Dear Doodlebug - 2 years, 10 months

Dear Doodlebug,

We're about 2 months away from your third birthday and I wanted to take some time out from the whirlwind of dealing with your brother's pending arrival to celebrate how wonderful and amazing you are.  I want you to know how much you make your parents smile and how much you heal our hearts.

Where once we were worried that you weren't talking enough, now you are quite the conversationalist.  You can make long, fairly complicated sentences which positively amaze us, like, "When I go to H-y's and play in the sand and take my shoes off, my feet get sandy."  When you parrot us, it's fun to see ourselves reflected in you--like when you got up from the game and held up your index finger, and told daddy "I'll be back in 1 minute" while you went to eat a bite of cereal; or when you go upstairs and say, "I'll be right back"; when you put your Pooh bear to bed, tuck him in and tell him, "Good night.  I love you.  I see you in the morning."; or when the kitty runs away and you look at me and say, "That happens sometimes."  We love how when daddy calls us his "ladies," you giggle and say, "I not a lady.  I a big girl."

You are so polite with your automatic "Thank yous" and your "pleases" are coming along nicely.  You've even begun asking to be excused from the table--you obviously didn't get that from us.  You are working well at picking toys up after you play with them and I am working on letting that happen more on your schedule rather than making you clean up each item when something new catches your fancy.  You are doing a much better job at taking turns while playing games, although sometimes TAD (toddler attention deficit) kicks in and you forget it's your turn.

You can do puzzles well beyond your age-rated abilities, practically make your own coffee from the Keurig (if you could but reach it and if you actually drank coffee), and pick out and play your own DVDs.  Your ability to memorize books and songs is so impressive.  It's fun to hear you tell us stories or "read" us books-- how every page starts, "One day," and then you attempt to describe what you see in the pictures.

You seem to be adjusting to the idea of a brother/usurper fairly well.  You always take his "C pillow" (a Boppy) back to his room if we use it for nap time.  You point to my tummy and tell me I have a "baby brother" in there and then, sticking out your belly as far as you can, you proudly announce that you have a baby in your tummy--although you have declared that yours is a girl.  You announce happily that you will help him learn his letters and numbers as he gets "big and big."

You still love to jump--whether on your bouncy (trampoline) or across the floor from blanket to blanket (thereby avoiding the floor/lava), or down off the couch in full flight.  We have harnessed some of that into gymnastics class which you seem to adore.  I love how you show me what you learned and then say, "I do dat in dymnastics."  It's very clear you are proud of what you can do and you have every right to be.  I love the joy you have when you run back and forth across the room, shouting, "watch me, Mommy."  I love the twinkle in your eye when you grab my arm or leg and say, "I got you.  You can't get away."

You can be amazingly clear about what you want at times and other times you will regress and simply point at your mouth, or point at a desired item and refuse to use your "big girl words."  Still, your big girl moments far outweigh those times.   You are working on being so independent whether getting your clothes and shoes on and off by yourself; working to figure out the whole potty thing; or getting your own yogurt from the fridge, spoon from the drawer, and getting the lid off without any help.

I am amazed every day at the differences in you that have come in less than a year.  When you watch the DVD of your birthday from last year, I can't believe how much you have grown and matured in just 10 months.  In some ways, these differences feel bigger than those between your birth and 10 months.  But, the best part--or at least my favorite part--is when you give spontaneous hugs or say "I love you too, Mommy.  You're my best friend."  Those times help me feel healed and I think I can make it through just about anything.

So, thank you for being my doodlebug.  Thank you for being so amazing.  I can't wait to watch you continue to grow into the person you are becoming.  I am so proud of you.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Doodlebug - Second Birthday Milestones

Dear Doodlebug,

Happy Birthday!  We celebrated your birthday this past weekend because it was when we could get family and friends together.  We got you the cutest doodlebug cake and you had fun pushing the ladybugs into the fondant.  Everyone had a great time and you did amazing!  There was no meltdown, you played with your new toys, you shared your cake, and you were totally adorable the whole time.

