Tuesday, May 31, 2011

2nd Birthday

Dearest Olivia,

How on earth did this happen? You are two. You know, they say it happens way too fast, but you don't believe that until you wake up one day and you have a real live kid. Not a baby any more. You do kid things, like ride your trike and ask for jelly beans at 7am. I feel like I should write these things down more, but you, my dear, are a busy girl. Which is awesome. I wouldn't have it any other way, especially those moments when I stop and realize, "how cool is this?"

Recently we've been able to spend lots of time outside. You LOVE this. Please don't ever lose that desire to be outside and enjoy what is around you. You run around and chase the dog and cats, look at bugs, pick flowers, and then you say, "sit with me mommy" and we sit on the top step on the porch and just hang out.

We love running together. About 7 weeks ago I started a 5K fitness program that uses an iphone app to measure your distance, running time, etc. It tells you when to warm up and cool down, and in the middle it says, "run!" so when you hear this you scream, "run mommy run! Go mommy!" My cheering section! When we run with the dog and daddy, you cheer them on too. Usually I run a few miles away from the house and then walk back, and during that time you are looking out for chipmunks and horses, identifying colors and telling me stories.

You have a streak of determination and independence. This will serve you well in the future. You are so sweet, and a little shy. That's okay, you are a lot like me. Our personalities are so similar.

I will never ever forget this time, when I was the apple of your eye. I know you will grow up and things will change, as I said you are already independent and adventurous. But I'll never forget the days you'd wake me up, "hug me mommy!" and give me hugs. I want to write all these things to you, the little mistakes I made along the way so you don't have to make the same ones. I won't though, you'll figure these things out along the way. I will say this, though: call your mother. When you go to college, or when you go on trips abroad, I'm sorry but this is not negotiable. I call my mother every day now, and those times in my life when it wasn't at the top of my priority list are the times I made the most mistakes. Adventures. Whatever, I'll tell you about it when you're older ;)

I think I've done well, so far, as a mom. I've met my goals for a natural birth, breastfeeding and sleeping, and I wouldn't change a thing. I have never, ever let you cry. For the first year of your life, you slept on me and wouldn't let me put you down. While I probably could have used more showers during that time, I cherish it so much. You should know these memories are the best days of my life. Yes, I really am that sappy.

You've gone from this sweet baby who needed me for everything to this sweet little girl. You are the brightest light in my life, I love you!

Love always,

Mommy

P.S. Thanks for finally calling me "mommy", rather than sounding like a mini-teenager ;)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Can I Just Have...

A whole slew of 2 year olds? Seriously, I mean that. Olivia will be 2 in 25 days (I know this because today, May 6th, was my initial due date. 25 LONG ASS days later I gave birth!) and she's like, a real kid now. Toddler moments, yes we have them, but overall she is so sweet and wonderful, I just love this age.

Earlier we went out for our run, and whenever we come back Olivia likes to run around outside for an hour or so. It's nice because I can sit on the back porch and drink a cup of coffee while she happily plays. We have "our" spot, where she always tells me to come sit with her. Today we sat in the spot (the top stair of the porch) and she repeatedly came up to me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "love you too mom, bye mom!" and would go down the steps to play. After a couple minutes she'd come back up the stairs and say, "hi mom!" and sit down and hug me. Then repeat. Holy heart melt.

We then went around and picked "daddylions" which are dandelions for dad. They are mostly smashed now, but it's the thought that counts ;)

Speaking of dad, Olivia has called us "mom" and "dad" since she began talking. She's like a little teenager. Anyway, J has recently been trying to get her to call her "daddy", which she's taken to. In addition, she's started adding the "y" sound to the end of many words, just out of the blue. "Me drink wog-y" (water, which used to just be "wog") or "touch mom's leggy". So funny.

It's amazing to me that just a few months ago she was practically nonverbal, and now at 23 months she's making up songs, talking up a storm.