Oh TWOdles! Sophia is 2!

Sophia is 2! Sophia is 2!  I have a 2 year old! Holy cow!


After Sophia's party we let the celebrating continue.  Her actual birthday was  Thursday.  She had her 2 year wellness check-up that day so I was able to take the day off with her.  


Physical Stats:
Height - 34" - Taller than average.
Weight - 26 lbs - Average
And head circumference - Still larger than average...just as it has been since she was about 4 months old.  She's got a lot of brains to hold!
Shirt Size - 24 months - 2T
Pants Size - 24 months (although somewhat short on her, but 2T is way too big around her waist)
Shorts Size - 18 - 24 months  (due to her tiny waist and short legs)
Shoes - Pretty much still a 4 but starting to fit into a 5


We can hardly believe that she is twice her birth length and almost 7 times her birth weight.  


Sophia...

• Is so smart, so funny, so kind, so caring, so generous, so perfect.  
• Clinks her sippy and says "Cheers!" to everyone at the dinner table every night (and every time she sees someone with a drink in hand)
• Follows Chuck around saying "Boy! Boy!" because she hears Ken tell him "Good boy"
• Still loves to eat fruit and vegetables more than cookies and chicken fingers.
• Becomes very upset when she hears someone crying or sees someone looking sad.  She tries to give them things to make them happy.
• Loves to read books before bedtime (Daddy climbs into bed with her, I cover them up, and read the books) and will always ask for second then rolls over and tell us "Nigh-nigh"
• Loves to dance and has some pretty serious dance moves.
• Pretends to fall asleep, snores, expects you to do the same thing, then when you fall asleep she says "Hey!" and laughs hysterically when you tell her she woke you up.
• Asks "What's this?" about everything she sees.
• Hates socks and pants.
• Still sits in her bumbo for me to brush her hair in the morning.
• Likes to watch Yo Gabba Gabba with Daddy, Mommy can't take that show...what the HECK is that guy supposed to be?!
• Likes when I smell her "stinky feet" and tell her Peeeeee-Yewwww! Then she does it too.
• Loves her friends at daycare.
• Tries to balance things on her head then shakes them off and says "Oooowwwwie" as if it REALLY hurt to shake it off.
• Climbs up onto our bed then gets herself stuck between the footboard and mattress on purpose.
• Thinks all trash belongs in Chuck's water bowl.
• Loves to color and holds her crayons like a pencil.
• Is in the middle of a year long tea party.
• Is starting to identify when she goes potty.
• Loves to wear her "boooets" aka boots.
• Says new/hilarious things every day.
• Gives AMAZING hugs and kisses.
• Knows the difference between written numbers and letters although she can't really identify them all yet.
• Occasionally climbs out of her bed and goes back to sleep on the floor in front of her door.
• Wants to "Dip" everything she eats in "Dip-it" (Ketchup, salad dressing, guacamole, etc.)
• Says "Thank you, you too." when the Border Patrol man tells me "Have a good day" every morning when I go to work.
• Loves her "Kicket"  aka blanket.
• Uses any object she has in hand as a microphone to sing into "Laaaaaaah laaaaaah laaaaah...."
• Has flown across the country to see her grandpa 4 times and will do it again in March.
• Has had her fair share of temper tantrums.  She throws herself to the floor and keeps one eye slightly open to see if we are watching :)

I'm sure I have forgotten things but these are some of our favorite highlights.


We have attempted the potty training thing a time or two but I could just tell she wasn't ready.  Now that she's starting to tell us when she goes (albeit after the fact) we feel that the time is here. We will get serious about it when I'm on Spring Break.  She has been so amazing with all of her other transitions:  Cold turkey binky and bottle at 16 months, moved into her big girl bed at 20 months and hasn't given us a hard time at all, etc.


I made a post to Facebook on her birthday this year that was the exact same post I made last year.  I think it sums it all up for us.


February 2, 2010 my life changed in the most beautiful and profound way.  I looked into her eyes, wide open just moments after being born, and already knew her.  Happy Birthday Sweet Sophia!  You continue to bring so much joy to all those who love you.  You are the greatest of God's many blessings in my life.  And yes... she saw her shadow:)

Olivia Fest 2012! (aka Sophia's Second Birthday Party)

The first cartoon Sophia and I ever watched together was an episode of Olivia.  Olivia was on a soccer team and was upset because she was going to have to wear a green uniform as opposed to the red uniform that the goalie got to wear.  She said, "Green just isn't my color." And as for Francine (the girl that got to be goalie and wear the red uniform) she said, "Not everyone can wear red, especially when you're pink."  I thought she was hilarious!  So full of sass and creativity.  And so that became our first go-to cartoon.  Sophia became familiar with the theme song - Olivia! Olivia! Olivia! Olivia! Oliviaaa!  Olivia! Olivia! Olivia! Olivia!  Oliviaaaaah!  O-LIV-I-AAAAHHHH!!!  When she was still crawling she would shake her head and and move her hands around dancing.  Now, she sings along with it and attempts to spell Olivia (A - O - A - Q - B - A - C...)


And so, when it came time to pick a theme for Sophia's second birthday party (WHAT?!! 2nd Birthday??!! More about my disbelief that my daughter is about to be 2 in my next post, this is just a party post)  Olivia was an obvious choice.


