Rylee Birthday

Rylee's 2nd birthday was celebrated on the afternoon of December 5th. Grandma Nate along with Lilli and Harry had vacationed in Cancun the week before Rylee's birthday and were delayed flying out of Mexico so we almost thought Grandma was going to miss Rylee's birthday. We pushed back the party and had Grandma head to the party right from the airport. We enjoyed lunch at Applebees and then back to our house for cake and presents.

Within the last few weeks Rylee's talking and vocabulary had taken off and she is chatting up a storm. "Duck" is a current infatuation of hers and she loves to see pictures of them and repeat numerous times, "Duck, Duck, Duck." Auntie Jacie bought her a book about a duck and it even quacks. Rylee loved it and spent about 5 minutes entertaining the group by saying "Duck" and laughing. It is a video that will warm my heart in 15 years when she is all grown-up.

Jeremy and I bought Rylee a playhouse for her birthday present. Currently the playhouse is indoors but will eventually be moved outside in spring. Rylee loves the house AND the doorbell AND the play phone that hangs on the wall. She will repeatedly tell you during the day, "House, House" if you won't take her downstairs to play in it. Grandma Nate has furnished the house with dishes, play food, and cradle for the baby...what else could you need?

Right now Elmo is Rylee's favorite cartoon character so it is what she chose for her birthday theme. It's so cute to hear her say "Elmo" in her little voice so I quickly jumped on board when she said his name while we were at the store.

Yum, I love ice cream cake!

Rylee,

Where has two years gone??? I seems just like yesterday that you were just a tiny newborn in my arms and we were bringing you home from the hospital. This year has been so fun watching you grow and learn new things. You have developed such an amazing personality in the last year especially now that you have started talking. You were a late talker. It wasn't until about 11 months that you became interested in really communicating. Now you add a word or two a day to your vocabulary. You even started out with manners!!!??? One of the first things you said was "Tank Too" when we would give you something or do something for you. Mamma and Daddy were words you were saying before 11 months but quickly Sissy, Abbie, and Ammie (Grandma Nate) became part of your vocabulary and towards the end of December you added your own name to the list. You love walking around and talking on a phone and you still love anything with music. Each time music is played you start to dance and as we approached Christmas this year you had learned the words (or most of them anyway) to Jingle Bells and were singing along with the dancing. One of your favorite birthday gifts was a singing card so I wonder if you will be musical? You did the chicken dance a lot this year..your version of the chicken dance was to flap your arms without your shirt on. You got the idea from Abbie and started doing it often because it always got quite a laugh from your audience. This year you also loved playing babies, wrestling with Sissy, being "tackled" (tickled), and doing anything Abbie was doing. Whatever Abbie is doing, you are right there doing it too. Your favorites right now are ice cream and popcorn...you can be bribed with either. You are my child that has no fear of anything and so we signed you up for swimming lessons and gymnastics this year. At swimming lessons you loved to jump in from the side of the pool. You weren't much for learning to lay on your back or start to reach forward but you LOVED to jump in. I had to be so careful because you would jump whether I was looking or not! We went to the waterslides this year and Abbie really didn't like the bigger slides and wanted to stay on more of the kid slides, but you loved the bigger slides. In fact, the bigger the better! Gymnastics was okay but honestly you weren't really interested, especially when week after week you did the same thing. I laugh and joke about how different you are from Abbie and how you are much more of a free spirit without any cares, but I am happy you are that way. It would be so boring if the two of you were the same so it is so fun to watch you change and develop personalities. I can hardly wait to see how you change in the upcoming year. Rylee, I love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Just a short glimpse of Rylee after her 2nd birthday