Your Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth months
Posted by: Jennifer in Letters to Isabella, general update, picturesDear Isabella,
You would think I would have gotten my act together for something as monumental as your SECOND birthday, but alas, my failures as a mother are many.  This has been a rough fall for me as I struggle to get back in the groove of teaching and reconcile myself with taking you to school three days a week.  I find I devote all my time at work to getting work things done so that I have the freedom to devote all my non-work time to hanging out with you; thus, many other things not required to do either one of my jobs tend to get pushed aside.
But, back to you…so you turned two almost two months ago, which you happily announce to anyone who happens to ask.¬† You proudly hold up your pointer and middle finger and proclaim, “I AM TWO!”¬† Two means so many things to you: sometimes it means you are a big girl and can do anything that’s everything all by yourself and other times it means you are a little girl who will not ever give her Sir her thumb; it means some days you are all about potty training and princess pull-ups and other days you are content to hang out in a wet, steamy diaper all day; it means learning that some things are just for you and other things are meant to be shared; it means hugs and kisses and snuggles and emphatic insistence that, “No, thank you” you would not like a hug or kiss or snuggle; it means that some nights you want to sleep in your big girl bed and other nights your crib is just fine; it means coloring to fill the blank spaces in the coloring book and coloring to fill the blank spaces on your arms and legs; it means talking excitedly about school when you are not there and crying about school when you have to go; it means you named your babies “Brian” and “Mommy” and confuse Mommy and Brian every time you say you want to see “Brian” or “Mommy”- do you want animate or inanimate “Brian” or “Mommy”?-; it means you got your very own seat on our most recent flight and promptly climbed out of that seat onto my lap; and sadly, it means that every. single. second whatever vestiges of your babyhood remain are vanishing and that every. single. second you sprint towards really and truly being a big kid.
Given that you are the first two- year- old Daddy and I have been personally responsible for, we’ve wondered whether the intelligence we see in you was nothing more than the syndrome of proud and prejudiced parents.¬†¬† At your two year well visit our suspicions were confirmed: you are indeed rather advanced for a two year old.¬† When she went through the laundry list of items that a two year old should do we couldn’t help but chuckle.¬† The PA asked if you talked in short, two-three word sentences.¬† Um, let’s see, you talk in entire chapters with words that most of my high school students are unaware exist. ¬† The PA was very, very impressed with your verbal skills.¬† When she came in and asked how you were doing, you replied, “I am good.¬† How are you?” and paused for her response before telling her about what you were playing.¬† Later, when she started to listen to your heart and lungs she gave you a tongue depressor to play with.¬† You turned to me and said, “Look, Mommy.¬† I do my nails” and proceeded to “file” your fingernails.¬† The PA, your dad, and I looked at you in shock.¬† The PA was shocked because of your imaginative play, but your Daddy and I were trying to figure out where you had even seen a fingernail file before because goodness knows the last time a file was taken to my nails was when I got¬†them manicured for my own wedding!¬† Later, while the PA was checking your vagina, you said, “Mommy, she’s checking my diaper.¬† That’s a good idea!”
We talked about the fact that you love books and have been pointing out objects in books practically since day one; you are extremely curious and want to know what everything on a page is called or want to show that you know what everything on the page is called.¬† What I didn’t tell the PA was that you also sit down with books for hours on end and “read”.¬† You have many books nearly memorized and if it’s an unfamiliar book you merely look at the pictures and make up the story, which always ends with “The End.”¬† Charlie and Lola continue to be your go-to book series; we are slowly building your collection- I think you have 15 or so now- and you frequently go around reciting lines or reenacting scenes from the books.
Recently, your Grams purchased you some red, shiny shoes just like Lola’s, and I thought you were going to lose your mind when you first saw them.¬† You immediately sat on the ground and demanded that you wear your new red, shiny shoes, which by the way, are always referred to as “red, shiny shoes”.¬†Whenever you wear them you proclaim, to whomever is within ear shot, “I’m wearing my red, shiny shoes!¬† Look!” (I think you really expect people to kiss those fabulous red, shiny shoes!¬†) For quite a long time you needed them on every waking and sleeping moment, but¬†what especially makes the red, shiny shoes so special is that with them you learned the difference between right and left!
