another birthday, my sweet.

 

Our most precious Girl,

You have grown so much over the past year. You have truly brought more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine. I hope we make that known to you.

The way you talk is just amazing. You are communicating SO well, it even surprises others sometimes. The assumption that you don’t understand what we are saying is no longer valid. You even perk up and answer me when I'm talking to myself and I am surprised every time. A few good ones recently: “My butt hurts”, “I no like it”, “Mommy, watch!”, “I want go outside, Daddy”, “I see two cars, Mommy”, “BIG truck, mommy”, “I want watch Mickey, Daddy”, “I want dee-dee pancakes”, “Mamu don’t go!”.

When we took you to your well baby appointment, you were less upset by fear this time and more upset by having to follow instructions and not running your own agenda in the Dr.’s office. Not to mention the getting undressed and dressed, which is pretty much the quickest way to upset you. The scale said 30 lbs, almost no weight gain from the last appointment. This means you are actually leveling out and are not a baby anymore :( You were constantly asking to “walk”, which basically means you would like to do anything OTHER than sit the confines of the Dr.’s office with nothing to touch and nobody to ooh and ahh over your cuteness. (This happens every time we go).

Your favorite is school, where you are learning to share, you do at least 3 art projects a day (awesome teachers!) and you secretly sit on the potty when nobody is looking. One of your friends runs up to hug you every morning when you are  dropped off and another chimes “Paisee!!” when he sees you. As many days as I drop you off and say that you had a rough morning or you are upset about having to wear pants or shoes, I come to pick you up and your teachers report not a single tantrum or shoe/pant complaint from you. Thanks for saving the special ones for Mommy and Daddy.

We switch off who “reads” in the evenings, and you thumb through the books, explaining to us what is happening in the pictures and “read” with great expression. Looks like your teachers are reading to you, because you even turn the book around and show Mommy and Daddy the pictures as you get to each page.

Bath time is touch and go, it depends on what other activity we are pulling you away from, but we can’t go wrong with showers. Your favorite activities in the shower are to count the dark-colored tiles, walk circles around Mommy, and get “soap” (shampoo) out of Mommy’s pump bottles. Two nights ago, you counted tiles from three all the way to eight with no mistakes.

As far as family, you love everyone. Daddy is still not allowed to rock you to sleep. If the doorbell rings, it’s Mamu. If  the phone rings, it’s Mamu. If football is on, it’s Bubba playing. When you see both Papa and Mamu, you run to Papa, arms open and give Mamu weird, shy faces and make her work to get close to you. You grab your Grammy’s hand the second she walks into visit and boss her around and tour her all over the house, making her “sit!” where you want her or play ring around the rosies. She always follows every instruction. 

You are the epitome of a two-year old, ferociously curious and laughing one minute, crying the next. Your favorite word is usually NO, but you almost always still accept kisses, hugs, and give them away freely.

Thank you for teaching us patience, for being you, and for brightening every day.

These were shot over a ten minute period of time in pajamas, while horsing around on my bed. I knew posed portraits would be a maddening process at her age and I loved that these photos are so purely two-year old her. I used my Canon 40D and a Canon 35mm/F2. Edited in Lightroom and PSE8.