My dear, sweet Lorelei…

Today, you turn two and I am so excited for you. In a way, I feel like you are growing up so fast – it feels like just yesterday you were gumming at bananas and learning to dance. But, then I see the wonder in your eyes and your excited smile as you take in the new mysteries all around you, and I couldn’t imagine taking any of that away from you, even if it did give me more “baby” time with you.

Your smile lights up my heart and your hugs and kisses heal my soul – no matter how crushed I feel. You are truly my little sunshine, my little miracle. I love you so much.

At two, you love eating fruit and cheese and can’t get enough of fruit juices. You have a weird relationship with the shower as you love the water but hate having it trickle down on you. You love music and will occasionally sing, but will effortlessly break out into dances as the mood strikes. I’m constantly amazed by the information you seem to absorb, even when it seems like you weren’t paying attention.

You are no longer this little baby blob, but have become your very own person with your very own personality. You are funny, caring, loving, bright, and intuitive. You light rooms up and fascinate those around you. You are beautiful and I love you.

I love the special cuddle time you allow your father and me to have with you, and the daily hugs and kisses. I can’t explain the joy I get from things so simple as feeling your tiny hands against my cheek or running through my hair as you show your love. Your numerous funny faces always make me giggle. Your little arms wrapped tightly around my neck make every trouble disappear…

Dear child, I love you so much and I’m so excited to watch you as you grow and share with you so many more magical moments…

Love,

Mommy

Welcome back!

Days like these make me feel like the worst mother in the history of …well …EVER. What kind of a mother gets so totally frustrated when her poor, sick little toddler needs her attention…for every milli-second of the day? 24/7? I mean, really?

I’m pretty much horrible as it is at playing teeny kid games – I mean, even as a kid I had a reputation of the 5 second barbie game. I could play with barbies for tiny spaces of time (only slightly longer than 5 seconds), and then I was bored. Next. With tiny toddler games and toys, there’s less to do – and, I run out of ways to spin the game to keep both of our brains going. There’s no wonder L would rather read or play solo than play with mama. Normally, after a good couple of hours, I’m being pushed to the corner of the room so she can do her thing.

Until she’s sick. And, now we are at that point where I actually need to catch up on sleep – and she can’t sleep because of the cough (which makes me cringe) and the slimy nose (and most likely sore throat, although she hasn’t actually TOLD me that because she’s really a little woman of few words. Like, read. And, eat). So, during this rough time, I really want to be there for her – but she wants me to play with her and leave her alone ALL AT ONCE. She wants me to hold her and put her down and read to her and shut up ALL AT ONCE – and quite frankly, I’m beginning to think I’m not quite qualified. I mean, I knew my job would involve multi-tasking, and I thought I was multi-tasking queen, but this chic has it down. And, she has EXPECTATIONS, and sadly I’m not living up to those very well. Sorry, kiddo.

In my head, I was so SURE that I had the most PERFECT supper meal for her: Bananas and toast. Her favorites. Until she fed them to the dog. This morning, our dog got more yellow fruit, and watermelon, and anything else I tried putting on her tray. Lucky dog. This should really tell you something. The kid must be darn sick if she is giving away the yellow fruit – it’s like the holy grail around here. She’s paired down the eating thing and is eating very minimally – only if I sing and dance though. While she eats. And no, I’m not above that. Oh, and apparently Mimi spoiled the little bugger with juice ALL WEEKEND when L visited, so she refuses to take water…or any other sippy cup except for the pink one. (Ha. Thanks, mom! – At least she’s drinking though, right?)

And now? Now, the monster is pulling out every DVD we own (there are quite a lot) and making mini mountains in the Living Room. And, I’m letting her (Hubs might even clean it up if I play dead). It’s the ONLY thing that has kept her quiet and content for over 30 minutes in the past two days (besides sleep).

One more thing…when’s the last time YOU’VE had a snotty, drooly kiss? No, not from your husband…I meant your kid. GAW.