Well, JOE turns TWO in a little more than 3-weeks! I still can't believe I'll have a 2-year old. Every time she does something, I am truly amazed and can't believe this was a helpless little girl J and I brought home from the hospital.
She has a strong personality. She is a talker. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to try new things. She is INQUISITIVE! And asks a lot of "why" or "what's that?" questions.
She LOVES to act out Doc McStuffins. Complete with introducing herself to her toys as Doc. She is also very nurturing and caring and is always checking on us whenever one of us sneezes or coughs. She'll ask "momma OK?" or say "bless you!" She ALWAYS gives all her new toys a check up to make sure they are all OK. She really is the coolest almost 2-year old I know.
And most exciting of all is that she is almost fully potty trained! Yup! My baby only needs a diaper at night or when we are going out. I still can't believe it because she took to it so well (like after almost 2-months of trying :-)).
Anyways, her birthday party planning has officially begun. We are not doing anything near as big as we did last year but I am still doing a few DIY stuff to make it extra special for her.
JOE loves Minnie Mouse (fondly referred to as "Mia" by JOE). So I figured we'll make it a Minnie Mouse themed birthday. Last Saturday, after having breakfast as a family, I decided to use the time to make her a Minnie Mouse skirt. I looked around for one but just couldn't find a reasonably priced skirt so at the suggestion of my friend, I decided to make one for her. It turned out great and actually cost less than $10 altogether. I used this method to make the circle skirt. It is one I have used in the past and has worked every single time.
This time, I decided to get a little fancy with the sewing pattern. Check out the zigzag! I am getting better at this :-D.
Even the elastic waste looked really nice! Funny...while I was making the shirt, J says "that's her waist? It might be too small for her." I said "Yup. It is and I actually added 1-inch to it." Well, when all was said and done, it was too big! I had to take it in a couple of inches!
I found this lace at Hobby Lobby. It was an awesome find because it already had the elastic threading so all I did was use it as a marker when I sewed it onto the skirt. Worked out great.
Skirt pinned up with the lace.
Finished product.
And this is her complete outfit. I haven't had a chance to finish her shoes yet but it'll be Converse Chuck Taylors with matching ribbons. I'll be sure to post a picture once that is done.
I also will be adding a personal touch to the gift bags for the kids. So I spent part of my "day off" yesterday cutting out Minnie Mouse ears! Yup...my day off was spent working at home. Typical :-). But it is a labor of love.
There's more to come but I figured this is a good start.
If you have children, how did you celebrate their 2nd birthday? Do you celebrate each year in a big way or do you just have something small at home with family?
I need potty training tips! Zara will let us know after she poops ("mommy poopo" while pointing to her diaper) so I think she may be ready?
ReplyDeleteYup...if she knows she pooped, she definitely is ready. It isn't easy after that though. It took Jordan a while to even want to sit on the potty. She was not feeling it at first and that took a while (from August until September) before she got comfortable with it. Then we just decided to get her some "big girl" underwear from Walmart and put her in them every evening. We got it in her favorite Disney characters and she loves them. We let her pick out her underwear everyday and she gets really excited.
DeleteThe rest was just consistency. We asked her every 5-minutes if she has to go. Eventually, she understood it and would tell us when she has to go. It isn't easy though cause sometimes I am BONE TIRED and she has to get up and go. But consistency and working with your hubby to ensure its not just one person doing it all the time has helped.
Oh and we do a happy dance for her complete with clapping and all everytime she uses the potty successfully. We try to make her feel really special and now she insists on us clapping for her whenever she goes :-D.
Hope that helps.
Now that is awesome. I wouldn't be able to sew if you offered to pay, even though you had step by step instructions. I will say, that skirt is super adorable. Joe is going to look so cute in her birthday outfit. I'm curious to see what you plan to do with the ears, too.
ReplyDeleteEvery year, when my daughters were little, I'd have a big party for both of them. It was a lot of work and I kind of slacked off when they started getting older. I started letting them give me ideas about how they wanted to celebrate. Usually it meant hours at Chuck E Cheese, lots of pizza, cake and ice cream. Those were the days... :)
Thank you! I must admit that I enjoy sewing. I feel like I am creating something awesome. Like a masterpiece.
DeleteMy folks did the same thing. We had birthday parties until we turned 10. Then it was smaller gatherings with a very few friends. Then big parties on our 15th, 20th and 21st birthday.