Two Years and a Month - Yikes!

Dearest Victoria Pearl,

You bring joy to my life with your bright smiles and belly laughs. I am so grateful to be able to spend so much time with you. I love making breakfast while we are still in our jammies (you are getting quite good at cracking the eggs and getting them IN the bowl). I love surprising you with a quick trip to the park on the way to run errands. I watch you in the rear view mirror and see the excitement start in your face and descend upon your whole body. I love watching you learn and make new discoveries about this big world. Quite simply, I love you.

In between those (mostly) happy times, you have shown frustration over not getting your way. You have always been such an easy-going child, that there hasn't been a whole lot of opportunities or reasons to set limits for you or tell you NO. You are now forming your own opinions about how things should run, and get frustrated when something doesn't go according to your plan. In other words, you are normal!

What else is going on with you this month? You can focus for much longer periods during reading - you love nothing better than crawling into a lap to have books read to you. The Princess and the Pea version we have is 48 pages, and you sit perfectly still through until the end. You love "I SPY" books and can find and point out things that we have never even talked about. You are getting more brave with your physical feats, climbing and descending the stairs by yourself (reluctantly at times because you still prefer to be carried), jumping, diving, walking backwards, sliding down the slide face first. Your favorite activity is pretend play. You love "talking" on the phone, taking care of your dolls, and playing in your kitchen and then letting us taste your cooking. You are still not talking very much, but can communicate quite effectively. Daddy says you have us trained well, and he is right! The weather has been warmer, so you are enjoying your time outside. We have spent lots of time at the park where you always make new friends. You have been taking super long naps - three to four HOURS! Your hair is growing longer (but not thicker!) so you have been sporting some pretty cute ponytails! You HATE to brush your teeth right now. You are starting to experiment with drinking from a cup without a lid. I am proud of all your accomplishments!

Know that you are loved and adored, my sweet daughter.

Love,
Mommy