(Might as well dust
off this old blog with a tribute to my littlest one …. )
2
That’s how old you are today. No longer a baby, but a big toddler now. It’s hard to believe that it has been two whole years since you were born, the details of that day are etched into my mind as if it happened yesterday. Then again, it is hard to believe that you haven’t always been a part of our little family.
It wasn’t an easy road to get you here, Pipsqueak.
Mom and dad waited for you for a long, long time and had just about
given up when we got the happy news that you were on the way. My pregnancy with you was a tough one, mostly
physically, but also because I became a worrier and never quite relaxed into it
the way I had with your sisters. But
none of that mattered when you were born.
Not at all. You came out perfect
and pink and hollering loudly in protest of being so abruptly yanked into the world. You have been simply a gift to our
family from day one, and I consider it a privilege to raise another little one (even during those sleepless nights …. ). I love having my gaggle of girls!
This past year has been a busy one for you. You have gone from walking to zooming around
at high speeds, managing staircases and uneven paths without any effort and
climbing anything climbable ALL day long.
I might add that your definition of “climbable” is a very loose one –
pretty much anything qualifies – sometimes I think that my biggest achievement
at the end of the day is that I have managed to keep you alive through all of your
little adventures.
You
have also taken to running away at full speed in any public place – nothing
funnier to you than being chased out of the store and down the block, or around
the various displays at a super busy IKEA store, by your frazzled mom.
You have learned to talk in short sentences
and it is wonderful to get a glimpse into what is going on in that cute little
head of yours.
You love to sit and
“read” your books, and you ask me to sing every song in your favourite songbook
every day. You climb into your own
highchair AND buckle yourself in. If
you want a different chair at the table you crawl ACROSS the table to get there
if we don’t stop you – if you end up sweeping a plate off the table in the
process, you politely say “sorry plate”.
You love to play and roughhouse with your big sisters, to spin on
“spinny chairs” or wrap one arm around a metal post and then spin around it until
you are so dizzy that you fall over. You
LOVE to be tickled and ask for a good tickly roughhousing tussle several times
a day.
In many ways this past year with you has been the way I have
always imagined motherhood could be. I
always tell your dad that you are getting the best of us as parents. Your big sisters have “broken us in” so to
speak, and you get not only a slew of hand-me-down toys which makes our house
better a equipped than most preschools, but also a more relaxed set of parents
who are willing to go with the flow a bit more.
Parents who fully realize how
fast you will grow up.
So much of the
time I’m happy to just follow you around in your explorations of the house, the
garden and the parks. To just be there with you.
I don’t feel the same need to keep a
schedule, to get you to baby music class, toddler preschool or any other
commitment. I’m happy to just see you
explore and I try not to rush you or rush myself. If it takes us an hour to get you dressed
because you love streaking through the house wearing only your diaper, then so
be it. This is it. This is your childhood.
No need to do anything else but be together,
talk, observe, learn by just being exactly where we are.
You and your sisters are the most perfect gifts one could
ever receive. We are so very happy that
you were born two years ago today, and we wish you lots of fun, adventure and
happiness this coming year.
XO
Mom
