What does the Cora say?

Two years old!

For her birthday, we put her "big girl bed" (mattress) on the actual toddler bed it came with.

Cora is now sleeping in a toddler bed (still with her "na" -- pacifier) and continues to be a great sleeper. We can count on at least a 2-hour nap at 1pm and nighttime sleeping from 7:30pm to 7am-ish.

Her interactions with other kids are more, well, interactive. Instead of playing next to other kids, she is at the stage where she can engage in active "together" play. At daycare, she and Lucy (who is about 6 months older) are the best of friends. They share toys and play music together, draw in chalk on Renee's basement bulkhead doors, climb the backyard slide and bounce on balls. They are a joy to watch. Cora also really likes her little boy friends -- Daryoush and Leo -- who like to play chase and wrestle and ride trikes together.

At home at play, she likes to be "Cora Monster" who attacks the trains that Mama drives. Monsters in general are a big theme lately -- she worries about them in the dark, under her bed, in her water bottle. But at the same time her favorite books include "Me and Yellow Eyed Monster".

She can build her own towers to knock over, and put all her (and the Sciencenter's) puzzles back together by herself. She is generous with sharing her stuffed animals and dolls with Silas, and can be counted on to sing to him and rock him when he is fussy. And sometimes to swat him when he won't stop crying -- she keeps us on our toes.

She loves to snuggle: "Will you snuggle with me?" is a daily question to Mama and Dadda. She even invited her friend Leo to snuggle in her bed last Friday.

She likes to sing, and her repertoire includes Twinkle Star, My-O (you are my) Sunshine, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the EIEIO part of "Old Macdonald".  She's working on Baa Baa Black Sheep and only likes the H-to-P part of the alphabet song. She loves to watch "What does the Fox say" video on youtube thanks to a recommendation from Uncle JimJam (James).

One of the best things about this age is that she can tell us what she is thinking and feeling in nearly every situation. Here are a few other linguistic gems:

Talking about the changing seasons: "Winter is coming. Leafs are falling. So I have to hug them."

Saying the dinner prayer that Papa taught her: "God is great. Thank our food. AMEN YAAAAAY!" (in one memorable rendition of this prayer she replaced "god is great, god is good" with "cottage cheese, cottage cheese")

computer = peeweeter
use = oos
look = yook

Nate noted the other night that somehow she makes "still" sound enough like "done" so we can't figure out what is happening when she says "I --?still/done?-- pooping". An important distinction, really.