2 Years.

Little bitty Naomi.  I’m not sure how you got to be two years old, all I know is that when I look back at your baby pictures there’s a little pang in my heart because it all flew by so fast!
This post is a few days late, but I have a good excuse.  In the last 3 weeks you have had a stomach bug 4 different times.  UGH.  That’s no fun.  Hopefully you’re over it, and you can enjoy the rest of your year much more. 


If there is one thing that describes your personality, it is passionate.  And opinionated.  And forward.  So I guess that’s three things.  What you lack in size, you make up in vigor.  When you are happy, you are so, so happy. 



But if you are mad?  Watch out world.


We’ve now removed you from childcare at church, and you have to stay in Sylvia and Tootaw’s classroom at bible study.  Like I said, you are forward.  Unfortunately, you are forward with your hands – in the form of hitting.  We are working through it.  For a long time you scratched.  You don’t scratch anymore, now you hit – we’re making progress.  (I think?)  Anyway, you have taught me some intense lessons on sin nature.  Thank goodness for Jesus, yeah?


But, that is such a very small part of who you are.  A very small part that will pass in a phase (I. Hope.).


You are talking a lot more now, with small sentences.  But you still go on 2 minute long monologues of babble that have us all stumped.  Clearly you are saying something, you’re just the only one who knows what it is.  I love it.



You have about as much personality as you could possibly pack into a little two year old.  You are bursting with life and energy – whether it be with ultimate joy or severe wrath, you let yourself be known.  Of course in our house you have to go loud or go home, so you’re just doing what you’ve gotta do.  You have hundreds of facial expressions that you make make sure you use in rapid succession as often as possible.  You have a wonderful giggle, and a very stubborn and obstinate “NO!”.



You haven’t weaned yourself yet.  Mama’s starting to think I may have to play into that process with you.  Your sister weaned herself at almost exactly two years old, but you want nothing to do with that.  You love to nurse.  You frequently climb onto my lap and tell me, “I unna sees!”  Which means, I want to nurse, and I’m going to insist on it until you give in.  It’s ok.  I love that you love to nurse.  I love that it comforts you so much.  I love that we are still building a bond that will last forever.  Someday you will wean.  I think.




You have just recently started asking to sit on the potty.  You have yet to go, but it’s a step.  Actually, one time, you asked your Daddy if you could sit on the potty and he obliged.  You went through the motions, with no real potty.  Afterward, Daddy shut the lid and stood you on the potty while he brushed his teeth, during which time you peed.  So, technically you did pee ON the potty, just not in it.



You love playing with your sisters.  And they love you.  Of course there is a fair share of fighting, but you wouldn’t be sisters if there weren’t.  You run around after them, trying to keep up with whatever make believe game they’re playing.  When you get tired of that you follow me around whatever I’m doing – usually pretty insistent on being held.  You love to be held still.  As independent of a spirit you have, you are still attached to me at the hip.



You know your animals and all of their sounds.  Your favorite is anything that growls.  You love to growl and frequently pretend to be a monster.  If I ask you if you’re a nice monster, you say, “Eat you up!”  I guess that’s a no.  You know some of your shapes and some of your colors.  You love to read books.

You look exactly like me, only with blonde hair and blue eyes.  We looked at my baby pictures last weekend and it is uncanny how much we look alike.  And you are tiny like me.  At two years old, you weigh a whopping 20 pounds and you are in 12-18 month clothes.  Teeny.  Tiny.



Regularly your dad and I look at each other and say something to the effect of, “Has ever a cuter creature existed?”  Of course, we won’t tell you that now, but when your 25 and reading this, I don’t imagine it will do too much to your ego.






I love you little Nay-nay Roo.  I love your passion.  I love your energy.  I love your zeal.  I love your teeny-tinyness.  I love that you always want your Mama (unless your grandpa is there.).  I love that you’re quick to say I’m sorry and I love you.  I love that your smile makes me feel like I must be the most blessed person in the world. 
I love you.
I always will.
When you’re 2.
When your 42.
When your 62.  (Lord willing.)

Love you, love you, love you,
Mama

The 4th.

We had so much fun on July 4th, and I’m sure the girls would concur.  Tootaw was also visiting for a few days over the holiday, so not only were we celebrating the 4th of July, but we were celebrating it with our (soon to be) fourth daughter!

 

 

We started our day bright and early (of course.  is there any other way to start it with that many small children?) by going out to breakfast at IHOP.  Of course the girls were thrilled to get smiley face pancakes, and I was thrilled that they were so eager to gulp down their eggs first.

 

Can I just stop here to mention that the looks that you get from people when you have four kids four and under are completely different than the looks you get with three?  Everyone who saw us got wide eyed and started counting.  I could see it running through their heads, “How is that even possible?????”  It’s not. 

