Brianna is 2!

Baby Brianna is 2 years old! She had a great birthday. She really seemed to understand that it was her day. Whenever any of us wished her a happy birthday, her response was always "Eat Elmo cake!" When we'd ask her how old she was, she'd say "Two," but then hold up ten fingers and say "Help you!" She couldn't figure out how to hold up just two.

Brianna got to celebrate no less than three times, once with my mom & dad, once with our friends the Martins and once with just us. Given that she is still one of Elmo's biggest fans, she had an Elmo cake and Elmo cupcakes to commemorate her big day. (The Elmo cupcakes ended up looking a little more like Elmo's uncle or distant relative, but she didn't seem to mind.) Although she loved her Elmo cupcakes, she refused to eat them. When my friend Jen put candles on either side of her Elmo cupcake, Brianna put her hands on her cheeks and said "Owie cheek!" with a very distressed look on her face. She proceeded to lick her cupcake saying "Lick Elmo!" but wouldn't eat it.

Now that Brianna is two, she has decided that she's too old for naps (much to the dismay of her mother.) When I try to put her down for a nap, she tells me, "No night-night!" or " No bed!" or "Nah yet!" (not yet.) She is also becoming much more opinionated in other areas of her life. If I give her something to eat that she doesn't like, she gives it back saying, "No like it!" If I try to do something for her, I hear "I do!" She also throws full fledged temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. After observing Brianna in the checkout line at Wal-Mart the other day, the clerk asked when her birthday was. I told him and he replied, "Oh, she's an Aries." I asked him what that meant and he said "She's really stubborn." Hmmm, you don't say...

Overall, Brianna is a happy, chatty, funny little girl. She prefers galloping to walking. She has learned to open the refrigerator (and take out the cheese). She likes to turn on the faucet in the bathroom. (She doesn't turn it off.) She loves Elmo. She knows the names of the Disney princesses. She likes Ariel in particular. She can sing parts of the Barbie Diamond Castle song "I Feel Connected." She now pronounces Mallory's name with three syllables instead of two: Ma-or-we. She loves to play "Arrr." (She crawls around on the floor and we chase her saying "Arrr.") She keeps us very entertained.