NYC

I have always wanted to go to New York City. Always. I knew when we had the opportunity to go, that I would really regret it if we didn't go, based on the fact that life with 1 kid is (I'm guessing) tons easier than life with 2! Going with a toddler in tow was not exactly what I had always pictured as my first trip there, but I am so glad we were optimisitc. One person I know has even described the notion of NYC with a toddler as "miserable", but I happen to know for a fact that this person can make any situation pretty miserable, all on their own! But you know what? I can't imagine a first trip without my little man. He provided endless dialogue on everything he saw and was just in a constant state of awe with everything. Yes, we could have gone out for romantic late night dinners and been able to navigate the streets minus 30+ pounds, but it just would not have been the same. I am so grateful for having experienced NYC for the first time at the same time as my boy. Isn't that what being a parent is about anyways? Putting the world at your child's fingertips and seeing them light up..  it's great.
A (long) rundown of our trip!

I sat in first class going there, so I wasn't too nauseated (I only get airsick in coach! haha! but true.) to take some pics as we descended. This was not NYC, but I really thought it was.. I was disappointed for a few minutes, to say the least!







When we arrived, we were met by a man holding a sign with our last name. It took all the composure I possess to not take a picture of him holding our name-sign. When he found us, he ripped up the sign and threw it away.. and I cried inside because I wanted to keep it! He was not very friendly, as I later learned when I rolled my window down in our Towncar. I was on the verge of puking (NYC drivers, like none other) so I needed A/C and the wind... well, he only allowed one or the other, despite Pablo anticipating this and asking him to crank the air. I should have had Pablo tell him the story about me puking in our wedding limo, just to let him know I was not effing around. He had no idea that I have been puking in vehicles for decades, and his was very close to becoming another victim on my list.

 Anyways! We arrived at our hotel - Doubletree Suites in Times Square. Andrew was beyond excited to get to ride in an elevator - and this one required you to ride in TWO elevators before you got to your room, so he was very pleased. If we had only known that the elevators were the most thrilling part of this trip for him, we could have saved a few bucks and just took him to the mall at home instead.

We unloaded our stuff in the room and off we went! I wasn't about to spend more time than I had to in the hotel room.. and first stop was PIZZA. We didn't have a set plan for our first place to try, so we got a referral from the concierge, who recommended Mariella's, 5 or 6 blocks away. So we found it, and yes, it was GOOD. Very good. There was a sign on the wall (should've taken a pic) that said Gayle and Oprah voted it Best Pizza in the World. Seriously. And I very much trust those two when it comes to food recommendations.

I must pause to mention our most awesome baby arrier. I will talk to a complete stranger about the awesome-ness of this product, this is how much I LURVE it. The Ergo. We used it when he was a baby, and packed it away about 7 or so months ago when we thought he was just too on-the-go to want anything to do with it anymore, but on a whim I got it back out and discovered it can be fashioned as a TODDLER-holding-BACKPACK. It. Ruled. The big city just is not that stroller friendly, in our opinion. Just too many people whizzing past in a hurry, too much maneuvering through crowds...  so this little gem was so awesome. As you can see in the pic, however, we weren't too focused on getting him in there picture-perfect straight. He didn't seem to care at all, though! He sat it in and stroked Pablo's hair the entire time..  ahhh.. soothing times for all. :)

After pizza, we made our way to Central Park, just a few blocks up. We stopped to buy a pineapple popsicle, at a bargain rate of $4... and yes, the entire time I thought to myself how I could buy an entire BOX of popsicles at home for less than that. Very much the suburban housewife now..  sigh. Let it also be noted that I brought a handy dandy popsicle-drip-catcher holder with me, ever the prepared former Girl Scout am I.

So we made our way into the park and found a huge playground area. There was a monstrosity of a rock to climb up, so I let them have at it. He later told me that I would have very likely freaked out at the level of steepness of some areas. Good thing I was in charge of taking pictures and guarding the $4 popsicle.

As we made our way back, we ran into some broke college kids making their living...  Andrew was not very sure about Pooh, as we don't have many Pooh toys/books at home, but he was pretty confident around his fave Sesame Street monster, Elmo.

