A Little About Aiya

We've had some fun and crazy times with our Aiza-Paiza since she turned two. Here are a few of them:

• Up until a month or so ago, I'd chase after Aiyana as she tore down the hallway towards Aaron's room. I wouldn't quite catch her as she'd burst into the open doorway and stop beside Aaron's sleeping form. At the top of her high-pitched lungs, she'd yell, "Is SEEPING??" (As in, "He's sleeping?") Of course, Aaron's nap would be cut short as his startled eyes would fly open. In triumph, Aiyana would shriek, "AWAKE!" Yeah, ya think? As mad as it would make me every time, I couldn't help but laugh.
• One of these "waking up Aaron" moments ended with me pulling her away from the room and giving her a light swat on her behind. She immediately turned around, pointer-finger raised in the air and scolded, "No hit, Mommy. No hit bum-bum!" Somehow, her naughty-behavior concluded with me apologizing to her. She's so in charge.
• Her memory is unbelievable. When we read to her, she absorbs everything we tell her, learning shapes, colors, objects. . . she is such a sponge and loves to learn. She can count to fifteen most of the time, give or take a missing number. She also randomly throws in the word "chicken" as in, "1, 2, 3, chicken. . . " What?? I think it's from an Elmo episode. Her ability to remember everything I tell her should not be confused with her ability to listen and behave to everything I tell her. i.e. I once laughingly told her about my "boobs", then decided I better teach her the word "chest" instead. I'm still failing at correcting! She now laughs, knowing I don't want her to say "boob" -- oh, and she likes to sneak-attack me and honk both of them! In the moment, NOT funny.
• She values family time. Usually Dan and I tag-team putting the kids to bed, but sometimes she will insist that we are both present when reading books or even watching Elmo. "Sat, Mommy," she says as she pats the bed beside her. "Nuggle. . . " she murmurs happily as we watch Elmo or read together as a family. Precious.
• Her sense of smell and sound are impeccable. She is so aware of her surroundings, always asking, "You hear dat?" and it's often a sound far in the background, like a truck or motorcyclist -- both of which she can differentiate between.
• Since she turned two, she developed the understanding of fear. It started on an Elmo episode when an intimidating tornado appeared on a weather episode. She put her hands to her cheeks (Home Alone style) and said, "Scared! I scared!" She is also scared of all bugs, big or small (Dan blames me), fireworks, white-noise from the TV, and sickened by loose hair. "Gucky!" she squeals. She visibly shudders when she finds random hair on a church bench or stuck to her sucker. I don't blame her. Nasty!
• Every morning, the first thing she cares about is seeing her brother. I get her out of the crib and with barely a hug for me, she scrambles out of my arms and races out the door in search for Aaron. When she finds him, she crawls on top of him and says "hogging!!" ("Hugging"), and kisses him, followed by, "Aww...Baby Aw-won. . . ". Sometimes she's mean to him, hitting him in the head or scratching his face, but that's usually as a means for our (negative) attention.
• She is SO not a morning person. Well, she is at first, waking up talkative and happy when I greet her. But as soon as food is involved. . . man, you better get her that oatmeal fast! She whines and cries impatiently and throws fits if it's not how she likes it. She behaved like this even in her bottle drinking days, hollering for her "bah-bah!!" and rolling around on the floor while I hurried to warm it up for her. Sheesh!
• Transition from an obsession with Elmo to Care Bears, and also enjoys Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.
• At her two year appointment (about 2 months late), she weighed 29 lbs and handled her shots like a champ. As soon as she saw her sucker, all eyes were on that blue dum-dum as I unwrapped it for her. She barely noticed being poked! The Dr was also very impressed with her language, warning us of the stubborn trait that normally accompanies bright young toddlers. Yeah, we know.
• Favorite phrases: "Ah WALK!"; (she wants to walk everywhere! Good thing I didn't invest in a double stroller yet.) "No! Stop it! Ohhh Way! (go away)"; "I SARING!" ("sharing");
• Can't believe how fast she learned to navigate the Kindle Fire! Kids these days.
• We love our fun little Aiyana!