The Joy of a 2 year old!

Brooke is about a month away from being 2! First of all, I can't believe 2 years have gone by, but more importantly, boy, is she acting like a 2 year old! (in both the BAD and the GOOD ways!)

I'll start with the bad: 90% of the time, she is a very happy, easy child, but in the last week, the other 10% of the time, meal times, are a true battle of wills. We will give Brooke her food and she will push it away and say, "I no want it." We won't give in to her so she'll just sit there and cry until she decides to eat or we finally find what she is willing to eat. Its VERY frustrating because we know it has nothing to do with her hunger. I think it mostly has to do with her wanting to have control. Today I ended up putting her down for her nap without eating a bite for lunch, but she was falling asleep at the table so I didn't think we were going to get anywhere!

Okay, now the good (which definitely outweighs the bad, luckily!): Brooke is SO much fun these days and always saying something new to amaze us! Here are a few examples from today alone:

"Pull my sleeves down, mommy!" when I changed her into a short-sleeve shirt for the first time this year..she didn't quite get it!
"He needs lotion, now." while she was watching me give Bo a bath and I told her I was rinsing out the shampoo. (she knows her bath routine!)
"Allie eat the ladybug" when I asked her why she thought Allie snuck outside (and we had just "saved" a ladybug from inside our house)

She "helped" me give the dogs a bath today. Her job was to hold the shampoo. She sat on the stool and held it the whole time (see above pic). She took her job very seriously! Below is a video of her talking. I have been trying to get some good video but I still don't have my memory card so can only take one at a time. This is a pretty good representation of her non-stop banter these days!