 Then we later went out to dinner at a nice little Italian place called Bella Vita. It was pretty empty, which is never a good sign for a NYC restaurant, but always appreciated when you have a loose-hair toddler with you! And despite the fact that I shun whatever the trendiest technology of the day happens to be, I have to give a big salute to Pablo's iphone. It saved us on many occasion on this trip. Most especially at restaurants when we had to wait for our food. He has several preschool game apps, and Andrew was a whiz at them all. Kid was learning and momma got to relax and eat bread.. all was right in the world.

I snapped this lovely pic of Pablo - I really like it. He's mah love.

That night in the hotel room, Andrew discovered his first full-length mirror reflection. Instant friends!
He was also pretty pooped and fit in some lazy tv-watching. He doesn't get to just lay around and watch tv too much at home, so he lived it up.






That next morning, we set out for breakfast, which was decided upon with much research and thought... in the form of last-minute iphone googling in bed that morning upon waking up. It was pretty cold and VERY windy, which made this little diner in the West Village all the more warm. As soon as we walked in, my first thought was how very much my father would HATE a place like this. It just screamed grubby diner. Which, to me, also screams DELISHUS FOOD!


 We ordered our breakfast, and as we waited (and played educational iphone games), I noted clippings on the wall showing all the famous peeps who love this place. Ethan Hawke and Molly Shannon being the only two I remember.

I didn't have the forethought to take a pic of my amazing french toast & bacon before I devoured it, but it was awesome. And the place was so small that other patrons helped us out when we asked the owner where the nearest grocery was. It felt so homey!







We then made our way to the Childrens Museum, which was still closed when we arrived. It was chilly, so we made a game of staying warm by encouraging Andrew to run as fast as he could up and down the handicap ramp. He had much fun doing that.

 He even stopped to pose! What a good boy!

Once we made it inside and paid the $30 fee, which I thought was nuts, we soon realized that it would be a very well spent $30. There was EVERYTHING for a toddler to discover and play with. So much to do! I could post probably 50 pictures of different activities, but I'll narrow it down to a few.....

Oh yes, this is also where we really saw how many people (mainly dads) use the Ergo carrier, like us. We saw a few here and there throughout the city, just on the streets, but in the Childrens Museum they were abundant! Definitely the sign of an involved, kickass dad. :)

Afterwards, we were off to a Mothers Day lunch! We both love Greek food, so we made our way to a recommended Greek restaurant.. Nikos.

Yup, you know you're a parent when you have no remorse whatsoever when ordering the chicken strips and french fries without even looking at the menu, just to keep the kid happy. His response was an adamant NO when I asked him to try my souvlaki.. imagine that!

For naptime, it was my 'me-time' to go out solo and do whatever I wanted to do, while Pablo manned the hotel room while Andrew slept. I had NO idea what I wanted to do, so I took a last minute tip and asked my cabbie to take me to Canal Street, where I heard the shopping was good. Bad idea. I got out and snapped a few pics... then very quickly tucked my veyr expensive camera back into it's bag, and crossed it messenger style for extra security. This place just wasn't what I had in mind, at all. I walked and avoided eye contact and finally meandered far enough where I felt safe enough to use Pablo's iphone (it admittedly took me 5 minutes to figure out how to make a call). I immediately called my sis.. because I was scared.. and that is what I do. She got on google maps and I told her where I was, and she guided me around the block to a cute little bakery (sidenote: how crazy it is - this day and time of ours - to be walking somewhere and someone literally across the entire country can see on a satellite feed exactly where you

are...).

So I ended up here - Once Upon a Tart! A cute little bakery, where I got the most dense, most amazering coconut macaroon EVA. And a coffee. I ate it on a bench outside and people-watched. It was nice. :)

I then used my me-time to clothes shop for my child. Wow. I am lame. I justify this lame-ness by pointing out that I love love love H&M toddler clothes, and we do not have one anywhere near us.. so that's what I did. I bought inexpensive but good quality toddler clothes. Including a bright green windbreaker for him that will be seen in the coming pictures. I also got a pretzel, just to see what all the fuss was about. I enjoyed the charcoal-y smell far more than I enjoyed the teeth-breaking taste.

