Boo is two

And boy is she ever.

Dear Boo,

Well sweetie, another year has flown by. And you've gone from a very cute small person wobbling around to a running, jumping, talking (!) person with enough will of her own to push around The Incredible Hulk. Although you'd probably say "Mama, he's scary" right before you marched up and kicked him in the kneecaps.

You are what my great-aunt Hazel would term "pathologically independent". A typical second born, you have no fear, marching in to any new situation with abandon and not a care in the world for anything else. Although occasionally I worry that this tendency is going to give you some problems in the future, it is an amazing thing to watch, and as different from your sister as night and day.

Which is kind of nice, given that you two look like I'm running my own human cloning lab on the side.

You love singing and dancing and looking at books. You have inherited from your wonderful father the sunniest morning personality ever, which occasionally makes me want to stick my head under the pillow at Sparrow's Fart when you engagingly call out "MAMA!" so you can be released from your prison. But the huge smile lighting up your face when I come in the room, and the way you snuggle in to my neck and hug me makes up for it all.

The changes from birth to one are truly incredible to witness. But, having now gone through it twice, I think the changes from one to two are even more astonishing. You haven't grown quite as fast (although you will eat everything not nailed down, and have vaulted past size 2T into 3T), but the incredible changes in your abilities to communicate, to interact with the world around you and to express your personality are awe-inspiring.

I love you so much Boo. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Love, MAMA! (who has to go finish your kittycat cake)

36 months of Devil

Today is a banner day for you kiddo - you turn three years old today! This is the first birthday you've actually really been aware of. I blame the long string of birthday parties last summer when you first got it into your head that this birthday thing might be a pretty good gig. Since then, you've been off-and-on obsessed by the entire concept and periodically would run down the list of birthdays that had to occur before we got to yours (Mama's birthday, then Boo's, then Daddy's birthday and then Devil's birthday!) But yesterday it finally arrived.

Since you have not had the benefit (misfortune?) of my blogging since your early days, lets do a quick photographic rundown:

First there was this,

And then at one year, this:

By two you had discovered the joys of talking and were happily going on and on in a more-or-less intelligible fashion, although linear thought was not one of your strengths.

Now you are becoming your own person with a vengance, and it's both thrilling and slightly sad to watch. You love books and animals almost without measure, which thrills your parents (who are both somewhat bookish and animal-friendly themselves).

You've suddenly discovered the pleasures of your own company, and are not shy about indicating when you are channeling Ms. Garbo and would like us all to just bugger off for a bit please (although thankfully you don't use that exact phrasing).

You like to serenade us in the car with your own interpretations of popular children's songs. We knew you liked singing when you busted out with a punk rock version of "Frere Jacques" at about 26 months, but your freeform interpretations of "The Wheels on the Bus" are not to be missed.

In short sweetie pie, you are an absolute delight, even when you are being a royal pain in the ass. You are sweet and giving and funny and wonderful. I see myself in your not-insignificant grumpiness when we get you out of bed in the morning, and your Daddy in your insistence on everything being in its proper place (and the tendancy to eat the same thing for breakfast. Every. Single. Day.)

I love you more then I ever knew was possible.

Mama

To Boo, on the occasion of her first birthday

Hey baby girl. Here you are. Amazing, isn't it? A mere three hundred and sixty five days ago you arrived,


and now all of a sudden I turn around and you're doing this?

I think perhaps I should be a bit worried.

The night before you arrived I went in to your sister's room where she was sleeping in her crib, and stood there for a moment before heading off to the hospital. I was sort of sad. It wasn't that I wasn't excited about your joining our family, but it was the last time I was just going to be Devil's Mama.

What I didn't know at the time was how much fun it was going to be to be your Mama too. You are smiley and cuddly and give the best hugs. You eat approximately 12 times as much as your sister, and we know you're done when you sweep your hands across the tray and gleefully push everything on to the floor.

You climb up on every single thing you can - a few weeks ago your Daddy was in the kitchen while you were playing on the floor. He turned around and discovered that you had climbed up on the front of the stove, holding on to the door handle and planting your feet on the lower drawer handle.

You adore opening and closing doors. You crawl into the back hall or your room without us and close the door for fun (and then get pissed off and yell when you can't open it again).


You love the water and splashing around in it as much as possible. You are definitely my water baby, and I have grandiose plans for your Olympic freestyle career.

You chase your sister around the house, doggedly crawling around in circles while she happily laps you repeatedly. But it's not going to be long before you're giving her a run for her money I know.

Happy Birthday baby!

Love, Mama