Juliet is almost TWO! {23 months with Patsy Ann!}

Juliet is nearly two.  When people ask how old she is, I never say "23 months", I always say "almost two". Its amazing really, how fast it goes.

This month has been all over the place on good and bad levels. This feisty little girl is really showing us her personality more and more. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to get it, even if it involves throwing her food across the kitchen, shredding her napkin into a million tiny pieces, making sure she has ice in her water (she's obsessed with ice water), and poking and pinching James.

Boy oh boy she's a handful.

We discovered this month that time outs don't work on her. They work well with James. When he does something he shouldn't (hit Juliet, yell at us, etc.) we send him to his room for four minutes. He comes out and apologizes. He doesn't always stop, but time outs do have an effect on him. Juliet? She laughs. She just happily plays in timeout (where James usually acts frustrated to be locked out of the action), and comes out giving hugs only to continue the bad behavior.

After an epic week of her pinching tender skin, pulling hair and poking her little sharp finger into James's eyes (oww!) we knew something had to be done. James never retaliated, instead often crying in pain (rightfully so, he just got stabbed in the eye).

We tried taking things away, even her beloved lovie. She laughed. We tried timeouts, long ones. She laughed. We tried ignoring her, she continued doing it until we got a reaction. Finally we found something that worked like a charm! Give James a candy when Juliet is aggressive with him! Crazy right?! She was so super upset that she didn't get candy, and James was thrilled and praised for not retaliating.

It took two or three days of James receiving candy every time she pulled or pinched or poked. Sure, it still happens from time to time, but she finally gets it, it's not allowed. Thank goodness.

Other than that, she really has been fabulous this month!

She goes to bed like a champ, asking for her crib and her favorite stuffed animals (currently Baa and Lambie) and waving bye bye. She naps well and never goes down with a fuss. She doesn't love the cold weather, but is getting better.

She adores James (and he has been amazing with her this month!), loves her Daddy and asks about him all day when he's at work. When he returns home she runs to him with her arms stretched wide of a hug.

One developmental milestone we've hit this month is anxiety. She will tell us "worry" fifty times a day. She'll see a man outside in the neighborhood and say "worry". She'll see a photo of dinosaur and say "worry" and a hundred more examples. We just tell her she's safe and it's ok. Hard to see her worried, but amazing that before two she is expressing herself so clearly.

She's talking like mad, singing all the time (mostly made-up tunes) and as happy as can be.

She is amazing and we adore her.

Next month will be her last monthly photo with Patsy Ann. Like I did for James, I took monthly photos and did monthly updates until two, and then switched to every six months, and now only every twelve months. While I do writing monthly updates, it will be a relief to have a break for awhile. Two kids, once a month for two years is a lot of monthly updates.

Finally, from 1 month until now:
























Outfit details:
Snow bunny sweater - Old Navy
Skirt - Homemade from a fabric napkin I found at Crate and Barrel
Tights - Target
Vintage clogs - They were mine when I was a baby. I actually have a memory of wearing them!
Hairbow - Etsy, used to be a headband, clipped it and added a barrette (see it as a headband here, seriously cutest baby ever!_