I did decide to let the little one have a crack at it..  baby teeth.. not as strong as you'd think!

After naptime/me-time was over, we walked a block up the the M&M world store. And for anyone who doesn't just love M&Ms.. well, it was pretty stupid. The M&M paraphernalia? Insane. Who wants a matching M&M hand towel and oven mitt set, really? But Andrew enjoyed seeing his jacket match a large M&M. And so I suppose it was not a wasted visit.

We ate at a place called John's pizza that night. On every waiter's shirt was 'NO SLICES!' in very large print. Yes, I so wanted to be that guy and ask them if they do slices.. but I resisted.

Evenings before bedtime were spent street-gazing, mostly. He pointed out every little thing he saw.

The next morning at breakfast was definitely the least successful mealtime of our trip. The kid was getting a little homesick or just straight up acting his age. Good thing there was no one around us and we were sitting in the back!

We then made our way to FAO Schwarz, right when they opened. (the perks of traveling w/a child - no sleeping in means no crowded stores because you get everywhere when they open!) We had to wait outside for a bit, but at least everyone was warm and cozy.

We walked through a hallway of perfectly placed stuffed animals, that was just BEGGING to be destroyed. Our child was the first kid who had the privilege to knock a few down.

We found the book area, which was SO so neat, and sadly very empty. All the kids there were woefully uninterested in this section of the store.. but not Andrew! He loved it.




And when he saw one of his fave books of all time?? Shock and dismay! WOW!

Then we got to be somewhat cliche, an ode to the great Tom Hanks movie, and run along a little mini keyboard. Burned much energy. :)

Our fave part was the wall of muppets. How great is that??!

For lunch later, we went to the famous Carnegie Deli. There were framed pics of famous patrons covering every square inch of the wall space.

I don't think he even knew I was there, what with the way awesome preschool iphone games...







The BLT that Pablo ordered. We basically paid $23 to take this picture, because it SO did not get $23 worth of it eaten.

Then Pablo had his me-time during the next day's naptime. He did much more respectable things, as far as being a tourist goes. Not that eating a macaroon and shopping isn't respectable, but he got to see a lot more than I did during my me-time!

When he woke up, we hit the Central Park zoo! It was cute and small - just the way I like my zoos! :)

And our last night there we went to our 3rd (or 4th?) pizza place- Patsy's. It was in a very nice neighborhood -near Park Ave- where I informed Pablo that we'd live if we ever get to live in NYC. Oh, and we'd also have a driver named Alfred.. whether his real name is Alfred or not. 

Last morning there...  he is wisely soaking up every last it of tv-watching he can! 

All in all - a FABULOUS trip. We made many many memories and I am a very grateful & blessed woman!

26 months

I really thought my monthly updates to you were finished, and a post about our very recent trip to NYC would be more practical while it's fresh on my mind, I think, but I just have to post about this month. It's been a good good month.

There's been kite flying and singing and lazy book reading and popsicle eating and hysterical laughing and Curious George watching. There's also of course been meltdowns and dramatic heaps of toddler rage, but not as bad as previous months. Trust me, not even half as bad.

I don't have a post-it note with little references of cuteness to talk about, like I usually do, this is entirely winging it.. bear with me if it's unroganized (it's always unorganized).

Your commentary is endless. You are our very own Howard Cosell. You provide a running dialogue for whatever we're doing, in your own way. We've gotten in a recent habit of going straight outside and eating a popsicle right after you wake up from your nap - if we have nowhere else to go. Life is rough, ain't it? So, when you wake up.. it's always a vairation of : 'ready to play! Oh! monkey's eyes open!' (we have a monkey clock in your room that we set to have open/closed eyes.. it's brilliant) ..  'go get mail now... maybe have a package or box...  change diaper.. go get popsicle? yellow popsicle!! eat yellow popsicle outside' And believe me when I say that there's nothing more exciting than when UPS or FedEx stops in front of our house while we're outside eating said popsicle. OMG. I always talk it up and say they're here JUST to see you.. and you practically shake with excitement. And you always say BYE! as loud as possible when they leave, but those trendy people always have earbuds on, so they never seem to turn around to hear you.