For those who don't know, 2012 started off more than rocky for the Elfleins and for me in particular.  In need of a distraction, I dove head first into party planning.  I had seen many Olivia themed parties online and borrowed ideas from them.  I made all of the decorations and attire except for the invitations and Sophia's embroidered t-shirt, which I ordered from Etsy.

So, the party was obviously in 2012, not 2011 but it totally slipped my mind when I ordered these in December.  Oops.


I went with entirely Red, White, and Black decorations.  There were some Olivia party goodies available online but they had a lot of blue in them.  What does Olivia have to do with blue?  I incorporated themes from episodes, some Valentine's Day decor, and of course...Olivia's Rules of Life.  Sophia owns many many books and dolls so I placed them around the house.

Cherry M&Ms, Cherry Twizzlers, Red & White Kisses

I made the banner, it's much cuter up close...

Olivia book for guests to sign.  We did this last year too and think it will be cool for her to see who came to her parties.

The favors consisted of several cute girly things like mirrors, combs, tiny purses, mini-tiaras, and (the best part)  a bag of seeds for a "Surprise Garden" a-la Olivia's surprise garden in which she grows a venus fly trap.  No traps included, only an assortment of lovely flower seeds.

Food table and one of two photo banners with pics of our girl from the last year.  I bought the circle banners at Hobby Lobby, then printed various sizes of photos from 1-2 years old.  I also embellished the banner with some red bows.

Loved this!  Giant Olivia holding balloons!  Printed a picture of Olivia, had it enlarged, then attached it to a foam board and cut it out with an exacto knife.  Of course I had to add real bows to her ears.  Sophia  LOVES this.  She shouts "Lihhh-Yeeee-Yahhhh!"  every time she sees it.

Daddy's idea to put the roses on the fireplace.

Some of the many books and Rules of Life we had around the house.

For food we mainly served finger foods.  I have two vegan friends and wanted to incorporate foods they could eat yet no one else would realize they were purposely vegan.  I marked the food cards with a red heart if the item was vegan.

And of course the cupcakes.  I go a little cupcake crazy for parties.  Typically I have my friends up with me until the wee hours of the morning making, stuffing, and frosting cupcakes the night before a party.  This year I was very efficient and had all of the cupcakes (about 4 dozen) done (by myself) by about 6 on Friday.

 Pre-Frosting

 How cute are these!  I got the recipe from the Nick Jr. Olivia website.  The ears and nose are melted candies drawn onto wax paper using a template underneath.  The rest is frosting.

I made half vegan red velvet (which were pretty awesome & definitely didn't stand out as vegan) and Cherry/Vanilla filled with Cherry/Vanilla creme.  Both frosted with homemade almond "butter cream" frosting.  

And now for the fun...

Sophia had a BLAST!!  She was dressed up so cute with a shirt I ordered from Etsy and a tutu that was actually my tutu that Sharla made me last year for Sophia's first birthday party (she made one for each of us since I put on the invites that girls were encouraged to wear tutus...lol).  I just shortened and scrunched it a little.  

She had many of her friends join her for the celebration, as well as many of Mommy and Daddy's friends and family of course.  We are always so thrilled and overjoyed to see so many people turn out to show our girl some love.  Nothing is better than seeing your daughter surrounded with love.

 Stella

 Cindy

Drue

Unfortunately we didn't catch any pictures of Taytum but we were so happy she made it :)

I made coloring books for the kids to color.

And Uncle Greggy and Aunt Shauna brought a bounce house, which was of course a huge hit with the kiddos.

 She tried to bounce herself, but mainly enjoyed the ride as others bounced.

 We kept it up the next day and did some private Elflein Family Bouncing :)

For some reason, the singing of the birthday song makes me cry.  Both years as we were singing my feelings about her birthday culminated in overwhelming emotion.  Sophia also cried during the birthday song.  We've been practicing sing it so that she would be used to it (and maybe sing along with us) but each time she would yell "No!" and cry.  The real deal was just the same.  She's crazy I tell ya.  So funny.  

Just like last year, since my dad was unable to attend the party we had him on Skype right in front of her to sing.  Obviously we wish he could be there but since he can't, this is an amazing substitute.  He sat and watched her eat her cupcake too :)

All in all it was a truly wonderful day.  Sophia was showered with love and had a great time with her friends and family.  I have to give special thanks to my mom, Sharla, Mason, Uncle Bob (aka Tom) for helping out with the set up (I can be (ahem) a bit bossy when it's go-time before my parties and they are angels for not only putting up with me but continuing to come/help party after party).  Also thanks to Greg and Shauna for bringing the bounce house.  

We brought the party to a close in the same way we did last year, by showing her video for the year.  Both years I have used iMovie to make a compilation of videos and pictures from the year set to music.  Sort of a slideshow...but better.  It always makes me cry.  I'm still working on a way to share it.  It's pretty long and contains downloaded music so YouTube is giving me a hard time.

After everyone left, Soph was tuckered out.  She had a great day.  

A few people have made the remark that "She won't even remember this."  To me, that's not what this is about.  Whether she remembers it or not, I'll always know that put something wonderful together for her.  She'll have pictures, videos, and her signed birthday books to look back at and see all the people that love her.  The way I see it, she will have so many imperfections in her life so if I can give her this one perfect day, why not?

Tune in next time for a complete update of what Sophia is all about at 2 years old...including details of my utter disbelief that another year has gone by :)