It's official

Little Beebster is now an escape artist.

I'm thankful it took this long. I knew it was inevitable, and I'm frankly surprised she never had tried it before now. She's been sleeping with Maddie now since September, so always had every opportunity to get up out of bed and wander out of their room. But, she only just tried it tonight.

And, when I say 'tried' I mean it's now been about 25 times. 25 times of hearing their door creak open. A handful of times hearing whispers through the crack of the door: "Momma?? Da-da? C'est Momma? C'est Da-da?" Requests for permission to come on out of their room. Another handful of times of hearing conversations between the Beebster and Da-da and realizing that she made it out to the living room without being detected and has now struck up a conversation with Dan. She's so cute that he doesn't even have the heart to send her back to her room. And, there have also been about 2-3 times so far where I just feel a presence. And, then I see this silhouette of a figure standing there at the corner of our bedroom and a blankie trailing on the floor. When I stand up to go quietly to sneak up on the little Beebster, I see a little mop of a hair-do and a huge smile. 

It's so funny that she's finally thought of trying the escape methods. 

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Little Flop is also in love with the CD that Pati brought them from Mexico. I'm assuming it is the little kid's voices singing the songs, but she is just enthralled with it. If I turn it off in the car or at home, she goes "MOMMA!" She just loves it. She spent the morning looking at pictures of their visit, and points at everyone and smiles and waves. When you ask her where each person is, she points them out right away. She had a blast with them all when they were here!

And now she's 2...

Bittersweet day for me. Nothing but a fun day for the Flop.

My little Beebster is now officially 2 years old. Dan and I held her for the very first time two years ago today. She made Maddie a big sister two years ago today. And, she stole our hearts with her first Beebster look those two years ago. I know she will continue to do so throughout her life.

We took her to Chuck E. Cheese on Friday for lunch. That made her day! The girl has only been there I think 4 times in her entire life (with 2 of those times being Maddie's 2nd birthday and 3rd birthday celebrations), and yet we can not drive by Chuck E. Cheese without her waving to his big logo on the restaurant and blowing him kisses. She had a blast, and big sis was quite appreciative that Faith's birthday gave us an excuse to take them there. On Friday night, we went to Lancaster to see everybody and Nene had a Mickey and Minnie cake for Faith. She LOVED the cake. She cracked me up the entire time we sang to her, because she clearly thought it was wonderful that we were singing to HER. She clapped the entire time we sang and smiled with so much pride. 

Yesterday we went to Kitchen Kettle Village with everybody. Dan and I had told her that we were going to see some farm animals at the petting farm, and immediately she started asking us if there would be Booo's and Baaa's. She was thrilled beyond words to hear that there would be sheep, and was so excited she could barely contain herself when she got to feed them and the little goat. She kept asking for cows, but was content enough to see them in the farm field as we drove through good ol' Lancaster. Then, she spent her night last night dancing up a storm at El Serrano. She was quite the hit, and is definitely going to be a dancer like her sis. 

I made her a 'sleepover' cake for today, her actual 2nd birthday. I made it for Crannie when she turned 1, and although it's very simple, it's also very cute. Faith just loved it. There were vanilla wafers for each of our heads, and she wanted me to constantly show her the cake so that she could point out Dan, myself, Crannie, and herself. I took her to the playground after she woke up from her nap, and it was a really nice hour just the two of us. Of course she was asking for "Da Da?" and "da da?" (her Crannie) the entire time we were gone and was so excited to see them when we got home. She had 'Booo' and 'Baaa' sit on her high chair with her while she we sang to her again, and fed them some of her cake as well. 

We got her a little shopping cart for her birthday gift which she absolutely loves. It came with cereal boxes and she thought this was great. She's been "shopping" with her doll all day. Now, we'll keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates for a nice day at Sesame on Saturday.

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I really could not have ever asked for a sweeter little girl for my Beebster. She's my best friend just like her big sis, and her personality never ceases to amaze me. She has done me a huge favor by staying so little that it still does not feel right that I actually have a 2-year old now in my Faith. She doesn't feel 2 years old. I am sure that it will sink in to me at some point soon, and I know I will be sad that she is no longer a 1-year old. I remember always thinking when she was a baby- and especially feeding her at night just the two of us when I held her all by myself- that I had to freeze these moments with her so little because I knew how quickly they grow up before your eyes. She has done just that. She has grown so quickly into my beautiful little lady. But, I have loved every minute of these past two years and I can only imagine how much her personality will continue to develop over the years. So, I know I can't be sad when I have so much to look forward to with our precious Faith. 

Le Beebster parle un peu du francais

Our Beebster now speaks a smidge of French.

Actually, she's been doing this for quite awhile now. She was looking at a picture on the fridge today that Maddie drew of the 4 of us, and when pointing to each of us she'll alternate between "isss Momma/ C'est Momma" (it's Momma), "issss Da-Da/ C'est Da-da" (it's Da-Da), "isss Da-Da/ C'est Da-Da" (it's Maddie.. she switches between calling her Da-Da and Momma) and "isss dis/ C'est dis" (she refers to herself as "dis" or "this" hahaha) and pointing to us all the while. My little French speaker.

She has been playing non-stop with her three little farm animals of the Littlest Pet Shop. She got them a long time ago, but has a new love and appreciation for farm animals. She walks around calling for "Boooo" (the cow.. as in "Moooo") and "Baa" (what she calls the sheep). The pig sound is too tricky for her to make, so she just holds the pig in her hand and calls him 'dis.' She sets them up really nicely and has to get them their foods. She and Maddie have been quite busy playing with their Pets lately.