The dialogue continues during every mealtime.. I can always tell how truly hungry you are by how long it takes you to start a conversation. If you're hungry, we eat together in (rare) silence til you're full enough to talk. If you're not that hungry, you typically start talking right away, playing with your food sometimes as if they're all cars to be zoomed or planes to be flown. Or you'll take bites til it somewhat resembles a letter of the alphabet and hold it up and tell me the letter. You always ALWAYS want to drink together. I found this really odd at first, but I kind of get it now.. people generally go to drink if they see another person drink, instinctively, and I suppose you think this is how it's done all the time. So, when you want to drink, you politely wait til I'm done chewing and say 'mommy drink water too?' Or, if Daddy is home. you'll say 'all drink together!'.. If I'm chewing, or let's be honest, if I'm tired of being dictated to by a toddler, I'll say 'You go ahead'.. and you'll always wait a beat and go 'Now mommy drink too'... 

And the whole 'here comes the train' thing to get babies to eat? Well, we made up a revamped toddler version, if you're just too distracted/ornery to eat. We'll look around as if we heard something and go 'What was that??! I think it was an ambulance with a strawberry on it!!!' And you'll gasp and fork your strawberry and wooosh it in your mouth. We'll replace the vehicle with something progressively cooler each time, a fire-truck, a police-car, a blimp, a helicopter...  works almost every time. And we don't have to lift a finger.. life is pretty sweet right now.

Sleep is good right now, but as I am a firm believer in The Jinx, I won't say how good... and that is all. Me even saying that it's good is probably enough to have the Universe flip me the bird and ruin all that is currently good.. so we'll just stop talking about such a sacred topic altogether............













You might be the one person in the universe who likes my singing voice. You ask for me to sing certain songs, and lately it's been one of two: Oh My Darling (and yes, I replace Clementine with Andrew Clark) or the Jesus Song.. which is Jesus loves the little children, but you efficiently refer to as the Jesus Song. And at nighttime, you always ask for the Sleep Song. Which is the old classic 'go to sleeeep.. go to sleeeeep.. go to sleep my sweet (Andrew)'.. You yawn as if on cue every time when I start the Sleep Song.

You actually try to bargain with me. Sometimes, during meals, if I put something on your plate that I am confident you won't eat, I'll say 'hey, if you try your broccoli, I'll make a funny face...' And you'll take a bite of something else, say, chicken, and go 'make funny face for chicken instead?'.. HA! How can you tell a toddler that you'll only make funny faces for the less desirable food items?? And every time you see one of those  less-desirable food items on your plate, you immediately point to it and go 'just try it!' BUT YOU NEVER DO. It's ok. You eat enough fruit for all of us, and so I'll be grateful for that.

Potty training. So, recently, and completely out of the blue, you have started going #2 and saying to me 'I smell something.. It's a stinky poop!' Dude, if you can say that, you're ready to put that stinky poop in the toilet. It's on the near horizon. 'Near horizon' being a very broad term, as are all expectations in our little toddler word. Nonetheless, we'll give it a go sometime soon. I'm already clearing my schedule.













I just gotta say, I adore this age. You're becoming so much more independent.. so much more AWARE of just everything. But when you take a tumble, you still come to me wanting me to carry you while you cry it off. You still blow little sweet kisses from the dark when I put you in bed for naps. You wave goodbye to me at the Y's childcare, and you sometimes yell 'Bye MY LOVE!'. And you still want me to chase you around the front yard, making gorilla noises. It can't possibly get better.. but I absolutely know it will.

sweet things

Just wanted to post about all the sweet things that you do and say these days.. for there are many! Yes, you are in the deep thick of the Terrible Twos, and yes, you throw a tantrum over something very miniscule with a frightful passion, but most days really do define the Terrific Twos, and I wanted to document them....

