Wow, another year has passed and my baby is now a running, screaming, whining two-year-old. I remember this time last year Erik and I were more than a little excited that Cairo was beginning to talk and we were anxiously awaiting her to take her first steps. Oh, how times have changed. It seems that now we can't get her to stop talking, screaming, or whining. With the new mobility she has gained this last year, we can't keep her out of anything. She climbs, crawls under, squeezes between, and runs after just about everything. She is also very persistent. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if she wasn't so curious and observant. For example, in the past few weeks she has mastered the art of opening and closing doors. Unfortunately for us, she has also mastered unlocking doors and deadbolts. This means that we have to block our front door at night in fear that she will crawl out of bed and let herself out in the front yard.
If something has a button, she will push it. This includes mommy and daddy's tempers. I wish I can say I don't know where it comes from, but I think that she is still better than I was at that age! The word "no" is starting to become taboo around here. If Erik or I say "no" Cairo gets a big smile on her face and proceeds to do whatever we just said not to do. Needless to say, timeouts are starting to become an almost hourly occurrence. Luckily, she still takes them seriously.
Cairo loves to talk. We can understand her most of the time, but Cairo will still come out with stuff that sounds like gibberish. Cairo has some terms that she uses quite often these days.
1.
dip-dip- Cairo loves to dip food into sauces, yogurt, salad dressing, or anything else with a high viscosity. Each time she does this she murmurs the words dip-dip.
2.
My do it- Cairo's grammar still needs a lot of work. She also wants to do EVERYTHING herself. Erik and I are constantly hearing her say "my do it" each time we are trying to help her with something.
3 & 4.
What doing? &
Where go?- These phrases drive me crazy. She says them every five minutes. In fact, if you answer her, she just asks you again... as if she is looking for a different answer. Sometimes the only way to get her to stop is by saying something completely ridiculous. For example:
Cairo: Where daddy go?
Mommy: Outside.
Cairo: Where daddy go?
Mommy: Outside.
Cairo: Where daddy go?
Mommy: Guinness ate him.
Cairo: Noooo. (as if I am silly)
5. Uh-huh- She says this in a very squeaky, girly voice. It is kind of cute.
6. O-tay?- Lately, this term seems to end just about every sentence. Cairo still calls herself
Tairo and anything else with that C/K sound is turned into a T. Some of the other words Cairo used to say wrong (like wapples for waffles) she has now corrected. So, though I am working on correcting her and I know she will outgrow it, I am enjoying it while I can.
Cairo's vocabulary is so large now that we can no longer keep track of all the words she can say. Now, we are trying to monitor the words she shouldn't say. I caught her saying "damn it" the other day. So, we discussed how that term was an adult term and I made a note to myself and Erik that we needed to watch our mouths a little more closely.
Over the past few weeks Cairo has been going through a huge transition with the birth of Jonah. At first we thought that she was doing pretty well, but as time has gone on we have seen some digression and we've seen her start to act out to get more attention. She loves Jonah, it is just that she doesn't want her daddy to hold him or do anything with him as long as she's around. I think that she has accepted the fact that Jonah and I are attached. She doesn't like the large amount of attention I shower upon him (mostly because he is always eating) but she deals with it fairly well. I like to say that it is because I am only #3 in her life. (Erik has the prestigious place of #2, but Grammy tops off Cairo's list of favorite people- probably because Cairo has Grammy wrapped around her little finger!)
Cairo has been falling apart at just about everything. If she is done eating and you take her food away, she screams because she still wants it; so, you give it back and she screams because she says she's done. She just wants anything she can't have. On top of that she rarely seems to talk to us in a normal voice; rather, she whines out everything she is saying. Erik and I have been sending her to her room to whine and cry and tell her that she can come out when she has it together and is done. This is starting to work, but Erik and I need to work a little harder enforcing this new rule.
As far as socialization is concerned Cairo is a little confusing. On one hand, she is very shy and won't speak a work at play group or when she is meeting someone new. On the other hand, if a car drives down the street or we are at the grocery store she can't help but scream out "hi" and "see you later" followed by frantic waving. Cairo seems to be drawn to older kids and doesn't quite know what to do with kids her own age. She has been getting really good practice with Mei around. She practically bounces out of her shoes with excitement whenever Mei comes around. My favorite thing to watch is how Cairo will grab and hold hands with Mei or any other kid she's playing with, dragging them here or there to try and show them something. Also sad, and I truly try not to laugh at Cairo's reaction, is that Cairo doesn't always know what to do when someone takes a toy away from her. Sometimes she tries to grab it back (which gets stopped right away) but the rest of the time she just falls apart, buries her head, and starts to cry. This isn't a fake cry or an annoying one. She is truly upset and is overwhelmed with trying to figure out what she should do. It is such an innocent cry that you want to feel bad for her, but at the same time I have to hide my smile and laugh over how pathetic it all is.
Aside from some of the new challenges that come with two-year-old-Cairo, she is a very sweet little girl who wants to help out, please you, make you smile, and have fun. She is extremely curious about the world around her and tries to figure out how everything works. When she counts she always misses the number four. She knows her colors but always calls everything, but orange, blue. She always gets orange right. She loves to sing and talk herself to sleep at bedtime and naptime. She is very nurturing to the dogs, Jonah, and her baby dolls. Cairo is a girly girl who loves being pretty, wearing jewelry, pretending to put make-up on. She loves purses, sunglasses, and hats (one must accessorize!). She likes to stack things and put things together. She mimics the things people do- talking on the phone, putting her baby dolls to bed, doing her hair and make-up. She's got this thing about fuzz. She is constantly finding pieces of it and she has to clean it up. Cairo eats REALLY slow. It is not physically possible for her to have a quite bite to eat. She is very animated in her reactions and very loud.
Cairo is the light of our lives. For all the challenges she brings, the smiles, love, laughter that comes with our amazing little girl makes up for it ten-fold... plus, it gives us more stories to share when she's older!
Oh, how Cairo has grown! Here are a few pictures to show how she's changed!
Her Birth Day!
Cairo at age 1.
Cairo now!