Your Daddy had been occasionally working with you on this, but then Grandma got the brilliant idea to mark the bottoms of the red, shiny shoes with a L and a R.¬† Within the day you learned the difference between right and left!¬† Of course, now this means that the infamous two year old independence rears its head and you demand to put on all your shoes with a “I’ll do it myself” and then a “I got it!” once the shoes are on the proper feet.
About that independent streak: over night you decided that being two meant there really wasn’t much you can’t do on your own.¬† You went from still needing some intervention when drinking from a cup without a lid to demanding you could do it without me, and successfully I might add.¬† You rarely want help except when it comes time to do clean up and then suddenly, you turn into a helpless creature who cannot possible be expected to put all the toys away without aid.¬† I’m on to you, Isabella!
One of your birthday presents was a target gift card from my friend, Shannon.  You were over joyed to see the Target logo as it truly is one of your favorite places to go.  We, and by we I mean Daddy and I, decided to use the card to purchase another princess nightgown because HOLY MOSES if we even dare run out of one of those and have to offer something far less pleasing to THE PRINCESS we might as well beat ourselves with chains for all the guilt via tears and pleading you throw our way.  We also bought a Leap Frog toy that basically tells you the letter and the sounds it makes when you insert a specific letter into the toy.
You are so in love with this toy.¬† Whenever you want to play with it you ask, “I want my letters, please!” as if to imply that all 26 are truly just for you.¬† You have known your ABC’s and the song for quite some time now and can even recognize big A and little a, big B and little b, C, M, O, P, Q, S, W, V, Y and Z when you see them on paper, so I figured the toy would serve to help you hear the different letter sounds and begin to recognize more letters.
When we went to IN a few weeks ago you had only had the toy for a couple weeks, and as it was still new and exciting I thought it would be a perfect toy to bring along.¬† On our flight home we were playing with your letters when you chose “A”.¬† After the toy went through the info about “A” you turned to me and said, “There is an A in Isabella.”¬† I wasn’t too surprised you knew that because I often spell and write your name for you.¬† I followed up by asking, “Who else has an A in their name?”¬† To my surprise, you responded, “Sarah, Brian, Rhiannon, Daddy, and Grams.”¬† I nearly lost it; while you certainly know every one’s names and various roles, we have yet to work with you on the spelling of those names as we wanted you to get your own name down first.¬† Later, you were able to repeat this amazing feat with other letters and other people’s names.
Another new, and oh so exciting, skill you developed of late, is the ability to reach up and turn a light on or off.¬† You love nothing more than to do a sneak attack when Daddy is working in the office.¬† You take off running, turn off the light, squeal and run straight for my arms in the event your Daddy tries to get you!¬† You laugh and laugh and then with perfect comedic timing you wait just until Daddy gets comfortable again and then you repeat the joke…over and over again.¬† And you get quite upset with us if we usurp our roles and dare to turn a light on or off without first giving you the option of doing so.
I am amazed at the stuff you know.¬† I am sure you’ve picked it up from listening to people, reading, etc., but sometimes¬†it really seems you just know things instinctively.¬† Recently, we bought some raisins and as you were eating them you looked at me and said, “It’s not a grape anymore, Mommy.”¬† I knew I had never talked to you about what a raisin really is, and when I asked Daddy he said he hadn’t either.¬† How can a two-year old just know that kind of stuff?¬† Your creativity, humor, temperament, memory, and just general adorableness continue to amaze us daily.
One of your favorite birthday presents this year was the kitchen your Grandma got you.¬† You love to cook up fabulous meals like boiled pizza and baked milk; we never want for a gourmet snack around here.¬† You are also very, very interested in helping me in the kitchen.¬† Whenever I start to cook, you drag a kitchen chair over and demand to help!¬† I’m looking forward to making Christmas cookies with you this year!
Isabella, it is hard to believe that two years of your life have already passed.  I can still remember the first time I saw your sweet little face and realized that my life was forever changed- in the best possible way.  Being your mother has been nothing but a blessing and full of fun and adventure.  As you continue to test your independence just remember that you will always be my Little.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
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