One Last Hoorah!

Esme had her last birthday celebration this weekend with 2 of her friends and their families.  It was a low key party, almost like a glorified paydate with dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  She had a total of 4 parties (one on her birthday at Nana's, one with Hunter at the park, one at school, and one at our house in WA) so she got very used to the festivities.  By far her favorite is still the singing :)  And she pretty much assumes that the English and Mandarin versions of the song go together so as soon as we finish the first one then it has to be sung in Mandarin next.

She needed me to hold her hand while we sang to her and she wouldn't smile.

She got her first baby doll this birthday and I was surprised that as soon as I took it out of the package she put it in her lap and started feeding it the bottle.  Then she wanted me to sing lullaby's to the baby too.  When I asked her if she's going to help me feed my baby when it comes out she took the bottle and put it up to my belly too.  Ha ha!  She's going to be such a great big sister!  She also got her first trike this year so we're letting her practice in the house for now and then we'll take it outside when she's really ready.

Big sister Mimi taking care of the baby

In the background is her new trike

Esme celebrated her birthday at school after we got back from vacation.  We took mini blueberry muffins to share with her classmates and they made her a crown to wear for the day. She even picked out her outfit that morning.  Did I mention how long it takes to get dressed in the mornings now?  Esme is so particular about what she wears and is trying so hard to do things for herself that I try to give her as much space and time as possible.  Luckily she gets up early enough that there's always time to spare. 

Her school birthday outfit and crown

The cheeser smile resurfaces at times

Wearing her new kitty shoes and doggy purse

I forgot to mention that the other great part about her turning 2 is that she is now starting the pre-school program at Ms Faye's Daycare and so tuition also goes down for us.  Woohoo!  Since it's just a small in-home daycare/pre-school she's been able to participate with the big kids prior to this if she wants and I feel that's why she's learned so much over the past year.  But now she's officially joining the big kids for good which she really likes too.  This past month they've been learning about the human body and being healthy so I went to visit her school on the "doctor day" to talk to the kids about going to the doctor.  I enjoyed watching them do circle time and then I joined in when it was my turn.  I showed all the kids my tools to listen to their hearts, look in their ears, eyes, and mouth and then read some books to them about going to the doctor.  Esme just sat and stared at me the whole time like she had no idea why I was there and why I wasn't speaking in Mandarin ;)

We've all adjusted back to being in Washington.  The cold rain was an unwelcome change but at least Esme's sleep schedule is back to normal.  And we missed the massive rain storm on the Big Island since they apaprently got almost 17 inches of rain in the past 3 days.  We got back to Seattle on a Sunday and it worked out well that the next day was a holiday at school so she could stay home with Allen.  She taught him all the new things she learned on the trip and then got to have some quality one-on-one time with him while I worked.  Then on Tuesday it was my normal day off so she was home with me and then she finally returned to school on Wednesday when she celebrated her birthday.