My Sprightly Sprout

Audia is asserting her independence and revealing her character more and more each day. And while of course there are days where I feel like pulling my hair out, passing her off to the next able-bodied adult, and locking myself in a sound proof room for an hour (as there will inevitably be with any almost-two-year-old, especially one as willful as my own), I am also having so much fun watching her explore and engage and grow!

Her new favorite thing is stickers!

If there is one thing that Audia isn't, it's shy. Sometimes she will take a little while to warm up to a person or a situation, but it usually isn't long before she is giving anyone and everyone her toys and books, engaging them in conversation, and even telling them that she loves them. This past weekend we went to my cousin's graduation open house, and it was the perfect venue to really discover the depth of her inner socialite. Within minutes, she was wandering around the back yard party, into groups of complete strangers, chatting up a storm. As her mom, 80% of me is totally thrilled that she shows no signs of having the paralyzing shyness that I had as a child. But 20% of me can't help but worry that she may never grasp the concept of "stranger danger." Though she's ridiculously smart, so I am probably selling her short in saying that.

As her vocabulary continues to explode, so does her desire to assert her independence. She will do things I told her 3 seconds prior not to do, looking me in the eye with a "so what are you going to do about it?" look. Time outs have become a necessity, but the good news is it usually only takes one to get her to listen pretty well to everything else the rest of the day.

Audia yelling at me about something

Another trait that continues to unveil itself is her absolute sweetness. She loves to snuggle, regularly gives us and her grandparents hugs and kisses, and says "love you *insert name here*" about a bazillion times a day. She also has really gotten into taking her baby dolls everywhere, feeding them, giving them kisses, and taking care of them. I only hope that her interest in babies will carry over to when we decide to add to our little family :-)

I have signed us up for 'mommy and me' swim lessons, which start next week, and am really looking forward to meeting some other mommies and kiddos around her age. With her being as people-oriented as she is, we definitely need to find her some more kids to engage with!

Our Sprightly Sprout