Aside from walking around with her farm animal pets all the time recently, the Flop has also been clinging to the Playmobil parents. There is the Playmobil dad and the Playmobil mom from the dollhouse that she just loves.  She calls them each 'Momma' and 'Da-da.' She took those two and the farm animals to bed with her tonight, and she came to show Dan and I what she had in her hands saying: "Dis Boo... Dis Baa.. Dis Momma.. Dis Da-da." 

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Beebster had quite the day yesterday. She got to see all of her cousins all in one day. We took advantage of Guy and Ella being in Lancaster, and went over to see them in the afternoon. Beebster was beside herself when we asked her if she wanted to go see Guy and Baby Cuz at Nene's house. When she is truly excited at the notion of an idea, she will jump off the ground and a few inches into the air. She jumped about 4 inches above the ground yesterday when she heard we would be seeing her cousins! She just adores them. And, to top it off, she got to see baby Tyler at dinner last night too. She and Tyler held hands and she was fascinated with his teething toys. Seeing all of her cousins in one day = quite the day for the little Beebster!

Her name is "Esss"

Yesterday afternoon we went to the playground and stayed for almost 2 hours. The little women were having a blast.

While we were there, a little girl about 7 or 8 years old started talking to the Cran and the Beebster. She was sweet and especially loved Faith. I felt a little bad for Maddie because the girl wanted mainly to play with Faith, but I thought it was great that miss Faith-y had a playmate for once. Of course, she was completely oblivious but still had a great time.

Long story short, the little girl thought Faith's name was "Ess." She would keep asking Faith if she wanted to slide with her, or walk with her, etc and Faith would respond in her trademark "Essss!" So, within a few minutes Dan and I heard the little girl calling for "Ess" and asking Maddie, "can Esss and I go in front of you on the slide?" 

Oh, my little Esss!

Sly lil' bandit

Crannie has been calling little Beebster a "bandit" for months now because she loves to run off with stuff and then laughs about it. Maddie always laughs about her sissy, the bandit, and miss Faith earned the recognition of being a true bandit today.

We took the little women to WalMart this afternoon to browse the crafts section again. Maddie's been insistent lately that she is going to be the teacher who teaches Faith all sorts of new words. She has gotten Faith to say "beads" ("beeeees"), "I like beads," "choo choo" ("shoe shoe") and I have had to get her to stay away from harder words like "flashlight" and "I love you, Maddie" that she tries to teach her little Flop. 

Anyway, Faith and Maddie were racing towards the crafts section hand-in-hand with Faith yelling, "I like beeeees!" (I like beads). They were showing Dan the sets that they want for Christmas, and of course Faith somehow manages to drop this big case of beads on the ground. It proceeds to break open and hundreds upon hundred of beads fall out onto the floor. We quickly filtered away from the crafts section to the Christmas section, and hung our heads hoping nobody saw what had happened.

A few moments later, I notice that Beebster continues to say "I like beeees" at the top of her lungs and all with this sly little grin on her face. I asked her if she thought it was funny that she had dropped all of those beads back there, and she goes "bea-d-s, bea-d-s, bea-d-s!" and points to her sweatshirt pockets. I find, low and behold, three little beads in her pocket that she apparently swiped while we were trying to make a quick getaway. Dan, Maddie, and I all could not stop laughing! 

She is our precious little bandit;)

She's a gas

Floppy's been so darn gaseous lately!

It's hilarious. The girl sounds like the rotors of a helicopter or something. She and her Da-da are one in the same. Maddie and I are constantly laughing because she will go about her business like nothing ever even happened. This has been a classic Beebster sign of cutting teeth ever since she was little. She's now cutting her back molars, and on top of having her hands in her mouth a lot and drooling, she also has gas. Go figure. Luckily, she hasn't had that horrible diarrhea that often accompanies her teething.

The gaseous girl is totally into crafts now too like her big sissy. With the weather being so unpredictable these past few days, it has made it easy to get into craftsy stuff. Faith loves all of it. They've been collecting leaves and then glueing them to construction paper and putting glitter over them with glue. Faith loves shaking the glitter. She is funny how proud she gets at her accomplishments. Today, I took them to WalMart to look at the crafts section. They are both in love with beads, but they said they would ask Santa for them. They found these 40 cents plaster figures, and we got some paints for them. It's so cheap, and they have a blast. They each painted two little figures, and Faith proudly took them to her bookcase when they had finished drying. 

Aside from being gaseous and artsy these days, she is 2 1/2 weeks shy of turning 2. It's crazy to think about that, and I try and tell myself not to dwell on it otherwise I get emotional. I decided to make her a video for her birthday, and it's crazy to see how quickly they grow up in 2 short years. It seems like it was just Thanksgiving of '06 and I was holding our little Beebster for the very first time. She loved her video. She LOVES seeing pictures of herself when she was little, and of course recognizes all of "her" songs.

I'm still trying to decide on what kind of cake to make for her 2nd birthday, or what kind of cake to order. We never go too crazy over birthdays, but that's only because we'd go into a huge debt trying to go crazy over their birthdays. I LOVE their birthdays. I love celebrating, and I am sad to see my little Faith-y turning 2, and yet excited all at the same time. We've decided to take her (weather permitting of course) to Sesame Place on the 29th, and she is incredibly excited to go. She does her most enthusiastic "essss's" when you ask her if she is ready to go to Sesame! She starts jumping up and down and clapping.