 

Then we went to a parade with our good friends, the Ketters.  It was super hot, but completely worth seeing the girls faces watching the parade, and watching them dance to all the marching bands.

 

Six very small girls (including the Ketter girls) makes for a lot of cuteness.

 

 

Sylvie and her best friend Elliana.  Not a great pic of Sylvie, but that ornery look actually pegs her pretty well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully this is the closest Sylvia ever comes to meeting a cop while living under my roof.

 

 

 

Later that afternoon we got together at our house for a barbeque.  You can see all my cooking assistants lined up ready to help me.

 

 

 

Naomi hopped in the baby pool before we could even get a swimsuit on her – she loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MMmmmmm.

 

 

We had a great day.  We planned on ending it with going to see the fireworks, but the girls were worn out, and meltdowns ensued long before the fireworks were supposed to start.  We also had a great visit with Tootaw.  We’re going to begin the transition of her moving to our house – the caseworker said she’d like to do a slow transition (whatever that means.).  More on that later.  Hope you had a wonderful 4th as well!

Blueberry Picking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids ate their weight in blueberries while picking them, they were sooooo good.    Can’t wait to make some muffins….mmmm… 

Spring at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

 

 

Naomi’s first four wheeler ride.  As expected, she enjoyed it much more than Sylvia ever has.  This girl is going to land us in the ER before long, I can feel it.

 

 

Bella riding with Brian.  She loves it.  Of course, Brian usually has his hands on the handlebars!

 

 

 

 

Hangin’ with Aunt Jen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.5

 

Sylvie girl, you are two and a half.

Of course, according to you, you are four.  Let’s not push it.

Two and a half is so much bigger than two.  You are so much less toddler, and so much more little girl.

 

 

Pretty much my favorite thing about you right now is how verbal you are.  You talk non-stop.  Even when we’re in the car on a long trip, you often don’t need anything to entertain yourself because you sit in your car-seat  and talk to whoever will listen for hours on end.  You say very clever things, and your vocabulary is pretty ridiculous. You’ll try to negotiate with me and then you say, “Does that sound like a good deal, Mom?”  or “How’s that sound?”    I wish I could type out everything you’ve said for the last month, because you say so many things that I want to remember.  I know I’ll forget.  So I’m just enjoying you as much as I can right now.

 

 

You are so thankful, a beautiful part of your little personality that is beginning to show us who you will be.  Very often, at random, you’ll thank me for doing things for you. 

“Mommy, thank you so much for taking me to the park.” 

“Mommy, thank you for picking up my mess.” 

“Mommy, thank you for being a Mommy.”

It melts my heart.

 

 

You know all your shapes, right down to a hexagon.  The other day you woke up, came down stairs, looked at your Daddy and instead of a good morning, you said, “Daddy, your head is shaped like an oval.”  Why yes, yes it is.  You know all your colors and you count to 30 with no help at all.

 

You and your best friend.

 

You have this energy about you that follows you wherever you go.  It seems you are always excited about something, and you never sit still. 

You sing all the time, about everything you’re doing.  If you can’t come up with a song, then you just sing gibberish.  But you have quite the repertoire of songs from the Wheels on The Bus (your current favorite) to Come Thou Fount and Hallelujah He Reigns.  It’s wonderful.  I love listening to you sing.

 

 

The more I get to know you, the more I see you are exactly like your Daddy.  You are excited about everything.  You love numbers and shapes.  You are physically cautious on the playground, needing some coaxing to do “scarier” things.  When I ask you to do something, you sit for a moment and calculate exactly how much effort it is going to take before you decide if you are going to listen or not.  (Not that you’re Daddy is lazy in any way, he just likes to know what a job is going to take. :))  You have absolutely no issue with everything being a complete mess, but you default to having your toys lined up in rows, usually color coded, and in some sequence that makes perfect sense to you, before you are done playing with them.    Yesterday at the park you found a handful of candies sitting on a picnic table.  You went for them and I thought you were going to try to eat them, but you just wanted to line them up in a straight line organized by what kind of candy it was.  There is a particular order amidst the chaos in your little brain.

 

Does this remind you of anyone you know?

 

 

You can definitely throw a nice fit, but two’s not been so terrible after all.  I love getting to know your personality.  I love that you are old enough to have full conversations with now.   You’re snugglier than you’ve ever been (but that’s not saying much) and I love getting the occasional Sylvie snuggle.

Your Daddy and I both secretly hope that you’ll pick us to put you to bed at night because it is so much fun.  You have long conversations with us.  You pray for your friends.  You are silly and try to tell jokes.  I love it, and you do too.

 

Some day, child, you are going to be a force to be reckoned with.  You could make change in this big world.  I love you more than you will ever know, and I will always be there cheering you on.

 

Love you, love you, love you,

                                    Mama