Today, you started to ride forward-facing in the car.  I loved the look of joy and excitement when you saw the car seat turned around.  It's fun to see your little face grinning back at me in the rear-view mirror.  I can't believe how big you are--99.05 percentile for height and 70 percentile for weight.  You are definitely don't fit the description of a cardiac patient!

You've been a little slow to speak because of all your ear infections, but you counted to three this weekend, did "a b c" at the party, and can correctly identify o, b, n, and r.  You hold crayons properly and draw circles and lines and, even though you color well outside the lines, it's clear when you are trying to color small parts, like just a nose or the wheel of a car.  Your motor skills are crazy!  You can already put on your socks and pants by yourself, stack a tower of blocks 9 high, and match puzzle pieces.  You can find pairs of memory cards, even when the images are mostly covered, and you can find anything Elmo faster than I can blink.

You love to dance and boogie and seem to enjoy lots of different kinds of music.  You like to help choose what you wear and have very fierce opinions about lots of things.  You are sometimes very protective of your stuff, and other times you share even your most precious items without batting an eye.  You love books, babies, blocks, and balls.  You love hammering on a tool bench and changing a baby equally.  You are fearless about most everything, except dogs.  You love jumping, flipping and, when you're in the mood, bath time.  You love to help wipe up spills, close the dishwasher, open the refrigerator, and give the kitties treats.

You are a true delight and I am so blessed that you are my baby.  It's been a year full of ups and downs.  I know there are going to be a great many more surprises in the years ahead, but I am looking forward to all of them.  Before I go, I want to tell you a few things that will always be true:  You are amazing, beautiful, smart, and perfect just the way you are, and I am proud of you.

Love,
Mommy

Baby Milestones

Yesterday, we had to switch Lil' Bit from her 12-month pajamas to her 18-month pajamas.  Incidentally, children's clothes seem to never actually fit.  They start out too big but, before you know it, they are are too small, so you move up a size to clothes that are once again too big.  So, the 18-month pajamas are a little large--although not as much as I would have expected.  When I look at them, they look huge, but once they are on, they don't look baggy.  Anyway, in the process of switching her pajamas out, I realized how much she has changed in the last 13-months.  She never ceases to amaze me with what she knows and I thought I would share some of that with you.  So, without further delay, here is a list of some of the changes we have witnessed in Lil' Bit:

-She has taken her first steps.  Although she still prefers to hang on to things, she can take one or two steps before toppling over.
-She is 98% able to crawl backwards down stairs.  The remaining 2% is figuring how to turn around at the top of the stairs and not getting confused half-way down and starting back up.
-She can look at a box to figure out if the top is open and, if it is, pop it open to see what is inside.  This helps her get her own Cheerios and cookies.
-She can pop lids off and on any puff container.
-She can mostly twist lids off and on her sippy fruit packages.
-She can drink from a straw.  She hasn't mastered regular sippy cups, but she loves to use those with straws.
-She working on the whole silverware thing.  Yesterday, she took her fork and kept dipping it in the yogurt and then licking it clean.  She will also pick up foods off her tray and stick them on the fork before sticking the fork in her mouth to eat it.
-She is great at mimicking.  When people laugh around her, she will laugh.  One of my favorites is when I took her hand to help her pet the kitty (rather than poke or grab it).  After a few strokes, she grabbed my thumb and moved my hand back and forth to help me pet the kitty.
-She loves pulling scrunchies out of my hair and then putting them on her own head--since she has no hair yet to put them on.
-She knows there are things she's not supposed to do and she gets a little twinkle in her eye before she tries to do them, often looking over at us to see whether we notice her about to do something she isn't supposed to.
-She has favorite games she likes to play, particularly those that involve lap bouncing and turning upside down. She will bounce to let you know she wants more, or throw herself backward to let you know she wants to go upside down again.

I can't wait to see what the next 13 months have in store.

[Title changed on 1/16/12 from "Milestones" to "Baby Milestones" after discovering a previous post with same title.  oops...]