24 month=2!

Today my big girl is TWO! Oh my goodness, can you believe it? I certainly cannot! So many changes, so many improvements! She is speaking in SENTENCES; which as I was afraid of, the death of Eric and my speaking to each other around here, until after bedtime. Gwen is so expressive and so chatty at home and the running commentary of what is happening around us is pretty funny, if only she enunciated better. So many of her words sound alike and who knows what she has picked up so you really have to pay attention to context.
As I also mentioned, she is a great big sister! Little too involved sometimes, but she loves "baby Nate" and about the cutest thing is when he sneezes (coughs or any little sound, really) she says "bless you baby Nate". So sweet. She has moved out of the hold phase, into the hug phase and is happy to announce when Mommy is feeding baby Nate. (thanks Daddy for teaching her the word booby, that's going to come up and make for an uncomfortable moment at some point, I just know it!) Also she says "good burp, baby Nate". I guess you can tell how excited we are not to have to burp baby Nate anymore, he burps himself, but that is a story for tomorrow!
Gwen has finally admitted she knows her name, but randomly she thinks that as soon as you take a picture of her she becomes a baby and so she calls herself "Baby Gen" whenever she sees a picture of herself. This also causes a problem when you try to take a picture of her. She wants to see the picture of herself on the back of the camera, so pretty much all shots when she sees the camera are of her pointing at the camera and saying "Baby Gen"...so please picture that as you view the pictures taken of her in the last couple of weeks!
Gwen is very emphatic in her speaking and says and does things that keep us laughing. When you ask her if she wants to do something she usually says "Yeeaah", if she does. It really is amazing to us how she can answer us correctly, mostly because she was silent for so long, but if you figure she has been listening to 2 years of conversations, it is not that surprising. Gwen is becoming less distractable from things that you don't want her to do or get into. Yesterday she pulled some Ace bandage out of a drawer and wanted me to help her pull it out of the box, I said no and asked her to go find her hammer. Well, when I turned around she was sitting on the bed trying to open the Ace bandage box with the hammer! Not what I meant, but somehow she did finally get the box opened and it wasn't mutilated by her hammer!
It is funny how we had Nate at the exact right time to appreciate that fact that we now have a little girl and no longer a baby! Unfortunately that means that we have potty training and tantrums ahead of us. As far as potty training goes, we have pulled out a little potty and when Gwen is feeling like she is lacking in attention she says Pee-pee in the potty and then when you get to the potty and take off her diaper and ask her to sit on the potty she says, No. I don't want to make a big deal out of it and make her sit on the potty, yesterday she actually did, without her diaper! But, she is becoming the girl who cried wolf, who is using it for Mommy or Daddy's undivided attention. Did I tell you she knows where her butt is and she knows when her diaper is full! As far as tantrums go, we had our first major run in with those yesterday. Mommy did not give enough attention and there was no throwing of our self on the floor, but there was a lot of whining and squirming in a way that I had to stifle a laugh and made me wish I had the video camera out, just so you can see it! So darn dramatic...wonder where she gets that from!
Tonight we will be enjoying cake that there will be no pictures of, probably with the godfather, who also shares Gwen's birthday! Happy Birthday also to cousin Pete who went to a Brewers game, my godfather Uncle Ken and cousin Jan! Hope everyone has a great day! (Hope I can get this to post with pictures, if it doesn't it is because I have been trying to post pictures for 1 hour, on and off! I will try to get the pictures uploaded in a couple of days! There is one in there specifically for MaFitz (War Eagle!) and Beth, some of my frequent commenters!) Ok no pictures for now, server error, ARG!...I will certainly try to get them up later this evening.

Updated to add: finally pictures! (Beth how did I do with the hair?) If you AU fans liked the picture of Gwen with the pom-pom, you should see one of the books she got today for her birthday! I think she had a pretty good day, she definitely enjoyed opening presents (Christmas is going to be so fun) and Eric took many pictures, one day I will share them! Some of the pictures in this post were taken by Grandma during her visit...did I mention Gwen now says Gramma!