Can you believe Jillian turned two? We celebrated by going to the zoo!!!!

I cannot believe Jillian is 2. How did time go by so fast? I remember her birth day like it was yesterday. In honor of the two years (or 24 months or 104 weeks or 730 days – Who’s counting?) she has been here on earth, I wrote 24 things I love about Jillian (in no particular order):

1. She can almost count to twenty. She will leave out a number here and there but she always leaves out the eight! What does she have against the eight?
2. She already has an opinion about what she wears. Where did she get that? She loves to wear a red outfit with kitties on the front. She loves to count the kitties. She will cry and throw a fit if I picked something she does not want to wear. She will tell me, “I don’t like it.” She is such a cutie-pie and is growing like a weed. She is finally starting to fit into 18-24 months clothes.
3. She gets very upset when you call her a baby and will correct you by saying, “No, big girl.”
4. She calls penguins, “pengos.”
5. The girl loves to chew on her shoes. What is that? She will usually refuse to put on her shoes unless she is given time to chew on the velcro first.
6. I will ask her 100 times before she takes a bath if she needs to use the potty. She says, “No, Mommy.” As soon as she gets in the bathtub and gets herself all wet, then she insists on getting out and using the potty and she actually will go. Can you say control issues??
7. She loves to eat to eat things that are orange – carrots, cheese, apricots. She also loves turkey, green beans, and corn. She loves to eat bananas but only if she gets to peel it and also gets upset if it breaks in half. She loves to eat apples but doesn’t want you to cut it up but let her eat it “self.” Do you see a theme here?
8. She still calls my sister, Summer, Mashure. Although now she has started calling her Aunt.
9. Bryan’s dad always has a cheese snack waiting for her so she calls him Papa Cheese. Secretly, he loves the name.
10. Showing that she is all about being an independent 2 year old, she loves to say, “I do it.” She will also say, “I do it self.”
11. Her favorite song in Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. She also loves Twinkle, Twinkle and Old McDonald. She also loves her “Bible” songs and can almost sing the whole CD but her favorites are Behold, Behold and I’m in the Lord’s Army and loves songs about David (she learns a lot about David at MDO).
12. She knows her Daddy works for FedEx. She will point to the logo anywhere we see it and say “FedEx.”
13. She can name her teacher and all of the kids in her MDO classroom. She can even name the kid who left the class because “he cries.”
14. She is very into jumping and hopping. She loves to jump in her crib. She loves to jump “high.”
15. She loves to wear pajamas with a zipper.
16. She has a difficult relationship with our dogs. She knows that she is supposed to be gentle with them. She will run up to them and scare them and turn around and ask, “Pat them gently, right?” with a look of innocence on her face.
17. She loves reading books about Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. She can recognize all of them including the shepherds and animals. One Christmas book that we read together shows Mary with a pregnant belly and she will tell you that it looks likes “Mommy’s belly.”
18. When she is in her carseat in Bryan’s car, she insists on climbing in and out “self.”
19. She loves wearing Grammie’s reading glasses.
20. She loves Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie (not Bert), Abby, Zoe, Barney and The Grinch.
21. She cracks me up because she does NOT like the part of S*esame St*reet with the animated clay. She says, “I don’t like it” and will cry and fuss until the segment is over.
22. She loves to play outside and cries on a regular basis when you make her come inside.
23. We went to the mall on the day after Thanksgiving and Jillian got to see a marching band playing around the mall. We went to the mall on Sunday and she kept asking, “Band? Band?” How the heck did she remember the silly band she saw one time from over a month ago? Freaking smart!
24. She is obsessed with 101 Dalmations which she calls the “puppy bideo.” She has watched it over 101 times at Poppy’s house. She knows Pongo, Cruella, Horace and Jasper. It has to be playing for naptime to start.

This is a silly list for a silly girl. Happy Birthday Jillian! Mommy loves you!

p.s. In reference to the title, we did have a great trip to the zoo but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. Pictures to follow!