March 2010...how did Aurora grow up so fast? We can hardly believe that just two years ago, we were in the hospital marveling at our tiny newborn and wondering what kind of parents we were going to be. Today, she is a rambunctious toddler. Lately, we have been commenting how in one kid we have both a girly girl and a tomboy. Aurora loves pink, stuffed animals, her Hello Kitty rainboots, and her sparkly red shoes. She hates having dirty or sticky hands. However, she also loves splahing in puddles, fingerpainting with yogurt, climbing up on stuff, jumping all over the house, and being flipped upside down by Baba.

We have entered the "terrible twos" In fact, it seems like she turned 2 and within days many negative behaviors that she occasionally displayed became more prominent. But only at home. At school, she still seems to know that hitting or throwing your food on the floor is not OK. Thank goodness for daycare! Aurora is definitely testing us and our limits. So far, we think we are doing OK at maintaining some sort of order in the house.

Aurora currently has almost all of her teeth in - she is still working on getting one or two of her second year molars fully in and they can be quite painful at times! On March 4, Aurora had her first dentist appointment. She barely opened her mouth for the hygenist but seemed willing to show Dr. Nager her teeth. As Dr. Nager said, the first visit is just a social call so she can start to become familiar with the office (and get a cool prize at the end!). She also had her 2 year check up at Dr. Brown's office - her stats are below. She had her finger pricked for a lead and anemia test, then one shot (her second Hepatitis A shot). Aurora barely flinched when her finger got pricked and she was fascinated by seeing her blood being collected. She got anxious when she saw the needle for her shot (I think she remembered having shots in the past) and cried a bit afterwards. Nothing serious, which a hug from Dolly, a cool bandaid, and a new book cured. The interesting thing was that a few days later, Aurora came with me so I could get my own Hepatitis A booster. Once again, she got really anxious when she saw the needle but was quite happy when I exposed my arm to get swabbed and stuck. Afterwards, I showed her my plain bandaid and she proudly pointed out that she had a much cooler Hello Kitty bandaid on her boo-boo.

As of March 8, 2010, Aurora was 34.5 inches tall, 29 pounds, and had a head circumference of 18.25 inches. That puts her at about 70th percentile for height, 75th percentile for weight, and 50th percentile for head size. So the people who said she seemed tall for her age were right, and Dr. Brown is quite happy with her growth and development.

March 1, 2010: Happy Birthday! Aurora had no concept of what this meant. In fact, when we sang happy birthday to her first thing in the morning, she got upset and insisted that it was Eecs' birthday and made us sing to him instead!


That evening, we celebrated Aurora's birthday with some birthday cake leftover from Kathy's birthday the week before (thanks, Lindsey!).


Video: Kung Fu baby

Potty training is not quite happening yet, though Aurora often likes to sit on the toilet and hang out with Baba for a while.



March 3, 2010: A good food day for Aurora, as you can see from her shirt (yogurt) and her face (berry smoothie).



March 4, 2010: Aurora insists on wearing her rainboots to school that day, despite the fact that they are a bit too big and hard to walk in right now.



March 5, 2010: Aurora opens her brithday gift from Grandma Zalesky



March 6, 2010: We had brunch with Uncle Anthony that morning and then dinner with Heather, Andy, and Rebecca that evening.

Video: The Grand Old Duke of York

Aurora finds long dinners boring, but manages to stay entertained by playing on the floor and going for walks with various folks. But she always has room for dessert!



March 7, 2010: Some time playing at home during the day, and a visit from Uncle Anthony that evening.

Video: No more monkeys...

A self portrait of a two-year old.


Video: Happy birthday to you

Cupcakes and presents!


Video: Reading a new book

Video: Busting the dust


March 12, 2010: Aurora finds a treasure on the kitchen counter - an apple!


Video: Apple!

Video: Swing!

Did we mention how much Aurora loves to be upsidedown?


Video: Shapes


March 13, 2010: Aurora's first trip to the New England Aquarium. Once we told her that she could see penguins and turtles, she could not get out of the house fast enough! Here she is watching the sea lion show.


And checking out some rockhopper penguins.


She pointed out the sharks in the giant tank (and their big teeth).


She really enjoyed seeing the jellyfish exhibit.


Here she is looking at jellyfish eggs with a magnifying glass.


More jellyfish!


There's a crab hiding in the sand!


And another crab in this tank!


As we were getting ready to leave, we got to see part of a penguin feeding.


Video: Penguins being fed


March 14, 2010: Time spent at home.

Video: "Baba, are you?"

Enjoying a fruit smoothie.



March 18, 2010: Kathy went to Philadelphia over spring break to attend the National NSTA conference with the Walnut Hill Science Department. Jon and Aurora came along to check out Phily. While Kathy attended workshops all day, Jon and Aurora visited some cool museums. Here they are at the Franklin Institute.



March 20, 2010: Jon and Aurora visited the exhibit hall that morning, where they saw penguins and a wallaby, helped put together a giant Lego mural, and checked out some remote controlled robots.


Later, they headed over to the Please Touch Museum, which Jon claims is the best children's museum, EVER.



March 21, 2010: After a huge day, a girl likes to stretch out in the big bed and sleep in a bit before having breakfast in the hotel room.


We then packed up the car, checked out of the hotel, and took a walk to go see the famous "Love" sign.


The plaza across the street was filled with giant game pieces.


Being geeky gals, we had to get our photo taken on the corner of "Mole Street"!


Kathy's parents conveniently live halfway between Philadelphia and Boston, so we stopped there to stretch our legs and have dinner.

Video: "Good jump, Baba!"


March 28, 2010: A nice spring day means a visit to the playground in the afternoon!


Video: A swing and a slide!

Video: "Mama slide"