My Maggie Turned 2

It's impossible to believe that another year came and went and Maggie turned 2. It really fell at a most "inconvenient" time this year. The day before we left for Greer, the house half packed and in disarray, Jere had a show that night and work all day. So, poor thing (not that she cared or noticed, she is TWO after all) simply got a big wake up song by Jere and I, then a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday and a couple of gifts. Leading up to this birthday she had become obsessed with "rella" and she watched Cinderella at least twice a day (or parts of it) for weeks. So, it seemed fitting that she got a Rella dress from Auntie Julie and a princess camera from us.

This is her on her first birthday, which was a rousing big party. She's such a little baby here. Wasn't quite walking, only saying a few words. Oh my goodness what a difference a year makes.

One of like three whole shots of her on her actual birthday. It's 7:30 in the morning here, she looks "awesome" with her morning hair. She loved the dress and walked around with the camera all morning "taking pictures." The camera says things like, you're beautiful, and say cheese, and you're pretty as a princess, etc. Every time it would say something Maggie would reply "oh thank you." It was really funny.

Just a quick shot of Maggie having her birthday breakfast. I believe it was an exciting scrambled egg and apple sauce. Woot woot!

Now I've got to talk about what a funny, sassy, strong willed, full of personality girl she has become. In this particular picture she is enjoying some frozen yogurt. Here's the story leading up....we'd come home from Greer and I had a week before we were moving into the house. So, I loaded the kids up and headed out for Home Depot. There was paint to be chosen and supplies to procure. Maggie was pretty good for most of the time. She went around emptying paint sample papers and throwing them all in the cart. Wandering around the aisles and yelling out to me. But, then, out of nowhere she starts proclaiming in a VERY loud voice..."I WANT PIZZA." "I NEED pizza." "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I WANT Pizza." This went on for quite awhile, no matter how I tried to assure her we would, and that there was no such thing as Pizza at Home Depot. She could not be persuaded to shut it. So, I promised her pizza we would get, in just a minute, if she'd just calm down. Clearly she needed pizza, or death was imminent. So, who am I to deprive a child who knows so well what she needs. There was a Schlotzky's in the parking lot and somewhere in the recesses of my brain I remembered they had little pizzas. So, we went in and ordered and soon were enjoying our lunch. In the middle of her pizza munching, she suddenly starts singing.."I like to move it move it, I like to move it, move it." Shaking her booty and head to the entertainment of all. The funny thing is, she's only seen Madgascar like ONCE. It cracked me up, that's for sure. Then she got to eat her yogurt, which she kindly shared with Max and me. I just look at that picture of her and am amazed at who she has become.

Maggie has a very extensive vocabulary AND understanding of what is going on around her. She watches and listens to EVERYTHING. If she sees me sad, or if I make a noise that sounds unhappy, she immediately gets a very concerned look on her face and asks "what's wrong mommy, you sick?" "You don't feel good mommy?" Then she proceeds to tell me how Daddy doesn't feel good, Daddy is sick, Daddy has an owie, etc. She asks every day..."Daddy at work?" "Daddy at rehearsal?" She misses him all the time, though she refuses mostly to talk to him on the phone.

She is currently obsessed with body parts and likes to point them out and talk about them. If she's naked, she points to her "chest" and says, "these by boobies?" She also will randomly bust out with a sing songy "shake your bootie, my naked booty, shake your booty." Or "this is my peeps, and this is my bum bum, you see them mommy?" Good times!

She LOVES her cousins, all of them and asks about them regularly. Somedays she asks over and over where her Aunts are, 'cause she'd really prefer to have them hold her. The other night as we were saying prayers, she took over for me and blessed Dana, jayce, Harrison and Dana. I love that we reaching a time when she is trying to say the prayers.

She likes to play "guess what" with me. The other day she said..."Guess what? I Yuv (love) Daddy." I said I did to. Then she said, "guess what? I yuv Maxy." "Guess what? I Yuv Julie." Then she got this mischevious little look in her eyes, like she was gonna "show" me. "Guess what? (think, think) I YUV Chrismus." It just cracked me up.

She has the cutest lisp. Max is Maxth, Guess is Guessth, etc. And I love her L's are y's. So, she yuvs us, she hurt her yip, etc. St's are g's. She gets Guck (stuck) all the time.

Oh, my other favorite thing....she's a bit spazzy. She falls a lot, especially if she's trying to run. So, if she falls, whatever she deems as the cause of her fall gets a real scolding from her. The other day she fell and apparently it was the floor that had it out for her. So, she turned around, and in all her anger she said "NO FLOOR, DON'T DO DAT!"

She loves to listen to shows in the car (Broadway). A song will end and she'll clap and say, "do it again Mommy." We listened to Les Mis for the first time on our way up to Greer. She was LOVING it. She'd clap and ooooh and awe after each song. UNTIL we got to Madame Tsenadier. As soon as she sang, Maggie said, "I don't YIKE that Mommy, I don't yike it!" But, other than their songs, she loved it. She likes to sing songs with me in the car, but only on her terms. If I try to sing something she hasn't requested or deemed ok, she gets VERY bugged and yells NO NOT DAT ONE!!! She will hold her baby doll and sing rock abye baby, except that it's a rather abbreviated version...."rock a bye baby, in tree top, fall down, fall down."

All in all she is a total joy.. She's funny and smart and adorable. She certainly has her naughty side and she screams which is not so fun. But, I just remind myself, she is TWO and naughty and screaming and moody come with the territory. We're just so grateful to have her here in our life. We're grateful for the happiness she brings and the laughter. Can't wait to see what another year brings.

Birthdays and boobies,

Allyson