Another Update: Brielle (6 months) & Ariana (2 1/2 years)

So I’m a mom of two little girls--the same number of kids my parents have. Sometimes I’ll look at Ariana and imagine her as me when I was toddling around my parents’ house. Back when I was the kid.

But Ariana isn’t me. She’s a whole other little person, and I’m the mom now. It’s a trippy thing.

Amidst the frustration, the sacrifices, and the uncertainty, there’s one thing that always feels real, that I always know for sure: I love my children fiercely. That, and I’m forever ruined whenever I watch anything where a child and parent are being taken apart from each other. I will always cry.

So, who are these two little ones?

Brielle

Brielle is a very happy 6-month-old. Her smiles come easy and they’re super contagious. When she’s just woken up or is about to come out of the carseat, her smile is usually accompanied by an excited baby jig. She always coos right after she sneezes.

Like her sister before her, she’s quite the chubsters--complete with a roly-poly baby bod, a double chin, and chubby cheeks that we kiss fifty times a day. She’s in size 4 diapers because the 3’s just weren’t cutting it. Which, to her credit, is a size smaller than Ariana was in by this age. (They don’t have chubby cheeks on just their faces, I suppose.)

Right now Brielle is doing lots of typical baby stuff: she can roll over, sit up, do crunches, and drool like a pro. She likes baths and getting her diaper changed. She also likes to whack me in the face while she’s nursing. She likes watching the sun’s reflection off my phone screen as I shine it around the room. Above all, she loves watching Ariana.

Brielle has been a trooper fighting cold after cold. While Ariana was hardly sick at all until she was two years old, Brielle has fought a runny nose, watery eyes, and phlegmy throat several times already. She cries when we wipe her nose, then immediately tries to be happy again, bless her little heart.

Brielle really only cries these days before she falls asleep. She doesn’t seem to like the pacifier as much as Ariana did. She’ll chew on it, but not suck on it for comfort. Maybe that’ll change once she’s moved on from sucking on everything else in sight, but for now, the pacifier isn’t the guaranteed bringer of peace that it was with Ari.

Ariana

I have to throw this crazy fact out there: since having a baby and being a stay-at-home mom, there is no human being I have seen as often, or spent as much time with, as Ariana. She is my child, my job, my friend, my constant companion. Of course, we’ve added Brielle to our group of constant interaction too. But it just blows my mind how connected I have been the last couple years with this little person.

Ariana is 2 ½-years-old. She is a very easy toddler. I appreciate it since I grew up hearing from my mom what an easy child I was. So the curse of “I hope you have a child just like you!” has been great so far. We’ll just see what Ari’s like as a teenager (sorry, Mom)…

Ariana communicates very well. I can even tell when she’s trying to tell me something new for the first time and her mind is working desperately to find what words to say. I’m always impressed what she comes up with. She’s happy to help and do grown-up things. As children do, she likes to imitate, and will even copy me when I’m exercising. She is a sweetheart who will give people a hug good-bye when she leaves after only being around them a few times.

Ariana goes to sleep at night really well, as she has since she was 3 ½-months-old. However, she has resisted naps during the day for the last few weeks, so, yikes. (Apparently I stopped naps early as a toddler too. The curse again?) She’s also a very good eater. She eats most everything I make, including stuff I don't eat myself. (Mushrooms on pizza, for example. Ye-uck.)

Ariana LOVES to sing. (Singing is synonymous with “Watts.”) She knows several primary songs and is starting to pick up on Disney songs. It’s so cute hearing a child sing a song when they don’t understand most of the words and are largely just imitating the sounds of the words. (Like instead of saying, I always want to be with my own family, she literally says I want to be fuuuunny…)

Ariana is a Pixar and DreamWorks fan. Her absolute favorite movie is How to Train Your Dragon. Other movies go through cycles: in the winter it was Frozen and “Jack Frost” from Rise of the Guardians. She loves princesses, Toothless (any dragon really) and Curious George. Oh, and rockets and space. (Clayton's taught her well.)

Ariana loves building things and figuring things out. She likes puzzles and taking bubble baths, and playing hide-and-seek and chase. She’s independent, as 2-year-olds are. One of her favorite phrases is “I want to do it!” And sometimes it’s the simplest little things she wants to do. But she takes what she can.

She loves Brielle. She asks about her each morning if she doesn’t see her, and gives her hugs and kisses at night. She’ll even sing to Brielle sometimes when I put Brielle down for a nap. She’s as sisterly as they come--including when Brielle touches her toys and she freaks out. Even then, we can usually get her to share with Brielle. Eventually.

Speaking the Ari Talk

“Mom, hard pajamas princess!” (Meaning, her princess pajama pants are too long for her to climb into her booster seat by herself without slipping.)

How Ariana says words with “L” sounds:
Brielle: Bee-air
Smile: Smi-er
Family: Funny (“I Have a Funny Here on Earth”)
Abigail: Abigairs
Bubbles: Bubbers
Puzzle: Puzzer

Example of life with a toddler:
Ari: Mommy! A paplane!
Me: Oh, you see an airplane! Can you say air?
Ari: Air.
Me: Plane.
Ari: Plane!
Me: Now say airplane.
Ari: Airplane!
Me: Very good!
Ari: Mommy, I see a paplane!
Me: Arghff.

Basically I just really, really love my family. I'm so grateful for my hubby and the opportunity to be the Mommy of these beautiful girls.