JEB: 2 Years Old!

Not sure how it's possible, but June turned 2 years old on March 15. TWO YEARS!?! I love that she's growing and developing, but it makes me sad that she's creeping further away from babyhood and inching her way toward big-kid status ... Regardless, June is such a peach and we find so much joy from just being around her. It's nearly impossible not to smile when she's around; she's the perfect antidote if you're having a less than stellar day. Here's was our big 2-year-old is up to these days:

• (Still) asserting her independence: "I do it myself!" is one of June's favorite phrases. And, we're learning that you're often better off letting June do things the way she thinks they must be done even if it seems completely illogical. (For example, if you mistakenly take June's banana peel from her while she's eating at the table and throw it into the trash,  instead of uselessly arguing with June and trying to explain that she can throw it away next time, it's best to retrieve the banana peel from the basket, return it to June and then bring the waste basket over to the table so June can throw away the peel herself.) We jump through ridiculous hoops sometimes, but if it can prevent a 30-minute tantrum, I'm all for a minute of pure silliness. 
• Trying to wean from her paci. We've been talking a lot about giving her paci to babies, throwing it away, etc., and June seems to get that big girls don't use pacifiers, but we're still a ways away from completely pulling the plug (literally). We've worked our way down to keeping the paci in June's crib only, but have yet to have a nap or nighttime slumber without it. I know 2-years-old is our pediatrician's  threshold and, believe me, I'd like the paci gone more than anyone, but I don't know if we'll be able to go cold turkey anytime soon. Stay tuned ... and wish us luck!
• Stacking. Right now June loves to stack blocks, build towers and sort things from biggest to smallest.
• Counting. June is improving upon her counting skills by actually starting to take the time to count each individual item instead of just rattling off numbers 1-20.
• Working on letters. Now that June has mastered colors, she's moved on to letters and is beginning to recognize more uppercase letters. "R" is still the only one she always gets right. Go figure.
• Singing. June loves to sing, especially little songs from her favorite show, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood." My favorite is her rendition of a song called "Grownups Come Back" about missing Mom & Dad when they leave, but knowing that they always come back. It goes, "Grownups come back to you ... Grownups come back they do ... Gro-ooowwn-ups come back." June recently sang this song to herself through tears when she was sad about being left at childcare at the Y. It was the cutest, saddest thing ever!
• Still eating pretty well and sleeping about 11-12 hours at night with one 2-3 hour nap each day after lunch.
• Wearing size 18-24 month clothes with a few 2T sizes starting to make their way into the mix. June is wearing size 6 shoes, but was recently sized at a 7. Although size 7 shoes still seem huge on her, I'm sure that's what we'll buy as we plan for the warmer weather.
• Wearing size 4 diapers even though they're a little roomy on her tiny buns/waist.
• We'll get the rest of June official stats next week at her 2-year-old well visit.

This was the best we could do for a monthly chair picture ...

June has zero interested in sitting still and wanted only to see pictures of herself on the camera.