Two Years Old

My lovely little girl ~

We celebrated your birthday just two days ago and I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that you are two. Every time I catch myself calling you Baby, Babyface or some other variation on the same I think that I need to stop. You are not a baby any longer. With all your independence and your knowledge and your spirit, you are becoming a little girl. A little girl who has her own ideas and questions about her world. A little girl who clings to her mommy a little bit less each passing day. I am moved by the absolute joy that you exude and feel so very grateful to be a witness to your unfolding life. Simply put, you amaze me. Every day.

I love you with everything I have.

Your Mommy

Winding Down and Baking

We are rapidly winding down Kaylee's second year. We're having a cake-and-ice-cream family birthday this weekend, and then the big event is next Wednesday. Tomorrow I begin baking all the yummy things I will make in celebration of my little lovey.

For Sunday, I'm making a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, and there will be pumpkin muffins with raisins (a special treat for my raisin-lovin' girl) to share with her friends on Wednesday. (Can you tell that I'm totally loving the fact that Kaylee has a fall birthday?) For all the moments in between, there will be "Leaf-Shaped Christmas Tree Cookies".

That last one may sound confusing, but no matter the shape, I can't bring myself to think of sugar cookies (my grandma's recipe) as anything other than Christmas Tree Cookies. As early as I can remember, it was tradition for my grandma to make and decorate cookies with me to share for my birthday (in early December). I hope to carry on this tradition with Kaylee, only with fall leaf cookie cutters. There will be golden-colored frosting with orange and red sprinkles to give them the perfect fall look, but they will still be Christmas Tree Cookies to me.

23 Months

My Little Lovey ~

In just one month, we will be celebrating your birthday once again. I absolutely cannot believe how my helpless little baby has turned into this bright, independent, stunning little girl. You amaze me in so many ways every single day.

This month you finally straightened out the "L...M...N...O...P" portion of the alphabet. Before this, you were leaving out N and O for the sake of time and rhythm. Now, if we could just get you to say W instead of just "Double", you'd have it. You're also making serious headway with your counting. You're going up to 20 and only leaving one or two number out...usually 15 and 16.

Your big adventure this month was starting Tot Time at the library. We go every Tuesday evening for a 30-minute story time. I know that you really like it, but you're still being pretty shy about it. You never want to sing out loud with the other kids, but as soon as we hit the car, you're begging to sing the new songs you just learned. Silly girl. I have been so proud, though, of your behavior when we go. You sit on your little carpet square and listen to the stories and wait your turn to go up and participate.

This weekend, you got to go to a birthday party for one of your friends from childcare. It was so fun for us to watch you play with your friend, and it was nice for Daddy and me to get to talk to other parents, too. It was a fun evening and I'm so glad we went.

In the category of things that only a mommy would notice or care about, you got your first little freckle/mole this month. I noticed it on the left side of your back, and it just made me giggle. Your Daddy and I both have a lot of freckles and moles, so I knew that you wouldn't be keeping that flawless complexion forever. I'm so curious to watch these little changes in your appearance.

As always, you are just such a joy to us. We love you so much and can't wait to see all the things that your future holds.

Your Momma

22 Months

My Dear Little Love ~

Another month has come and gone while I sit and wonder where the time goes. You are just growing and changing so much it's hard to keep up with you. Here lately, I see you so much more as a little girl and less like a baby or toddler.

You continue to love singing, and this month you learned to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep (almost) on your own. There are a few parts that you need a little help with, but you're just so cute when you're singing it. You also learned to love Ring Around the Rosie this month. At school, you sing and play it with the big girls, but at home you love to play it with your babies. We have so much fun watching you.

Yesterday you informed me that you wanted to eat "my mommy's cereal" for breakfast rather than your customary oatmeal. We shared a bowl of Special K and you did so good with your spoon and barely made any mess. Today you got your very own bowl of Cheerios, and did just as well. You even picked up the bowl and drank the milk after the cereal was all gone. What a big girl!!! I suppose the next step is to let you start drinking out of cups without lids. I know that you'll do fine.

This week Daddy started school full-time and our schedule has changed a little bit. You've been eating a later dinner and staying up a little later at night, but you've been a little trooper. I have to admit, you're a little grumpy when we wake you up in the morning, but it doesn't last too long.

I hope you know that Daddy and I are both so so proud of you. You are a lovely little girl and it's just so much fun to watch you grow. We love you.