* I suppose you've only heard me use the term a billion time throughout your life, so it's no surprise that you now use it whenever you can.. when I see you, I usually say 'hi my love!', so when I enter a room, it's really really REALLY sweet to hear you say 'hi my love' back to me. Sometimes you also say 'hi my sweets!', another phrase I use daily.

* When you're hurt, or when we're talking about being sad (sometimes you like to reminisce on a scraped knee the day before), you make a sad face and hold your arms out to me and say 'need sweet love'... HAHA!

* When you kiss me, if it's a pretty lazy kiss, as in no kiss-sound and barely a graze of the lips, I act all put-out and exasperated that you flaked out on the kiss, so you then grab my cheeks with both hands and make up for it with the biggest sweetest kiss you can handle. Let's just say that I've set a high bar now, and I act exasperated A LOT.

* Your shyness is really endearing. You're such a total ham at home, doing silly songs and dances and everything.. but when I ask you to do it for anyone else, even family sometimes, you put on a shy face. Sort of a cheeky sideways grin.. then when you finally do what I asked, it's a halfway version and really quick so they probably don't even catch it, then you smile all big and proud. It makes me think of how I was as a child, very shy sometimes and particular with who I'd really let loose with.

* Your sense of self-regulation is amazing. When you are building a really high tower of legos, you sometimes whisper to yourself 'careful... careful' when you get it really high. Or when you are eating, you sometimes fork a big bite of whatever, and you say 'BIG piece.. take a small bite...'

* Manners are still being used, praise the LORD! You say excuse me to inanimate objects.. if you need to get by. Yesterday you had to get through an area that was littered with toys (never the state of our home, right? right???!) and you said 'excuse me blocks and books'... You even say it when I am driving. If I am doing a two-point turn, and it appears that I am about to hit another car, you will say 'excuuuuse me car!' And you even say THANK YOU without being prompted (sometimes). Amazing.


* You really have started to like to sing along with people/me. Up til now, you would be quite content to just listen and be sung to. Now, if you somewhat know the song, you'll attempt to join in... you still get pretty distracted with someone/other people singing at the same time, so just the fact that you're attempting to sing anything at all is a great acheivement. You hold your own pretty well though with Twinkle Twinkle. :)

* And you love love LOVE Do-Re-Mi. from The Sound of Music (no, you have never seen it, but you will someday, and I will sing along to every song, you've been warned). I started singing this to you when you were very little, and now I know you could totally sing the whole song..  You sing the 'Ti' note very high, too, as it's meant to by sung. Aaaah, I love it.

* You get in my lap to read a book, on the couch, and you nestle in all comfortable... and you go 'mmmm.. cozy!'..  So cute..

translations

I thought to myself the other day just how often your words/pronunciation changes on a daily and weekly basis, and some of your words are just so dang cute, I had better document them! So here goes..

dunda ~ which means thunder. It has rained a few times in the past few weeks, and there's been some big thunder, which doesn't really scare you.. moreso intrigues you, and your eyes get huge and you go DUNDA!

dia twaits ~ which means Dire Straits. Yes, the 80s band. Your Aunt Kelly burned us a new cd a few weeks ago, and a Dire Straits song was on it that you LOVED. So, at first you said 'like that song!'.. and you called it that, for about a week.. 'play like that song!'.. til I wised up and labeled it, not knowing the name (just the band), you now ask for DIA TWAITS every. single. time. we get in the car.

bwoken ~ broken. Our dvd player is on it's last limb, and lately a lot of the dvds we use for your naptime routine have been pooping out. So I'll say 'it's broken'.. and you go 'oh no! it's bwoken! watch elmo 'stead?'... which brings me to.....

sted ~ instead. If we can't do something (and you happen to react normally to whatever it is we can't do rather than turn red and throw a fit), or you'd rather not do something, you'll offer up something instead.. EXAMPLE: I ask you if you want to go to church, you say 'no no, go to Cabelas sted?' (*we did not go to Cabelas, we went to church.)

