Happy Second Birthday Teresita!

At the beginning of February we celebrated Teresita's second birthday.  Of course she really had no idea what it was all about, but that's why she has a big brother and sister.  They had big, big plans.  Early in the week, they secretly made her birthday presents:  t-shirts.  Juan Pablo made one with a turtle (which he claims is her favorite animal) and a snake (because she likes to pet snakes at the reptile zoo near our house).  I helped Ana Luisa make a star stencil, and then she painted it on the shirt with gold paint so it would be sparkly.  And then silver paint on top of that, so that it would be even more sparkly.  Because according to Ana Luisa, you can never have too many sparkles.

They day of her birthday they couldn't wait for Jeff to give her the t-shirts, so we did round one of gift-giving a little early.

She opened her shirt from Juan Pablo first.  We put it on her and then she sat in his lap to pose for a picture.

 

Then she opened Ana Luisa's.  She sat in Ana Luisa lap for a picture, but then Ana Luisa wasn't satisfied with Teresita's attempts to smile and started trying to help her out.  She didn't appreciate that quite as much.

 Here's Teresita modeling Juan Pablo's shirt, complete with Blue Steel Zoolander face:

 And of course, there had to be cake.  The kids decorated it with sprinkles and frosting.

Teresita LOVED it when we sang "Happy Birthday".  She clapped the whole time.  I think she liked her cake too.

Then it was time for more presents, from mama and papa. Jeff and I painted little wooden peg people and wooden cups in several bright colors.  She loves to put things inside of other things, so it was her kind of toy.

Of course the tissues paper was great too.

 And I made her a weighted blanket, modeled here by Ana Luisa.

Teresita is the sweetest two year old.  She loves to give kisses and hugs.  She doesn't know what to do with herself when her big brother and sister aren't around.  Her favorite time of day is still when papa comes home from work.  And even though she is still a die-hard papa's girl, she tends to prefer mama when she needs comfort.  She loves to try to do anything her big siblings are doing.  Lately she has been drawing with markers, and makes sounds like they do when they are sounding out words in school.  It's hilarious. She empties out every cabinet that she can get into and every bin she can get her hands on.  She loves to throw things down the stairs.  If we turn our backs for second she will have unrolled half a roll of toilet paper or emptied a box of kleenex.  But she also loves to help clean up.  She goes around with a paper towel wiping things down.  After putting all the toys back in a toy bin, she sits on top of it.  We are enjoying so much getting to know her more and seeing her learn new things each day.

We love you Teresita!  Happy Birthday!