Stella's two year update!

Stella is passionate.  She does nothing without gusto and feeling.  She's a thousand percent.  Stella bursts into a room like she owns it.  She is a bull in a china shop. She is beautiful. Stella is so intent in her happiness and silliness that all surroundings are mute.  Stella is loud.  She has no quiet mode.  She is silly. She loves to make people laugh. We love our ball of silly, happy, and sweetie Stella girl.

Stella is pretty verbal.  She'll string together 4-6 word sentences and she loves to repeat new words.  'Okay' is probably our most favorite Stella word.  The way she says it is so endearing. Stella loves to tack on 'ie' to almost any word. Sleep has become Sleepies. Hold is holdie. Open is opie. Shoe is shoie. Diaper is Diap-ie... you get the idea. She calls Finn Bae, because saying Baby or Finn is all too hard. She also is stubbornly confused about the difference between pee and poo. Everything is forever poop to her. (She has been going in the potty off and on, and is showing signs of being ready to potty train.  I'm less than excited to go through another potty training process.)

Stella doesn't cry very easily.  She gets back up when she falls.  She isn't phased by hurt feelings. She loves to be cuddled and held.  She holds her own, and is often more aggressive and the cause of crying, rather than the crier. She is also very caring.  Stella says sorry and tries to make right any situation where she may have caused hurt.  Stella loves to celebrate and cheer lead others as they try to be happy.

Stella is insistent and persistent.  If she wants something, or doesn't want something she will push and push and push and insist, with little consideration for any reason or outside input. I realize this is basically the definition of a toddler, but bear with me. For example, Stella hates church.  She spends the whole time insisting we take her to the door and leave.  Loudly. On repeat. Remember she has no quiet mode. I'm sure the congregation loves it. I know I do... Stella will also get stuck on repeat if we don't all acknowledge whatever word she's saying or thing she's doing. She will just continue to do it. Forever & louder.  Every morning I'm greeted by a teeny Stella voice chanting 'EAT!' at volume ten, growing increasingly more frantic with every demand.  There's no distracting or re-directing her when she's got her mind on something. 

Stella loves to scream.  So. Much. Screaming.  It's her go to conflict resolution and also a popular substitute for 'no thank you'. We are hoping this behavior gets better as she gets more vocabulary. Otherwise, I do apologize to her future college roommates.

Stella hates doing the stairs by herself. We really had to prep her and work with her before Finn was born, to help her let go of the need to ALWAYS be carried up and down.  It didn't go so well she sometimes screams and cries so intently that she'll almost throw up, or she'll just screams until we go back and get her.  We did find some success with pretending she is a kitty and she's climbing up the stairs.  Stella loves kitties, above all other animals. Stella will also run to the stairs when she's upset.  She'll sit while she tries to collect herself, for however long it takes. Then she will jump backup and declare, 'HAPPY NOW!'

Stella loves music. Right now her song of choice is 'Let it Go' from Frozen.  She's an original, haha. We've listened to little else in our car besides this song.  Indie's favorite song is Zootopia's 'Try Anything' right now. We literately just jump back and forth between these two songs anytime we're in the car.  Being a mom is a little mind numbing sometimes.  If you want to know what the soundtrack of going crazy sounds like, try those two songs on repeat for hours.

Stella's cup is filled by being humorous.  She loves to show new tricks or silly antics she thinks will get a laugh.  She has a designated silly walk that she pulls out throughout the day. She loves to find the merriment and joy in others, and is always up for a silly time.  She calls people 'silly goose' & 'stupid head' (from Lilo & Stitch, though she doesn't know what it means) when they are exceptionally amusing to her. She loves to have us 'yook' at her when she's done something amazing. Some earth shattering feat like wiggling her foot in a funny way, or wiggling on the floor like a worm, or sticking her food in her nose.  

Stella is a baby who always has a spark in her eye.  A spark for fun and laughing or a spark for fierce

fitting.  She is a very talented whiner. When Stella gets stuck in a bad mood, she is stuck until we reset with sleep. She can scream louder, fit longer and whine better than the best of them.  She's recently hit a phase of choosing to lose all her words and act like a wounded kitten when she's upset.  If we can't figure out why she's upset, she'll get stuck into an all out screaming fit. It's all over then.  No one is winning. The time frame of 4-7 PM is always hard on Stella. Nap or no nap, she just struggles at that time of day. 

Stella loves to be pretty.  She has opinions on what she wants to wear.  This is new, as Indie will still let me stick her in anything and it doesn't phase her. Stella likes to have a say though and she likes to change her outfits within the day to maximize prettiness. Stella loves to dress up in jewelry and get her make up done.  Indie is so sweet to always share and do Stella's makeup for her.  However, Stella always throws a fit when there's no more room on her face for more beautification.  Makeup time ends in tears 9 out of 10 times for poor Indie.  Stella NEVER happily lets Indie take a turn with her own make up.  Indie's such a peace maker that she has a really hard time ignoring Stella's yelling and fitting when Stella's turn is over.  Indie's gotten bit multiple times because Stella wanted another round of eye shadow, or more lip gloss.  