A-bu-suns ~ Albertsons. It's amazing how you recognize places we go, you recognize Albertsons, Kohls, Lowes, Target, Chik Fil A, Petsmart, church, Hobby Lobby, Ulta.. and more I can't recall

blue doors ~ means Target. See, they have blue doors, and you LOVE them.. you also love the green doors on the other side, but not near as much as the BLUE doors. So, Target isn't just 'Target'.. it's Target BLUE DOORS!

turna up ~ means Turn It Up! When a song comes on with a good beat, you immediately say TURNA UP!

lose-it ~ when you can't find something, you will name the lost objet and add 'lose-it'. Say you lost your block.. you'd go 'block lose-it!'.. I have tried MANY times to get you to switch out the phrasing, but I think saying the noun/object first keeps you focused somehow!

eat-em ~ Which is the same concept as the 'lose-it' thing, but for eating.. when you see birds eating something outside, you'll say 'birds eat-em food!'.. or 'cat eat-em snacks!'

What was dat? ~ what was that?? For every unfamiliar sound you hear (and for a two year old, there are still plenty of unfamiliar sounds in the world), you always say WHAT WAS DAT? If it's something even I don't know (if I can't pinpoint where it was coming from), and I don't respond quick enough, you just repeat What Was Dat over and over and over... til I just say something, anything, to offer an explanation. Sometimes I find myself being a real smart-ass, on long trying days with you, and there's a noise I am not sure of, and you're repeating WHAT WAS DAT?? and I'll find myself saying 'that was the last shred of mommy's sanity being slowly destroyed by your will to break me down'.. and you'll pleasantly go 'oh ok'!! 

dis one ~ this one. You like to be very specific with books/toys, handing me something and saying DIS ONE.

wis ~ with. You loooove to play this one game (oh how games are still so simple right now) where we say 'do you want to ride an elevator with peacocks on them???' and we switch out the animal each time we ask you, and you get SO excited. You'll respond with 'Andrew ride elegata (elevator) wis caaats on dem????'


There's a ton more, but this is all that I jotted on my post-it note over the course of two days!

2 YEARS

Dear child of mine,

You are two years old today. I find myself wishing that I could go back in time and have a cup of coffee with.. myself, one year ago today. I wish I could tell myself to not worry about so much, that it's really all petty stuff that I was fretting over. (Really, who gives a flying fish when you got off the bottle???! Seriously!) I wish I could tell myself how much fun I was going to have, and that yes, yes there would be plenty of sleep issues, but in the grand scheme of things it just wouldn't matter. I wish I could go back and tell myself that my mind was about to get completely blown away with how damn smart you are and how sweet you would become. I spent so much valuable precious time worrying over this and that, and had I known how it would all just drift away into nothingness, man, that would have been nice. But, I won't waste any more time on things like that, wishing that I hadn't wasted so much time... because that itself is a time-waster. HA! I will spend time cherishing you for just how amazing you are. And how I know without any shadow of a doubt that you will keep amazing me, one day/month/year after another.

