouse, eating Mommy and Daddy's food, Chuggington, reading books, her grandparents, ice cream, taking naps, yogurt, being tickled by Daddy, her paci.

Dislikes: feeling scared (like when being chased stops being fun), being cold (after bath time, on the way to daycare, in the car, etc. etc. etc.), zippers that aren't zipped all the way up, not getting to do it herself, sharing the stool in the bathroom while brushing teeth, sleeping past 6:00am.

She's my girl, my baby, my amazing wonderful fantastic brilliant little person. I do love her so. Happy birthday, Olive.