25 months and 2 weeks

The weather has been so hot here (90's and 100's) that we have spent a lot of time at the beach and in the pool to stay cool! We have also been hanging out at different friend's houses having playdates in the air conditioning. This week was the last week of ballet (it will start again soon after a short break). Potty training is going great! She basically just runs to the bathroom any time she has to pee without asking for help. We have been practicing wearing underwear out of the house, although she hates using public toilets (who doesn't though?) so we are working on that. My goal is to have her potty trained by October!

25 months and 1 week (August 22, 2009)

Happy Birthday to Daddy!Chloe was so excited to celebrate Daddy's birthday this weekend. We went shopping together to pick out his gifts, and made him a present. We also made a camping cake for his 31st birthday. Chloe helped me bake the cake by licking the bowl:) Matt had a nice relaxing day going for a bike ride and swimming. We celebrated by having friends over at night to go swimming and for some cake. Chloe and I went to a bug birthday party where the kids had a bug hunt! (Here she is with her friend Ben, and then hunting for bugs).

Potty Training Update: Chloe is doing great! She is going pee pee on the potty during the daytime as long as we are home and her stickers are adding up! She gets so excited every time she goes!

25 months old

Party time this past weekend! We had a generally calm week with classes and playdates, but our weekend was a little hectic. We had a birthday party on Saturday at Chuck E Cheese and then another at the beach, a baby shower, and then a wedding. The following day we had 2 more birthday parties. We were exhausted by the end of the weekend!

This week I have been really working on potty training Chloe. She is doing really well peeing on the potty at home. For now I just let her run around without panties at home, but we haven't tried panties when we are out of the house yet. One night in Seattle she took her diaper off before she went to bed and woke up dry the next morning, so I know she is ready now!

Seattle Trip

We had a great trip to Seattle! We spent 5 days hiking in Mt. Rainier and stayed in a cabin in the woods. The rest of the week we did sight seeing in Seattle. The weather was beautiful for our hikes (in the 80's), we saw some amazing views, waterfalls, and beautiful wildflowers. In Seattle, we went to Pike's Place Market, Washington Park Arboretum, The Children's Museum, a baseball game, Gasworks Park and Alki Beach. Chloe was a good little traveler!

24 months and 2 weeks (July 27, 2009)

Chloe and I have been using our Sea World pass to hang out and meet the Sesame Street characters at the Bay of Play. She loves all of the characters and can name all of them since she reads all of Matt's old Sesame Street books. Every day before nap time or bed time she says "I want to read Sesame Street book". She is enjoying her art class (she made some flamingo sunglasses and is making dot art). I also organized an arts and crafts playdate with some friends and we made sand art and picture frames. Here is a picture with her friend Jack after soccer practice. This time Chloe participated about half the time. (Her last class she finally participated for the entire class). Matt, Chloe, and I spent our weekend at Torrey Pine beach for the day playing in the sand.

Chloe's talking is non-stop from the minute she wakes up in the morning. She asks a million questions (and sometimes the same question over and over again), but she is very observant and just wants to know what is going on around her. She knows her colors and she recognizes letters. She is learning her shape recognition. Every day she seems to learn more songs and her favorite that she sings is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...I am guessing she will enjoy chorus in school:) Other times she is very stubborn and demanding, usually at the worst possible times before getting out the door, but we are dealing with the 2 year old tantrums. Other times she is quiet and just plays and makes up stories with her dolls and trucks. I would say it is very fun and frustrating to have a 2 year old!

24 months and 1 week (July 20, 2009)

Chloe has been busy being a little independent 2 year old! She started her soccer class and basically was so cranky after her nap that she didn't want to participate until the class was over. Here is a picture of her and her buddy Allen taking a water break (even though they didn't even play any soccer, they still had fun socializing). Chloe loves her baby dolls and stroller. This is mainly what occupies most of her time at home. I took her to a new place in San Diego called Kid Ventures and one of her favorite rooms was the baby nursery (complete with doll beds, high chairs, strollers, and tons of babies!) She has also been swimming a lot since the weather has been so hot. Here is a picture of Chloe at a swimming playdate with her friends. Matt and I take her swimming in the big pool just about every night before she goes to bed. She is doing great swimming around the pool by herself with her life jacket on and it gives us a little peace of mind since is such a daredevil in the water. We also enjoyed a little time at the beach with some friends at Fanuel park.

2 years old!

Chloe's finally 2! We had a great birthday party at the beach this weekend with about 25 kids. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, the water, and doing beach crafts. I made a beach cake and cupcakes. It was such a fun day. Chloe was so exhausted from her party, she fell asleep on the way home in the car at 3:30 in the afternoon and slept until 6am the next morning! On her birthday morning, she woke up and opened some presents...it was kind of like Christmas morning for her! She enjoyed ripping everything open! We went to a pool party with our friends all day. Later, we talked to my parents on the webcam so they could watch her open the rest of her gifts and sing Happy Birthday. She had a great day!