You just do so much, that I can't keep up. If I were to write all night long, I still wouldn't scratch the surface. You're not a baby anymore, and yes I know you haven't been a baby for quite some time, but that's a hard pill for a mother to swallow. It's so very bittersweet to admit that your one and only, your firstborn, is a KID. Some days you're still a toddler, wanting hugs and assurance and constant guidance as you make your way, and some days you're just an all-out kid, wanting to do absolutely everything yourself and giving me these looks that I wasn't prepared to get for at least another decade.
The amount of things you now know is just staggering. I was never around many toddlers growing up, aside from my sister. And I hardly remember a thing about our childhood as young toddlers. So I am going to go out on a limb here and say that you are quite the advanced little man. Yeah yeah, I know all mothers think their precious gems are advanced and gifted and just absolutely perfect, and it's true - they are all perfect. And you are no exception! You repeat entire sentences to me, when I stop reading a book that you have obviously memorized. It's impressive to hear this not-yet-two year old recite grown up sentences.. not just 'Sam I Am' crap. Real sentences. Your memory is amazing. I tell you something and you somehow remember it weeks later. I sometimes stare at you like 'whaaaat??' then I have to slap my forehead like OH YEAH, that's right! You truly keep me on my toes.You are a handful at times, but we're slowly learning how to react/not react. When we know a shriek or tantrum is inevitable, we simply point to your room (the toddler room you have yet to inhabit) and say 'you know where to go'... and you trudge off, sometimes still screaming. Then maybe 30 seconds or 1 minute later you come out, saying I'M SORRY the whole way back to us. I bring you closer and you have to make eye contact when you say you're sorry.. then I say 'what for?' and 9 times out of 10, you say 'for yelling'. This is a system that works for us, right now. I know that you could change the rules of the game on us very quickly, as you often do, so I'm ready (haha, not really) to change the plan if necessary.
As much as a handful you can be, you are also super sweet. Sometimes I test you, to see if you instinctively know what to do, and sit on the floor and pretend to cry - dramatic sobs and funny honking noises and such. You always stop whatever you're doing and come over and kiss my head, or drape yourself over me in a huge full-body hug. OH how I love it!
You can count to 30 now. Yes, 30. Counting from 1 to 10 came out of the blue.. then you soon wanted to go to 20.. then you realized that the sky is the limit and shot for 30! I suppose you learned this by osmosis mostly, as I count to 30 when you get a time-out. You say 30 soooooo cute, by the way - more of an 'err-eee' than anything else. Everything else is pronounced pretty spot-on, but for now I think I'll let you say 'err-eee', because it's just cuter. Sort of like how I let you believe it's Darth ALLIGATOR... well, that's just because it drives your father absolutely insane. You will come to learn over time that that is how we find a peaceful balance in our marriage.. by driving each other insane.
Just the other day, you took your juice-box straw out of the box and held it up and proclaimed SEVEN! Because, you guessed it, the bent straw made a perfect number seven. It's awesome how so often I don't have to even lift a finger to see that every day, all day, you are learning. My sponge!!!
We are realizing just how very many words you pick up without us even knowing it.. yes, you repeat things like a walking talking parrot - hearing 'bastard cat!' in a cute toddler voice was as special a parenting moment as you can imagine - but you now use words appropriately, that we never formally sat down and taught you. Yesterday, I gave you some of my pickle - one of your favorite things ever - and you took one juicy bite, shivered (pleasantly) at the taste and looked at me and said SOUR!! And I was all 'yeeeeeah, it sure is sour!!! omg you're going to be smarter than I am in a matter of a year!!!' Holy moses, it's true. I know I have my work cut out for me. Let's just say your algebra assistance will likely come straight from a good friend I have, named google.
You like to add the phrase 'don't worry' to a lot of things...  as a toddler who falls often and gets frightened of random things pretty much daily, I suppose I have started to use that term a lot, as a form of reassurance to you. If you get scared from a loud firetruck, I'll say 'no more firetruck, don't worry'... and you go around the house the rest of the day (or week!), saying 'no firetruck, don't worry!'.. It is pretty cute!
It's not all about what you do either, it's what you have taught me over these past two years. I have learned so SO much from you. How to appreciate such very little things.. even though I yammer on and on about you counting to 30, really, I am just so damn grateful you talk at all. I am grateful you know me as momma.  I am grateful that you can do puzzles and stack blocks and follow directions. And it's not even something that I have to remind myself to stop and be grateful for. I can honestly say that I take stock on a daily basis with how lucky we are. You have taught me that there's more to life than a clean home! You treat toys as they were meant to be treated, pulling out as much as you possibly can before you decide what to focus on. And this is ok. As much as it stresses me here and there to always have a less-than-perfect home, I am glad you're teaching me to loosen up a bit. No one likes a uptight mother.
And I could go on and on and on with all you do and all you say and the little amazing things you just put together all on your own. It squeezes my heart - it makes me want to stop time and just stare at you. I wish I could keep you at this age in my pocket, to bring out decades from now, when I long for this stage again.
You are TWO, my love. TWO! I couldn't be more proud of who you are, and I couldn't love you more.
Momma.