Twenty Four Months - Punky

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll probably say it again at the start of every one of these posts about the girls... I can't believe how fast time has been going. Two years old. My baby is not so much of a baby anymore. These last couple of months she's really lost the last of her 'babyness', she's all little girl now. And oh so beautiful. And yes I'm totally biased!

19 Months

Since my last update 6 months ago so much has happened. Along with losing her babyness Punky has become a big sister. And she's been a pretty damn good big sister so far. Sure she has her moments, when she doesn't want Zee to be hogging her Mummy and Daddy. Or she doesn't want to share her toys with Zee. But then there are the other moments, when she thinks no one is watching. She kisses Zee so gently on the head, or walks over and pats her arm, or just gives her a cuddle. Sometimes, when Zee is lying on the floor, or sitting in her bouncer, I catch Punky watching her and smiling and it melts my heart all over again. The love she has for Punky is such a joy to behold.

20 months on the day Zee was born

Punky's language has come along in leaps and bounds in the last 6 months as well. She 'talks' all the time now, 75% of which we can understand, the other 25% we try our best with. It's the 25% of non-understood words that causes us much frustration however and I have to remind myself that she is just as frustrated by her inability to find the word she needs, just as much as I am. Her favourite word by far is of course "Mummy", and she walks around the house singing it all day. She now realises that she can get my attention by saying it and doesn't hesitate to repeat it over and over and over! I'm pretty sure the day is fast approaching when this will stop being so damn cute and start to be just a little annoying! Whenever we go for a drive in the car and we have to stop for lights or other traffic she shouts "GO!" and we have to explain about waiting our turn. Every night when we say good night I say "See you in the morning" and she replies with "Hoot, Hoot!". It's adorable! And when she sees a picture of a dinosaur she does the cutest "Roar" like George in Peppa Pig.

My budding engineer, always gotta chuck in a skinny block, just to challenge herself!

She can count to 5, and while she doesn't understand the concept of 3, 4 or 5, she does understand the concept of 1 and 2 and always tells me if she has two of something. She can point out the numbers 1, 2 & 3 on a keypad. She is starting to recognise her colours and walks around pointing to them and telling me what they are. She can tell you the sounds of at least 8 animals. Every day I'm amazed by just how smart she is and the things she is learning so quickly. She can build a tower of blocks taller than herself, her balance is phenomenal, and she's a whizz at playing a simple game of memory. She even has a system for finding the matches, which I found incredible the first time I realised there was method to her card-turning. She can point out the letters M, O and A, but she also often points to W and declares it be M as well. I suppose she is half right!

21 months

Punky loves to dance and sing, and will dance to anything remotely resembling a rhythm. She begs to listen to The Wiggles at least twice a day. A couple of weeks ago I caught her looking very unimpressed the first time she saw the new Wiggles on TV. I heard one of their songs come on but noticed that Punky was just standing there staring at the TV with a frown on her face instead of dancing. I went in to the lounge room and saw it was the new Wiggles performing and it seems they do not live up to her high expectations! I don't blame her, I'm not much of a fan either! Bring back Sam!

22 months

The love affair with Peppa Pig also shows no signs of dying, if anything it's gotten stronger! She is now the proud owner of two Peppa Pig shirts, Peppa Pig PJs, PP Bath foam, a PP mobile phone and a small PP figurine and red car. She got most of it for her birthday and she has been on cloud 9! She keeps gathering things up and and holding them together to show me that they are the same and saying "Pig! Pig!" and then making this weird gutteral sound which I've realised is her attempt at snorting. It's quite hilarious!

23 months - her first Preschool photo (and yes, she does look a little crazy-eyed. As my sister said she's saying "Yes I'm cute, but I may hurt you")

She's still as cheeky as ever  and trying my patience as much as she was, maybe more. She becomes more stubborn and strong-willed with every passing day and I am once again reminded that karma is a bitch. If only I'd been the quiet, angelic child! She's obsessed with pushing the bloody pram and it's getting to the point now where we are going to have to bring along her play pram so she doesn't whinge to push the big one with Zee in it! The tantrums are really starting to reach epic proportions. We have arms flailing, legs kicking, dropping to the floor and beating it with her hands. She got so worked up the other day when it was time to start heading home after our holiday that I had to just get her out of the car and let her walk it off for a bit. All we could do was just sit and watch her wander aimlessly, crying her eyes out, until she calmed down enough to let me go to her and pick her up and talk to her and cuddle her. It was really quite heartbreaking to see her so distressed.

All ready for a swim while on our holiday last week

The drive home from Port Stephens was one of the worst drives I have ever experienced in my life. And for the eldest of 5 children to think that, well you can imagine some of the car trips I've endured. This was so much worse! We had another meltdown from Punky about half an hour into the 3 hour drive, which then woke Zee up, and so then they tagged team with the crying the entire rest of the drive. It seriously felt like the longest drive of my life. Makes me reconsider driving to my sister's in Wagga over New Year!

The Birthday Girl

We celebrated Punky's 2nd birthday on the weekend with a family BBQ on the Saturday, her actual birthday. While she didn't have a day sleep she did really well, and there were only a few minor meltdowns. Because we have such a large immeadiate family, even a small gathering is a pretty big deal for a small kid and she handled the excitement really well. She loved all of her presents and didn't want to go to bed that night without having them all in the cot with her!

On Sunday we took her to Featherdale Wildlife Park with my sister A and her husband J, who are also Punky's Godparents. I think the adults were more excited than she was! She wasn't really interested in looking at the animals in enclosures, like birds and dingoes and reptiles, etc but she loved the areas where you could touch the animals. She thought patting a Koala was pretty cool and she LOVED feeding the Kanagroos and Emus. Loved it! If we'd been smart we would have just bought $10 worth of food and let her go for her life. But we weren't smart. We still have a lot to learn as parents! (I want to post more pics from Featherdale but the little bugger has nicked off with my memory card and I can't find it anywhere! Thankfully I took two pics on my phone but I'll do a Wordless Wednesday post if I ever find the bloody thing!).

Feeding the Kangaroo at Featherdale. She had absolutely no fear of the animals whatsoever!

All in all this last two years of our lives has been an absolute rollercoaster. Putting the tears, tantrums and frustration aside, she is still the absolute light of my life. With the most beautiful smile, a wonderful sense of humour and a zest for life that is unmatched. I love her so much and wouldn't change anything about her for the world. Even the tantrums.

Now tell me, do you miss Sam Wiggle too?

And don't forget to check out the second installment of the Lazy Girl's Guide to Christmas Shopping... Gift Vouchers. Not as lazy as you may think!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT. Coz it's the best day to blog!