Twenty Four Months

Dear Sylvia,

I put you to bed a one-year-old tonight, but tomorrow you'll wake up a two-year-old!  I'm thinking about setting my alarm so I can sneak into your room at 3:19 am and give you a Happy Birthday kiss, but I'm afraid of waking you up AND I'm afraid that being awake at 3:19 in the morning will make me much too sentimental and weepy over the fact that you were born two whole years ago in the middle of the night.  We'll see. 

We have a big day tomorrow - it's Easter Sunday!  Your Grammy was born on Easter Sunday and her birthday has never been on that day since, so I'm interested to see if you ever have another Easter birthday.  You're just old enough to understand what birthdays are, so I'm sure you'll think the whole world is celebrating for you tomorrow with eggs and candy and the "Each-er Bunny!"  I put you in your new Easter dress tonight and I got choked up thinking about how much you've grown and how lovely you look in it.  You're pretty much the sweetest little thing since chicks started hatching!

You're a fun little two-year-old, Nugget.  You like to do everything yourself and you're growing more and more patient and persistent every day.  You'll spend a really long time trying to figure out how to do something before you ask for help.  You like to try to dress yourself and you love helping Mama bake in the kitchen.  You really do love feeling like a helper, so whenever it's time to clean up your playroom or clear the table after dinner, you become very proud of yourself for getting the job done.  You like to hand me things I need and say, "Here you go, Mommy!"  You're becoming incredibly responsible and we love watching this new development.

You're also developing a great sense of humor.  You spend most of your day being "silly," especially when Daddy's around.  You like to twirl and dance and sing silly songs and make funny noises.  You like to put stuff on your head that doesn't belong there, then run into the room and stop and stare at us, straight faced and serious, until we notice.  Then, once we say, "Hey!  What's that basket doing on your head?" you crack up laughing like it's the funniest joke in the world.  And we laugh because it really is the funniest joke in the world to us.

You're getting very good at your numbers and your letters and especially your French.  You're speaking both languages in short sentences and phrases, which makes me and Daddy very happy.  With all of this new knowledge and learning, you've developed an attitude of "I know what I'm talking about and you don't," which I'm sure will only grow stronger with time.  It's not a bad thing, and I'm happy to see that you have strong opinions about certain things, but I want you to always know that Daddy and I make all of our decisions based on what's best for you (and your little sister!), even if you don't agree with us at the time.  Someday you'll understand why you can't have chocolate for breakfast.  Someday.  I hope.

Your independence, your sense of humor, your speech, your intellect...all of these developments are nothing compared to the way you love us, sweet girl.  Putting you to bed each night brings me more joy than I've ever felt in my whole life.  Snuggling with you in your jammies, reading books, singing songs...sometimes during our routine, you'll turn your face toward me and plant a big old kiss right on my cheek, or you'll climb up my lap to wrap your arms around my neck, and the waves of love that pour through me are almost more than I can take.  Many, many nights I leave you with tears in my eyes, not because I'm sad, but because I'm so, so happy and I don't know what I ever did to deserve this kind of love from such a sweet child.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl.  Mama loves you more than you'll ever know!  If you feel a tickle on your cheek in your dreams tonight, I probably came to kiss you at 3:19 am, and I'll probably be crying when I do it.  Thanks for being you.  You're the best you there could ever be!

Love Forever and Ever,
Mama 

P.S. Daddy has been working on something special for you for your birthday, and we'll post it here tomorrow.  You won't be able to understand it until you're much, much older, but I am so very excited about it!  I can't wait!  Happy Birthday!!