Paloma is 2 1/2!

When we chose the circus theme for her first birthday, we had no idea that she would actually become the clown of the family.

I did know it by the time we did our Christmas letter this year, though.

I looked up during dinner one night and she had taken her arm out of her sleeve and put her shirt on this way:



I have to say, I don't think any of my kids went through a "terrible two" phase, but I remember hearing someone say they thought it was "terrible 2 1/2" instead. Of course there have been tantrums and phases, but I've never dreaded twos. Paloma, like Carmen, is so verbal that self-expression isn't really an issue. We do run into a bit of stubborness now and then, but that's to be expected, I suppose.

However, P isn't as flexible as the others were. For instance, when I prepared her breakfast last week and poured her milk from a cup from the night before instead of pouring it from the jug, she refused to eat her cereal (the end of the box of Life). She sat at the table, pushing the bowl, throwing the spoon, and crying, for the better part of an hour before Gabriel convinced her to have something else, and he poured her Cap'n Crunch and milk from the jug (because I had gone upstairs).