Lulu, 27 Months

I know. I *know.* It’s been awhile, and poor Lulu is just a neglected second child, blah, blah, blah.

We’ve been busy, okay?

Anyway.

Lulu is SO 2.  Terrible and terrific and wild and adorable; she is a handful! People are constantly guessing she is 3, not just because she is tall, but because she is incredibly verbal and social. You can NOT convince her that she can’t do anything Cole can do – she is *determined* to keep up with her beloved Big Brother, and, for the most part, she’s successful.

This pretty much epitomizes their sibling relationship; Lulu loves Cole, so she climbs onto the couch to snuggle with him, but then he gets overly enthusiastic and she wishes he would leave her alone – although she makes no attempt to move away from him.

Lulu gives a nightly performance in the kitchen where she sings and dances while we are eating dinner – she will often force audience participation in the form of grabbing your hands and begging you to dance with her, but don’t make the mistake of singing along – she will point her finger and sternly yell “stop singing!” This spring will be our last session for Music for Aardvarks, and we will sorely miss hanging out with Luke every Monday morning – Cole has been taking that class since he was 10 months old, and Lulu was dragged along before she was even born!

Our Aardvarks days are numbered…

Lulu is proving to be just as stubborn and persistent as Cole ever was; her tantrums may not be as frequent as his were, but what they lack in frequency, they MORE than make up for in duration and intensity. Baby girl can SCREAM her head off for a disconcertingly long time over the most random things. She dragged her snow pants around the house on Monday night and threw a FIT because we wouldn’t take her sledding. It was 55 degrees out. And raining.

I took a stick away from her before she could lose an eyeball, and she turned her back on me, and insisted that I “leave [her] alone!” This is *vastly*preferable to the screaming fits that she’s prone to.

She is just starting to fit into her 2T clothes, and she weighs in at 26 pounds and is about 34″ tall (that’s a full inch taller than Cole was at her age).

Time to check in with BabyCenter:

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Jumps with both feet – Seriously? She can definitely jump.

• Opens doors – Yes. Sigh.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

• Understands descriptions (e.g., big, soft) – Yes. She can both understand description, and describe items herself in pretty great detail.

• Draws a vertical line – Unlike her big brother, Lulu LOVES to draw. Lines? No problem.
  

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

• Starts to recognize ABCs – I think she knows her Cs and her Ls, but that’s about it.
  

• Balances on one foot – Yes. She has a pretty fancy dance move that involves balancing with one leg up in the air.