Little Miss Independent

Well, that time has officially come: The Terrible Twos.  So far, Curious Miss V is testing out the 2's through her stubbornness and independence. Yes, we have instituted a timeout chair in our dining room and yes Miss V has used it. For the most part, as long as we let her attempt whatever it is that she wants to do "all by self" she is happy if we then help complete the task. This way, we don't take a million years getting things done!

One task Miss V LOVES to try all be herself is taking lids on and off containers. Milk gallons, water bottles, her pretend laundry soap, and bubbles!

Once she finally gets that lid off the bubbles, then she of course wants to get the wand out all by herself. She has some good concentration and stubbornness!

Got it!

It's way more fun to bend and hit this stick thing on the ground, Mom.

Ok, let's try actually making bubbles

I can get this back in here ALL BY 'SELF!

She must have done this same sequence of: lid off, wand out, smack on ground, blow, wand back in, lid back on a dozen times without even looking up at me once- haha! AND I truly don't think an actual bubble was ever blown :) Here is a look back at some of Miss V's first times exploring outdoors/bubbles. She has changed so much! I am starting to reread previous posts and the whole point of doing this blog has been achieved! I love seeing her growth: I think it is the teacher in me (or parent in general!). 

Lastly, enjoy a throwback to V thoroughly enjoying the bubble machine at Kids in Motion. The toothless smile is the best!

Ice Cream Shoppe

As mentioned in this blog post, Curious Miss V has a bit of a sweet tooth. That's why I knew this little ice cream shoppe toy (garage sale find!) would be perfect!

Taste Test

She loves the songs and it also gives directions that she can now follow like "1 scoop of chocolate."  The ice cream scoop is magnetic and the little orange handle releases the scoops onto the cones and just today she figured out how to push and hold it!

Stacking fun

She kept saying "build tower!" and got a little sidetracked on the actual cone serving. But, who can blame her for wanting to attempt a septuple (just made that word up!) scoop cone?!

OMGoodness so big! Can I get this on a cone without it tipping?

What could bring more joy to a 2 year old?! Her Grandpa Rob would be so proud ;)

This is obviously not an ad lol but if you are interested here is what the whole toy looks like.

Happy Eating!!

Park Series: Greenfield Park

We are nearing the end of August and V and I have a looooong way to go on our New Berlin Park series but honestly I'm looking forward to many park mornings in September and October because fall is my favorite season! We ventured to Greenfield Park last week which is technically Milwaukee Parks but is super close to our house. One of my running routes is through this trail that passes the park and I saw it had a "toddler" section with smaller equipment for V.

This is Miss V curiously marching around the playground checking it out and looking for the swings. This particular section of the park had no swings and we of course had to take a walk on the trail to go find them.

Can't believe you didn't bring me here first mom!

I remember loving this feeling as a kid...throw your head back and feel weightless until you woosh forward. Now, it makes me nauseous LOL

Okay, now that swinging time is fulfilled we can start tackling these steps.

"BIG step!"

almost there!

I don't need the toddler section Mom this is so much more entertaining!

Safe to say, Miss V was way more curious about the big kids playgrounds as she has become more and more adventurous this summer. I recently read Oh Crap! I Have a Toddler by Jamie Glowacki and she advises to NOT have separate toddler playspaces because we need to let them just figure things out (I know I am guilty of saying "be careful" 100 times a day) and that their developing bodies need "big play" to burn all their energy :)
*I also highly recommend Oh Crap! Potty Training by the same author and I am happy to say that Miss V is nearly "trained" at just 2 years old!*

Drumroll please..............she went down both of these slides!! V is past the fear of going down by herself! She now uses our Step 2 slide in the yard allllll the time.  The only place she still has trouble is at our daycare playground if I'm outside with her class. She pretends she needs my hand I think because she just wants my attention since I only see her on the playground usually.  And because there are usually a lot of kids behind her wanting a turn and then she feels rushed- ha!

