Beth 2 year update

Beth is a pretty amazing little girl. Much like her sister, she is very independent and very verbal for her age. She may even be more verbal than Nora was, but since two years ago is pretty fuzzy for me at this point, I can't really say. She is very petite - only 23 pounds at her 2 year well child visit, but is doing great. She's very active - loves to climb, swing, flip upside down, hike, build, play dress up and chase her sister around.

Beth has been very inconsistent with potty training. I originally didn't intent to start training so young, but she became very insistent and will many times use the potty all day until perhaps 3pm when she gets too tired. I may start trying to train her more over the next few months, but I'm not in any real rush.

We still struggle a bit with sleep. She recently gave up naps - right around when we went on vacation, and she refuses to nap. If we lay down in her room, she plays with her toes and chatters to herself until she's told she can come out. I have been trying to get about a half an hour of both kids playing quietly every afternoon. It gives me a few minutes to clean up lunch, start dinner if needed and take a quick breather myself!

Beth is a joy to have around. She is very hands on and loves to touch everything. She is constantly sticking her hands into her beverages and yogurt to see how it feels. She builds block towers and then topples them over as dramatically as possible. She loves to put on her dress up clothes, and much to my dismay, declare she's a fairy princess and will be all day! She loves to paint, especially her own body. If we leave out the water colors, it's only a matter of minutes before she's covered in paint!

Nora and Beth have really been playing well together. They will walk around making cat, dog or monkey noises and pretend to be those animals. They have also recently started playing school, animal doctor and house and have always enjoyed playing "chef" in the play kitchen and doing plenty of grocery shopping.