Then she grew to two

WOW.  Another year has flown by and my baby Ashton is now a full fledged toddler.  She turned 2 last month on February 19.  Ashton has such a sweet spirit and has brought so much laughter and joy to our family.  We had a very, very low key celebration on her birthday.  Just a little party with the four of us after Geoff got home from work.  I didn't even take the time to make a cake and instead picked up one at the grocery store at the last minute.  

She sang Happy Birthday along with us when we sang to her  :)

Getting some help with the candles from big sis

Here's how she's doing developmentally:

Language:  This girl is a talker!  She chats all the time and mimics everything we say.  She says a lot of 3-4 word sentences: "Where Ilia (Olivia) at?"  "Please have grapes?" "Let's go, Mommy!"  "Watch this, Mommy!" "What you doing, Daddy?". She also loves to sing.  She can sing the complete ABC song as well as most of the words to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me and a handful of other songs.  She can verbally identify all the alphabet letters and can count to 10, skipping 6 along the way.  

Physical Development: She's starting to get to that stage of wanting to do everything herself.  Miss independent she is.  She still hasn't figured out how to crawl out of her crib and it's not even lowered all the way to the bottom rung! (Update: I wrote this sentence earlier this afternoon, before I observed her crawling out by herself for the first time.  I think I jinxed it! Maybe we will be lowering the crib this weekend.)  She has figured out how to climb in and she thinks it's the funnest thing. 

Sleeping: She is still a good sleeper although lately she has been turning her nose up at her afternoon nap. It doesn't help that she has a very small window to go down every afternoon before we have to go pick up Olivia from school and it our schedule doesn't allow me to get her down in that window, I won't even make any effort on the nap.  It's not worth the complete grump she is when I wake her up from a too short nap.  

Food:  Ashton is generally a good eater.  She has her moments of pickiness and isn't nearly the amazing eater that her sister is, but she holds her own.  She loves all fruit, especially berries, and would gladly eat a diet of 100% fruit if I let her.  

Playing:  She is amazing at playing by herself.  She often sits alone for long chunks of time playing with toys, building things with blocks or looking at books.  I'm not sure if it's just her personality, second child syndrome of not getting as much attention or a combination of both, but it works for me.  She also usually enjoys playing with Olivia and they can be really sweet together...until they both start fighting over the same toy or space which some days seems like it happens all days long.

Other:  Ashton loves to sleep with her blanket on top of her head.  Not covering her nose and mouth, but over her eyes and rest of her head.  It must make her feel cozy.  She feels a bit more trepidation going into new environments compared to Olivia at this age.  Olivia had no problems walking into someplace new and not looking back.  Ashton on the other hands tends to cling to me and cry for 30 seconds to a minute after I've left her before realizing that she's perfectly fine.

Destination: Chamonix, France

Ski vacations have never been apart of our family vacation repertoire.  Not because we don't enjoy skiing.  Geoff grew up in the mountains and went to college in Colorado so he's got plenty of experience.   My skiing experience is much more limited, but I like the idea of skiing.  However, because I worked in a job for so long that prevented me from ever taking vacations between January to April -  peak ski season - it just never happened.  Plus, we had a couple babies along the way which further complicated getting to the slopes.

So finally, now that my job is no longer an obstacle, one of of our girls is old enough to start skiing herself and the French Alps are only a short 90 minute flight from London via Geneva, Switzerland, it was time.  We rented a chalet for four days in Chamonix, France with two other (American) families we are friends with here in London.  It was different for us traveling to a destination and staying along side other families as we have always traveled on our own, but I think it worked out pretty well for everyone and was certainly lots of fun.

Getting fitted for her skis

Olivia had two days of ski lessons with an English speaking instructor.  She had some tears of frustration at the beginning, but by the end, she got the hang of it enough to say that she though skiing was "Fantastic!".

Learning the basics

 View from the bunny hill

  

Meanwhile, Geoff and the other guys hired a guide for the day and were skiing glaciers and other crazy stuff off the main ski runs.   Here are a few of his photos:

While Geoff, Olivia and I were off skiing, we hired a local babysitter to come watch Ashton.  That worked out good.  Much of Ashton's entertainment for the weekend was playing with "Baby Alfie", our friends' 8 month old baby.  Both girls thought he was hilarious and still talk about him even though it's been weeks now since they last saw him.

Chamonix down in the valley

Morning view from our chalet

Our last full day in Chamonix didn't involve any skiing for myself and the girls.  Instead we went outside to play in the snow.  Apart from Olivia's skiing the previous days, this was the girls' first real experience upclose and personal with the white stuff.  Olivia loved it.  Ashton hated it.

Her first snowman featuring bacon lips.  She named it Olaf.  (No surprise there)

Pure misery

Found her happy place

Spotted this nearby chalet.  You think these people like the snow??

Exploring Chamonix

This view.