Estelle is independent.  I wonder if her need for independence is so much greater because she's constantly has Indie or Finn by her side. It could be because she's two and has hit the 'I do it!' phase. But a bit of it, I'm sure, is her personality. Bless her heart, Stella is not a follower and therefore not a great little sister.  Don't get me wrong, she's a doll and Indie loves having her around, but Stella gravitates more towards the 'big sister' side of the relationship.  She often has Indie in tears, she dictates what they will be doing and when.  She has very strong opinions and ideas.  Indie will try to mother, love, hug, compromise and teach Stella.  Sometimes Stella likes this, most of the time she tolerates it, and the rest of the time she fights it.  Indie has such a great temperament, patience and love for Stella.  Indie misses Stella when she's napping and they miss each other when Indie's at preschool. Seeing them giggle and hug when Indie gets home is always a special moment to watch. 

A few favorite Stella-isms I don't want to forget are how she always cocks her head to the side when talking and gives you a small smile. How much Stella loves to sing and dance. How every bite of food she eats is a 'baby,' and every member of our family must acknowledge this before she can eat said bite.  How much Stella loves rocks.  How possessive she is of things, on another's behalf. For example, if Damon touches my phone, Stella sobs. If I take Indie's baby blanket, she freaks. I once wore Damon's sunglasses while driving, and Stella couldn't stop reprimanding me.  I love how much comfort Stella find in her wubba and blankie.  She finds her favorite corner on her blankie and rubs it on her face, just under her nose or below her eyes. She can be shy & she has always preferred men.  She warms up to them much faster than women. Lastly, I love how Stella loves to kick the wall as she's falling asleep. She did this in her crib as a baby and is still doing it now that she's in her big girl bed.

When Stella had her first night in her big girl bed, and we asked her how it went, she replied: 'Wubba. Blankie. Indie. Sleepie.' Then walked away. It was super cute, maybe you just had to be there. 

Stella loves the movie Lilo and Stitch. She will call out the lines or events that are about to happen before they happen.  She is also in a big Little Mermaid & Daniel Tiger kick.  Stella loves dairy and junk food. Sugar, carbs... basically the american diet. She hates vegetables. 

This may be super poor parenting, so judge me if you must.  Stella hates all vegetables, right?  She'll drink a green drink, but to try any form of veggie in its original form was impossible for her. We tried and tried and tried. Lots of tears, meltdowns, refusal.  Just 4 months ago she actually ate her first vegetable of her own accord, without spitting it out or me having to hide it.  I worried about Stella's health a lot, because of what she wanted her eating habits to be.  I also worried about the message we were sending by trying so hard and often to get her to eat veggies and always failing.

 So, one day I decided enough was enough. She needed to eat 1/8th of a baby carrot (I sliced it up for her) hell or high water.  Now, if there's one thing I know, it's that power struggles are the worst. Power struggles with a toddler are exceptionally painful.  We try really hard not to make statements to our children unless we fully plan to follow through, and I knew following through this time, would become a power struggle. Cue 2+ hours of screaming, crying, meltdowns, spitting, throwing, sobbing, It was soooooo hard to watch her go through.  I'd go to her and comfort her, reassure her that I knew this was hard, love on her, but stayed firm.  Finally, she ate it.  You have no idea the praise that kid received. Shouts of joy, running, jumping, hooping, hollering, kisses, hugs, high fives, aerial back-flips...the works. 

Since that day Stella has eaten at least one vegetable when asked, no problem. We always overly freak out and shower her with positive attention.  So, if you ever come to dinner with us and you think we just won the lottery, we didn't. Stella just took a bite of vegetable. We look ridiculous, but it's worth it. It's helped her realize that when she tries something, even if she hates it, she's going to be okay.  We also have a rule in our family that you don't have to eat it if you don't like it, but you do have to try it at least once.  She's become so much more adventurous and pleasant in trying new foods.  I'm so grateful it worked out in her benefit to go through that power struggle. 

Stella loves the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' song, and anytime she sees a spider she will exclaim 'It's the Itsy Bitsy Spider!' then wave to it and love on it.  

Stella has always had such good manners. One of her first words was please, and she says thank you without prompting.  I credit this in part to Indie's good example, and to Stella just being a gem.

We just adore our Stella girl. She's so important to our family.  She is adorable. She is our giggle box. Our silly head. She is kind, loud, confident, squishy, indulgent, happy, a boss, tender, funny, she's just Stella.  Happy to you, to you.

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