Dear Q,
Wow, baby girl, you really aren’t a baby any more. How did two years pass in the blink of an eye? ::cue tears:: This is going to be a rough one for Mama to write!
This time two years ago we were in our apartment on Lawrence in Uptown, the air conditioner was broken and we did a quick newborn session on our sun porch. One of the images from that session hangs on canvas in your room! Everything was new. Daddy and I were drinking you in and memorizing every little detail of your teeny tiny self. We were learning how to breastfeed and THAT was an adventure. We figured it out though! I remember Daddy feeding me lasagna while I was feeding you because all of the sudden I was so hungry that it was physically impossible for life to continue without food in my stomach! I remember all of the little baby smells mixed with summer air, the sounds of your little grunts and goat like cries, the softness of your newborn skin, the feeling of you latching and milk letting down. It was all so new and precious.
Life is so different now! Breastfeeding became second nature to us and we’ve made it to two years and beyond! I hope when you read this later in your life it’s something that you think is awesome, because it really is! For the past two years it has been pretty much your favorite thing in the entire world, I’m so glad we’ve been able to do this together.
What is Q like at two? I find you to be equally hilarious, exuberant, thoughtful, and challenging. If it were up to you we would always spend our days outside playing, eating snacks on the run, spending time with cousins and friends, watching Signing Time and cuddling in Mommy & Daddy’s bed. You love to be outside, especially when it involves exploring and getting dirty. We can’t make it the half block to the garage to get the car without you stopping to pick up a handful of dirt from wherever you can find it and dropping it somewhere else. You will find a way to splash in any puddle you see. Everything is silly to you. You love to run and jump and tickle and somersault. You talk about your friends and family when they aren’t around and you love to call them or facetime with them. You love going to the park, the pool, the library and the children’s museum. Staying home doesn’t interest you!
Just about a week before your birthday you started showing interest in baby dolls and now you love your baby doll that we got you for your birthday. You sleep with it at night and like to carry it around, have Mommy nurse it and then pat its back to make it burp. You also still love balls, you got some emergency vehicle toys for your birthday that you really enjoy and when you see real fire trucks, ambulances and buses you get SO excited. You love to dance, jump, and spin until you fall down, especially in front of the mirror. You also prefer to have your tantrums in front of the mirror so you can watch yourself cry. I crack up every time.
You talk and sign all the time. I thought about trying to count your words but decided there was no way to come up with all of them! You use 2-3 word sentences and most of the time we understand you but if we don’t you’re good about repeating yourself until we do. There are a few cute speech quirks that you have that deserve documentation. Crackers = quackers, which is adorable. We always imagined that you’d pronounce our last name “Quane” and sure enough, thats how you say it. You also put an N sound before Gs so Doggies = Dongies, Wiggle = Wingle, Bagel = Bangle. It’s adorable. You know a LOT of signs (thanks Signing Time!) and you really enjoy when we quiz you on them. If you don’t know a sign for sure you’ll just throw up a sign around your mouth, which is often very close. 🙂
You give hugs, kisses and cuddles to us when we ask and sometimes spontaneously. “Hug” “Tiss” “Cuddoo”. You love kissing the baby in my belly and blowing raspberries on there too. You also enjoy some kind of weird things like kissing my armpits & beauty marks but I promise not to tell your future boyfriends. 🙂 You’re also starting to be more expressive in your facial expressions including your Skeptical face where you furrow your brows and give me a look like “you can’t be serious”. When we are in the car you like to practice your facial expressions in the mirror on the seat back, it’s hilarious. I’m just glad you don’t know how to roll your eyes yet. 🙂
You still love our kitties. You call Stella “Dellas” and you’ve gotten really good at pronouncing George. You will yell at them when they jump on things they shouldn’t jump on and you love to pet them, especially Stella who is still pretty scared of you. I really feel for that cat when TRex comes home. She’s going to have a rough time!
You’re a moderately picky eater but in fairness to you, we don’t offer a crazy wide variety of food most weeks. You’ve mastered using a fork and a cup without a lid and that has expanded your eating horizons. You love fruit of any kind, you love cheerios and crackers, you ask for fruit snacks about 45 times a day and you love cookies and cake as much as your daddy, except we don’t usually keep them in the house! You like chicken, pasta, taco meat (sometimes), quesadilla, waffles, pancakes, eggs, and of course bacon! Food is usually hit or miss with you. We could give you the same thing 5 times in a row and sometimes you’ll only eat it 1 time of those five. We keep trying though!
And sleep, oh sweet sleep. In the past 2 years you’ve ranged from waking up 5+ times a night to sleeping 11 hour stretches. Neither habit tends to last longer than a few weeks. Your current normal is going to bed around 7:30, waking 1-2 times a night (midnight and 3:00 or just 3:00) and then getting up for the day between 6:00 and 7:00. When you wake up you ask for Mommy, water and sometimes cheerios. 🙂  I really enjoyed when you were sleeping from 7:00-7:00 so feel free to go back to that at any time! I’m nervous that bringing the new baby home will really mess up your sleep so I’m not looking forward to that. We also plan to transition you to a toddler bed in a few months before the baby gets here so that will be another adventure to look forward to!
This post is probably pretty boring to anyone who isn’t you or me but I want to try to remember everything. You change SO fast that I’m always afraid something special will slip through and be forgotten forever. That’s also why I take so many pictures. I don’t want to miss a thing! My friends with new babies sometimes ask what you were like at a certain age and it breaks my heart when I can’t remember. So this blog is a gift to you but also a gift to myself. If you’re anything like me you’ll enjoy reading about yourself someday.
I wish there was an adequate way to express to you how much I love you. I still remember the feeling of carrying you inside me, feeling your every movement and meeting your every need without even having to think about it. We were one unit, symbiotic, whole and safe. I had so many dreams for you and was so excited to meet you and see what you looked like. Then I gave birth to you which is an experience that changed my life forever. Since then you have made me a mother. So much of it was instinctual but a lot of it was something I had to learn and it’s been quite a ride. I look back at my life before you came and it just seems lackluster in comparison to all that I have now with you here. Each day with you is an amazing gift. You truly are my heart embodied in perfect human form. I love you so much.
Happy 2nd Birthday, my precious child. My first born. Light of my world.
I love you,
Mommy