Your Momma

21 Months

Little Miss Monkey Pants ~

You've been through quite a lot this month, and you are handling it with all the grace that I could begin to expect from a toddler. Nothing ever seems to steal your joy for too long, you are so happy.

Not only did you go through your first surgery (and experience with anesthesia), but your first canine tooth finally broke through. I don't think you're all too happy with the other three impending canines, but you are surviving. By the time your birthday rolls around, I expect that you will have a full mouth of teeth...finally.

You've been playing with your babies a lot more frequently this month. You love to rock them, singing By-oh By-oh Baby Girl, and feed them with the little bottles we got for you. You are such a good little mommy!

We've been enjoying all the singing that you've been doing lately. Sometimes you just like to sing a few words, prompting us to do the singing so you can dance or play. Sometimes, though, you will sing a song all by yourself. I am absolutely charmed and in love when you sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It is just the cutest thing ever on this planet. I also love it when we hear you singing yourself to sleep up in your bedroom.

We've been doing a lot of counting this month, especially working on pointing to items as you count them. You doing a pretty good job, but counting to two seems tough, because you want to go ahead and add three as well. Practice, practice, practice.

The other day I noticed that you are almost able to play with your shape sorter independently. You still need someone to shake the shapes out for you, and you still need a little helping finding the right spot for those two "agons" (pentagon and hexagon...lol). I'm glad that you pulled the shape sorter out the other day. It reminded me that your daddy and I need to remember to spiral and scaffold and keep going back to practice skills that you've already mastered.

We're already starting to plan for your birthday, and I know it will be here before we know it. Your daddy and I love you so much and are thankful every day for you.

Your Momma

Baby's First Surgery

Kaylee's surgery (her left tear duct was opened with a metal probe and a small silicone tube was placed in the duct) was on Friday morning. We got there at 7:45 as directed (her surgery was supposed to be at 8:15). After about 5 minutes in the waiting room, which had a kids area with toys and books, they took us back to a pre-op room. This room was white walls with a hospital bed and two chairs and nothing at all that Kaylee could play with. How age-inappropriate! We had to wait there for nearly an hour. Mike ended up letting Kaylee play with his phone (she called my phone about 800 times) and then we found a surgical hair net/cap thingy and a surgical mask to play with. During this time, the anesthesiologist and the surgeon came back and talked to us and a nurse took Kaylee's stats. Kaylee was cool with all that, but then the nurse came to take her back to surgery.

I swear, they must have searched for the biggest, burliest male nurse with the most facial hair they could find. Good lord, this dude made me nervous! This was pretty much the worst-case scenario I could have picked for Kaylee. She was terrified and screaming and crying as he took her away from us and down the hall to surgery. My poor baby! After that, it was only about 15 minutes until we were called into the conference room to talk to the surgeon. Everything went well!!! About 10 minutes later, we were taken back to recovery.

Kaylee was already awake and screaming and crying and clawing to get away from the random nurse that was holding her (at least it was a woman this time). She calmed down a little bit when I got to her, but she was still pretty inconsolable. I guess this is pretty common for babies/toddlers coming out of anesthesia...they're just really disoriented and frightened, the nursed likened it to having a night terror. We got her in the car and headed home (about a 40 minute drive). Kaylee finally fell asleep when we were about 10 minutes from home, so we just took her up and put her straight in her bed. When she woke up an hour later, it was as if nothing ever happened. She was happy and ready to go with the rest of her day.

Kaylee's been great ever since then...a little more nervous about strangers than she was before the experience (is there any wonder?), but I assume that will pass. We can already tell a huge difference in her eye, too!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day I've been dreading since Kaylee was a tiny little thing. Tomorrow I will place my daughter in the hands of doctors and nurses (many of which I've never met) and trust them to do what's best for her. They will use medicine put her to sleep, put a small metal probe down through the corner of her eye and place a small piece of rubber tubing into her newly-opened tear duct.

In my head, I know that this is a very common, routine procedure and that it is what's best for Kaylee. My heart, on the other hand, is sad and frightened. At this point, all I can do is love my daughter and send thoughts of steady hands and safety to her doctor.

I can also look forward to not seeing my baby wake up with one eye crusted over. I can look forward to not pissing off my daughter by massaging her poor, swollen eye and clearing the gunk away. I can look forward to not receiving questions and comments from total strangers in the grocery store. I can look forward to knowing that the choices we made were the right ones.