On Saturday you turned two years old. You have been telling people that you were 2 for the last couple of months, so it wasn't too hard for you to figure out how old you turned on your birthday. We had a small family birthday party (The Little Mermaid) to celebrate you. You loved having a party just for you. You even helped everyone sing happy birthday to you.
You are growing up very fast. Almost too fast, as far as I'm concerned. You have always wanted to be one of the big kids and that hasn't changed. You are not satisfied being treated like a baby by the big kids. You think you are just like them and you can do anything they can. And sure enough, you can hang with the best of them.
You are a very special little girl with such a sweet face. You are very outgoing and silly but sensitive at the same time. You love to make people happy and bring so much joy to all our lives. You give great big hugs and pucker your lips up nice and big for kisses. When we ask you how much you love us, you stick your arms out as far as you can and say "big much".
You have always been a great communicator. You say just about anything and are starting to use sentences more often. Most people understand most things you say. Nobody can really believe that you are only two. You are pretty advanced for your age.
In fact a couple weeks ago I heard you count to 15. I didn't even know you knew how to count to 3.
You even potty trained yourself at 22 months. We really weren't ready to train you because we were taking a trip to Shasta, but we bought you some princess panties and from then on you decided you didn't want to wear a diaper. So... we bought a travel potty, stopped on the road to Shasta (a lot), set up a potty in our campsite, and took your potty with us on the boat. You were amazing. It was all way to easy.
You still LOVE Disneyland. You would rather be there than anywhere. We feel like we are getting away with something every time we take you because we don't have to pay for you and you just have the time of your life each time. It's so great to see you having so much fun. You still love Minnie Mouse and chant her name often. But you have also found a new love at Disneyland and that is the princesses, your favorite being Ariel from The Little Mermaid. One day we heard you humming the song. I downloaded it on my phone and now you carry my phone around singing "Part of this World". It really is pretty cute! Your favorite rides at Disneyland are the rockets, small world, and buzz lightyear.
You love Tudy from Yo Gabba Gabba and "Dodo" (Dora). You have a pretty good attention span to actually sit down and watch a show. You also love to watch Jake with your brother.
You call Cooper "Toopa" or "butha". You love him so much most of the time. The two of you have been playing very well together for the last couple of months. He still, of course, protects you and keeps you safe. You enjoy dropping him off and picking him up from school.
When Daddy is at work you are constantly asking "Where's Daddy?". Then you remember "work, fire station". You ask "Where's Baby Layla?" and "Where's Nannie?" all the time. You love hanging out with the family. Your cousins, grandmas, grandpas, aunties, and uncles are all your favorite people in the world. You get really excited and silly when anyone comes over to visit. You show off by running around the house and screaming.
Cooper has done a great job teaching you how to pray. Your prayers go like this, "mommy, daddy, toopa, libi, amen".
You had your first crush this year. It was with Matthew from Cooper's baseball team. You called him "My Ma". He felt the same about you.
You go to My Gym every Saturday. Sometimes with mommy and sometimes with Daddy. You love being there.
You love to dance, jump, do somersaults, climb, and run. You are super fast when you run. Sometimes too fast. Your little feet can't keep up with the rest of your body and usually it results is just another bump or bruise. Bumps and bruises have become pretty typical for you. You're tuff though. You just pop right up and keep going.
You just started enjoying swimming. You are so proud that you learned how to float all by yourself with your swimmies on.
You love to sing. When a song comes on the radio in the car, sometimes we can hear you singing the words.
You love peas. I have to feed you your peas for desert because if I gave them to you with your dinner, that's all you would eat.
Just recently we started painting your toe nails. You like to show everyone your "pink toes". You get very concerned when the paint starts to come off.
Some of the things you enjoy are doing puzzles, pushing your baby in her stroller, making towers, coloring, and wearing jewelry.
You are a very good little girl. You listen well and you are the best cleaner upper I have ever seen for a two year old. When asked to clean something up you start singing the cleanup song and you clean up everything, even when no one else is helping. You also have your two year old moments. Those usually come when you are over tired and run down.
You are a beautiful, smart, loving, thoughtful, caring little girl. You bring so much joy to the lives of everyone you are around. I could just watch you and listen to you all day. There's just something about you that makes me smile whenever you are near. You are a precious little angel. I am enjoying watching you grow into a little girl. We love you so much and are so proud of who you are becoming.
Love, Mommy
