the allen's: Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Can you believe it? Little LuLu is two! It’s amazing how fast she is growing and learning and changing.

Here’s her “exactly two” picture from 11:45 Sunday morning. We were on our way home from church. I didn’t have my “real” camera in the car with me, so I had to use the iPhone. Sorry the quality it a little poor.

She was singing “Happy Birthday” to herself.

It sounded more like, “Hat Tee Burp-Day.”

Take a look at how much she’s changed these past two years?

Look at that double chin. I almost forgot how “healthy” she was when she arrived. Although, she was only 6 lbs. 9 oz.

So, what’s up with Lucy these days?

I took Lucy for her two-year check-up yesterday, and surprise, surprise…she’s on the small side! 25 lbs. and 33 inches tall. Twenty-fifth percentile in both height and weight. Who would have thought that I’d have a petite child. Those Tool Man genes must be mighty powerful. Winking smile The only thing the doctor suggested was that Lucy needs to put on a pound or two. She wants us to cut back on the liquids and work on getting more nutritional solid food in her. So last night I implemented our new little plan. It started out as a battle of the wills, but SuperMom won in the end. Lucy ate her whole plate of carrots, rice, and venison roast. When she did ask for something to drink, she wanted WATER! Not Diet Coke!! And guess what? By the end of the meal she was all smiles. I think we can do this! (But ladies, you know who you are, I’m gonna need your help.)

Her routine:

Lucy’s an excellent sleeper. She usually goes to bed sometime between 10 and 11. (Gasp! 11:00? Yeah, we are night owls around here.) But, she sleeps for about 12 hours every night. So that means she’s in the bed til at least 10 o’clock every day. Quiet time for Mom!

After all that sleeping, Lucy’s up and at ‘em. She’s a real live wire. I have folks ask me if she’s “like this” all the time. The answer is, “YES!” Climbing, running, jumping, whining, playing, laughing, screaming, squealing. I guess that comes with the territory though.

She usually wears herself out by late afternoon and takes a 2 to 3 hour nap about 4 o’clock.

Developmentally speaking…

It’s really neat to watch your children grow. I’m not just talking about height and weight. I mean intellectually. Lucy is rapidly becoming more of a kid and less of a baby. Her language is developing so quickly. She knows hundreds of words now, and over the past couple of months she has started forming longer and longer sentences. The longest one I heard her say last week was 7 words - eight, if you count the contraction. “I don’t want to do that, Mama.” I can actually have a conversation with her now.

Some of Lucy’s funny words:

“napik” for napkin

“she-so” for Cheerios or all cereal in general

“flouties” for flowers

“oh-mo” for oatmeal

“gate-tee” for alligator

“meowk” for milk

“doot” for do it

“long neck” for giraffes

We are working on her shapes and colors. She’s got heart and star down, she can draw circles, and she’s good at recognizing blue and orange. She enjoys working with those wooden knob puzzles, and she can make a stack of blocks higher than she is tall. I can’t wait to get her started in Tot School. Her little mind is like a dry sponge waiting to soak up some knowledge.

She can follow all kinds of commands and instructions. She helps around the house by unloading the washer, dryer, and dishwasher, throwing away trash, “folding” clothes, putting away toys and dishes, and dusting. She’s definitely got her brother beat in this department.

Lucy is very independent which is a complete 180 from her brother. Maybe that’s part of being a girl. She wants to do everything by or for herself – putting on her shoes, pulling up her pants, cutting up her food, brushing her teeth, opening packages. “I doot, Mama,” she’ll say. I’ve quickly learned to just let her try it out for herself, and if she realizes she can’t do something she’ll say, “Mama doot.”

A few of Lucy’s favorites:

Song – Kumba Ya (How do you spell that, anyway?), Deep and Wide, He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands. All with motions too! She loves to sing into pretend microphones. Car Car is a wonderful music teacher. Mom? Not so much.

Candy – Smarties, Chocolate (just like Mama!)

Food – Hot Dogs (without the bun), Eggos, Popsicles, & Chicken Nuggets. You know, the four basic food groups…

Toy – Dolls. Last week while she was rocking her doll she kept telling us, “I like babies.” We can’t pass a baby in the grocery store without Lucy going nuts and insisting we go take a look.