Letter to my trooper: 32 months

Here are 10 things I am absolutely loving about you :)

1. You has a couple dozen books and a seemingly limitless number of songs and rhymes memorized.
Sometimes when we’re driving in the car, you just start parroting off a book or a story or a song – in either Spanish or English. Cutest damn thing IN THE WORLD.
2. During watermelon season, Pablo and I can go through a whole watermelon a day but for some reason, watermelon does not interest you at all. I tried to convince you to eat it by pointing out that when I was pregnant with her, I ate a lot of watermelon. Now whenever I ask you if you would like to taste our watermelon, you tell us “No, I cannot. When I was a VERY! LITTLE! BABY!, I used to eat that and I had TOO MUCH.”

3. You took an hour and a half shower yesterday.  Even with more wrinkles than a bloodhound, the you didn't want to get out. Amazing!
4. Now that she has a pretty firm handle on English (that is, you understand much more than you used to), you will greet and say goodbye to everyone in English!

5. You are suddenly obsessed with eating everything with a spoon, including her milk and her smoothies.
6. A few weeks ago, numbers suddenly began to click for you. You figured out that two is more than one, for example, and that receiving two of anything is usually better than receiving one of something. So at night when daddy leaves the room to get your milk, you tell him that he needs to come back in TWO minutes, NOT ONE, presumably because two means he’ll be there sooner.

7. You live in a world of your own. Yesterday you treated me to a story that involved a polar bear, a dragon, and a princess. You are particularly interested in Rapunzel, so just about every story features someone named Rapunzel as well.
8. You are a big believer in giving spontaneous kisses. It melts my heart every.single.time.

9. You are the SWEETEST girl on Earth! You are always hugging, kissing and telling daddy and I how much you love us!
10. You amazed everyone by behaving SO well on our way to the States and back. You are an amazing TROOPER and I love to have had you as our travel companion. :)

Love you always and forever!

Mommy

Letter to my angel: 31 months

I know this post is old but I still wanted to finish it! :)

I will use this one to write, and therefore help me remember, 10 things I love about you, my princess, at this stage of your life:

1.  A few weeks ago, you found my old broken laptop (I thought I had trashed it a million years ago, but…apparently not) that cannot even turn on.  You took it to your room. Set it up on your desk and started slamming the keys as hard as you could. “I am working SO HARD!” you told us.

2.  Ninety percent of photographs I take come out blurry. You is always on the go!

3.  A few days ago, you started crying about something and it sounded completely 100% fake. When we asked you if you were pretending to cry, you just started laughing.

4.  Your favorite mode of getting from Place A to Place B is jumping.

5.  Your second favorite mode of getting from Place A to Place B is spinning in circles.

6.  You try to reason with me and negotiate with me now. When I tell you that you need to finish your food before playing outside, you cocked your head and thought about it. “No,” you said finally. “I will, I will just play outside and YOU! will finish my food.” Nice try, child, but no. I managed to find time to eat sometime in the last hour when you were NOT eating.

7.  Speaking of not-eating, the other night at dinner she did not want to eat. We asked her if she was sure about that. “Yes,” she said. “I am, I am not super hungry.” Super hungry?! Since when do two-year-olds use real phrases like super hungry?! 

8.  In the morning, you wake me up with kisses.

9.  Sometimes when we give you kisses, YOU THANK US. Like we've done you a great honor. It’s the most adorable thing ever.

10.  Recently you found out that you can walk along the back of our couches as though they are balance beams. I do not allow this because, quite frankly, I feel pretty confident that other people do not want you walking along the back of THEIR couches. So as soon as you came into this new-found talent, I went to great lengths to squash it in its infancy. I must have failed, however, because this weekend I walked into the living room to find her balancing mid-way across the back of our couch. “OH NO!” you said, waving her hands around to mime distress. “YOU CAUGHT ME!” It was really, really tough to act upset after that.

And after re-reading all this I ask myself. How can I not love you as much as I do?

I will love you always and forever, never forget that my baby girl!