Exploring the running/biking trail

Curious Miss V continues to grow and develop at a rapid rate. A lot changes in 2 years! 

Birthday Bowling

We took Curious Miss V bowling for the first time over her birthday weekend. She has a plastic bowling pin set for outside from Grandpa and Krista that she loves. She calls them "bo pins."  And she loves rolling/throwing/pushing the balls so we figured with a ramp by the alley, this new activity would be tons of fun.

Lesson from Dad

Where did that ball go?!

V wanted to carry the ball of course but we helped her, set it on top of the ramp and she pushed it down. She was so enthusiastic and there was a lot of clapping and cheering "yay bo-bins!" and "crash!" She would immediately run back for another ball and even wanted to "help" on other peoples' turns :)

helping Grandma

Let's do it again Uncle Ben!

You need help Auntie Kellie? I'm coming!

Towards the end she started plopping down after each roll to watch! That is what a full day of birthday will do to you LOL

One of the funniest parts was watching Miss V cautiously watch the ball return. She jumped when it popped up for the first few times and then smiled and laughed about it! The little air vent made another great "toy" too!

Uh...what is about to come out of there?

Safe to say Curious Miss V will be going bowling more in her future. Oh...and MOM WON!

Curious Miss V Turns 2!

This year, Violet seemed to "Get" her birthday to some extent and it was so fun to see her excitement at balloons! cake! song! Adding to the fun were special visitors all weekend and a "strawberry" themed party!

I love to bake and started branching out around Christmas this year when I tried several new Christmas cookie recipes from the WE energies cookie book. I am already looking forward to the one coming up this November. I have never really done a strawberry flavored cake and Miss V's favorite fruit is strawberry so I tried a few recipes over the last month and ended up with a very moist and dense rectangular layer cake with buttercream frosting. The actual strawberries in the cake did the trick and it was really yummy! I added some of Violet's signature purple decorations and she was in cake heaven. She loved everyone singing to her.

Birthday girl's place of honor during the party (decorated by Krista!)

Party day breakfast...we did a big 1 shape last year and V did not want any part of eating the cinnamon rolls. Much different this year! She called them doughnuts! 

It was a sugar filled weekend. Her first successful ice cream cone on party-Eve!

Auntie Kellie and Uncle Ben came all the way from Virginia to celebrate. V was lucky enough to spend her first birthday with them too last year when we were all on vacation in Cape Cod. She really warmed up to Uncle Ben this trip!

No spill bubbles...good find Auntie!

Violet got some Peppa Pig coloring books and toys from them as well as a pair of Toms which are adorable. Finally, she got a Melissa and Doug laundry set with pretend soap, spray bottle, dryer sheets, ironing board and iron. She LOVES this, especially because she can screw and unscrew the caps on the soap bottles "all by herself."

Day after party lunch with Grandma Diane and Auntie Kellie

V is getting a little annoyed with the annual Becker girls pic now that she is getting longer ;)

Doing laundry in the tent

Grandma Diane got Miss V an indoor play tent which she loves crawling in and out of and bringing various toys and stuffed animals into. It is tight but doable for adults to join her too :) Grandma also got V some new tennis shoes and a Peppa Pig rain coat!

Top view

Grandpa Rick and Krista gifted Violet with a battery operated Minnie Mouse car she can drive herself! Jackpot! Her face just lit up when she saw it and when she realized she was in charge of driving. She kept looking behind her thinking, "who is pushing this?!" They also were the behind the scenes party set up crew the morning of...thanks guys!

priceless expression

Test drive on the road! Watch out World!

Back view of V's curls after Auntie braided her hair!

Miss V was also lucky to have Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Merry come to the party as well as cousin Jordan, Uncle Steve, Aunt Hope and karate friends Mr and Mrs Quirk, Mr. Hansen and baby Parker! Cousin Kristin and Brian visited the night before! 

V had several different birthday outfits and hairdos throughout the weekend. She is one loved 2 year old! Can't wait to see what this year brings...