Sunday, October 09, 2011

Petunia Turns Two

A week ago today, Petunia celebrated her second birthday. I'm still a bit in shock that my baby is two. (Not to mention the fact that her big sister is so, well, big.) Petunia's language isn't as clearly enunciated as Pumpkin's was at this age, and- as I learned at her two year check up- she is on the short side (10th percentile). So it is easy for us to think of her as a baby. But all of the sudden, she is two.

She has lots of words, and almost every single one of them has a cute pronunciation, unique to her. Some of our favorites are:
  • ee-bye, for butterfly
  • rella, for Cinderella (which, thanks to her big sister, is one of her favorite shows. She likes the slapstick humor in it, though- she laughs out load when the mice splash milk in the cat's eye, for instance).
  • dee-dee, for empty or fishy. You tell the difference because she signs "fish" if she means fishy.
  • boppy, for potty (which was confusing at first, because "boppy" is what Pumpkin used to say when she wanted to nurse. Petunia says "nuh" and signs "more")
She loves to take her baby (or one of her stuffed animals) for a walk around the block in the doll stroller.  This delights the neighbors- it is very cute. It is an exercise in patience for the adult accompanying her, though, as we frequently change directions, occasionally cross the street, and stop and smell lots of flowers. We also stop to hug any fire hydrant we pass. For some reason, Petunia hugs fire hydrants when she sees them. We can't figure out why, beyond the fact the hydrants are about the same height as she is.

She loves to play "Ring around the Rosie", and when that gets dull (and dizzying), we can easily switch her to  "The Noble Duke of York", which, let me tell you, gets tiring on about the fifth repetition. But she's so cute when she signs "more" and says "muh", that I usually tell myself it is good exercise and do it again.

She's a bit of a mommy's girl, but she likes to dance with Daddy. Her favorite right now is "Rehab", by Amy Winehouse. She's started signing along to the "no, no, no" part. My husband is very proud. I'm fairly annoyed with him, but grateful it isn't something even less appropriate. I prefer her rendition of "Wheels on the Bus", which she likes to do, complete with actions.

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Of course, we had a little party for Petunia. Two of her classmates came over, and my parents and sister were here. We had a jumpy. It arrived early in the morning, when we were still rushing around getting the house ready for the party.  Pumpkin and Petunia pestered us so much about going into the jumpy that we deflated it until we were ready. Petunia sat at the door and stared at it forlornly.



She had lots of fun in the jumpy when we reinflated it.



After we played for awhile, we had lunch, followed by cupcakes. I got them from Jennywennycakes again- I knew I wouldn't have the time to make them. They were both cute and yummy again, of course, even though Jenny was doing me a favor and squeezing us in last minute (with all the planning for the trip, I forgot to put in our order early). I had her do a bird theme because Petunia likes birds- "bird" was one of her first words and signs.



Pumpkin loved the cupcakes, and so did the adults. Petunia liked the frosting, and we got the requisite photos of her with frosting smeared all over her face.

Then it was naptime.

After nap, Petunia opened her gifts. One of the first cards she opened had some money in it for her. She clutched it to her chest and didn't want us to take it away from her. Once we got her piggybank out, though, she really got into putting the money into her bank. She'd finish putting in the money, and then look up and sign and say "more!"

She also got into opening the presents once she realized there were new things for her in those packages. She ripped paper off with abandon. She stopped to play with each new present- she's still young enough that the new toy in front of her is more tempting than the packages waiting to be opened.



This is in contrast to Pumpkin at her last birthday. Apparently at the age of four, the packages are more tempting.

With some coaching, though, she eventually got through all her gifts. We had a reprise of the cupcakes after dinner, and all agreed: it was a good day. Even if my little baby is now a big two year old toddler!

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:41 PM

    Awwwww!

    (hm... word verification: pooted)

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  2. Happy second birthday, Petunia! Those cupcakes are totally adorable.

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  3. Ohhhh so cute. The cupcakes and Petunia, too, of course. Happy second birthday, Petunia!

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  4. Happy Birthday, Petunia!

    According to my parents and grandparents (and I think there may be some photographic evidence somewhere), I used to hug fire hydrants when I was Petunia's age. I called them "Cory," I've been told, because that was stamped on the side. In my old neighborhood in Seattle they were painted to look like kind of like people, if I remember correctly, adding to the toddler appeal.

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  5. Adorable! I can't believe she's two already either! Love the picture of her staring out the window at the deflated jumper. :)

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  6. Happy birthday, petunia! I'm so glad she was having such a good day after all the health issues! It was an enormous pleasure to make cupcakes for her too, and get to see the 'wiggles'!!

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  7. Happy Birthday, Petunia!! Beautiful cupcakes, beautiful kiddo!

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  8. Awww, happy birthday Petunia! I love that picture of her looking out to the jumpy--she's so forlorn, which on a two year old waiting for a bounce house is cute.

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  9. the milliner6:23 PM

    So sweet! Happy Birthday Petunia. And yes, those cupcakes are very cute.

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