Two Much Fun

I'm sorry, but is there anything more fun than turning two and having people sing to you, laugh at pretty much everything you say, and give you presents? You're too young to have to take any responsibility for the lack of peace on earth, too old to get only crumb sized bites of cake (from your mother who still thinks that a lack of refined sugar in this particular child's diet isn't such a bad thing because good lord, her energy level already makes it seem like she's hooked up to a sugar feed bag throughout the day anyway), and too strong-willed to hear that you actually have to finish your eggplant and chickpeas when you realize that a little slice of chocolate heaven is on the other side of the fork and spoon. Molly has had the good fortune of having several birthday celebrations (thanks to everyone for helping to spread the cheer) and I think she's in the groove now. If you haven't been recently graced with her majesty's presence, here's what you're (maybe, maybe not) missing:

- she will tell you that she's two (this is after having to convince her to give up saying that she's twenty months). We unfortunately forgot to add the "years old" part so she's just two.

- she will probably put you in the next verse of "Bus"... I heard about her friend Jonah on the bus lots over the past twenty four hours after his visit here.

- if you sleep over, she'll look for you in the morning for the next 39 mornings in a row.

- you must be prepared to hear what you're doing every second of every day. Girlfriend likes to state the obvious.

- you may inherit a stalker. She followed Auntie Holly around like a shadow for her past few visits and she may move in with one of my midwives. Let's just say we had to make a special stop on the way out of town to say goodbye to her last week. Obsessed. We'll see who's next.

- she likes to "joke" except her only joke at this point is to say "noooo...silly" to various things. As in "is that your hand?" "nooooooooooooo ... silly".

She's a spunky little munchkin. Even on my worst days, I wouldn't trade an ounce of her wacky, headline-grabbing, dancing queen-ish, book devouring, running around, fist-bumping, occasionally snuggly behavior. She's so, so much fun and I love my little whippersnapper like it's nobody's business. Two years has flown by and while I can't believe that little baby who came between two big snowstorms is two years old, I also can't imagine my life without her in it. Becoming a parent awakens parts of your soul that you never knew existed. It's hard work sometimes but your brain forgets those challenging times every time you see those little eyes close when you're rocking your baby, when you get the biggest grin for doing something silly and (formerly) meaningless, when you can wipe away tears and replace them with giggles and hugs, when someone asks you to sing a song again (no one ever asks me to do that except Molly. She continues not to care that I can't carry a tune), when you feel a head dropping onto your shoulder, when you notice that someone has reached up to hold your hand, when you see that look of triumph when locating the right puzzle piece. I'm so far from perfect (I don't think they had released the perfection app when I was born) it's laughable, but I do know that I love being an imperfect mom and, as of now, my kiddos seem not to mind too much.

Happy Two Molly!