Happy 2nd Birthday, Charlotte Anne!

Dear Charlotte,

I have started and stopped and deleted and re-written this post so many times. How do I sum up the awesome little person you've become over the past year? I still can't believe you are TWO! In some ways it seems like just yesterday that you were born; in other ways it seems like a lifetime has passed. I know one thing for sure: You have grown so much in the past two years. I don't just mean physically (although you have grown from a teeny baby to a long-legged girl with pretty blonde waves and the most beautiful almond-shaped blue eyes I have ever seen), but rather I mean that you have shown so much emotional growth over the past two years.

Charlie, you used to be afraid of everything! I still think back to leaving you at the gym child care center and how very upset you were and it makes me want to cry. Any and all new situations made you so anxious. And you still hold onto a bit of that anxiety (which I fully admit you get from me), but you have gotten so brave! You march right into preschool each day with a smile on your face. You are the first in line for tall slides, and the higher your Uncle Dot can toss you into the air, the more you laugh and squeal. You're our little thrill-seeker, that's for sure!

One of my favorite memories of this year was watching you "perform" at your school programs. Your dad and I were so worried that you would see all the strange faces in the crowd and have a meltdown, but that was not at all the case. You stayed cool as can be and seemed to look down at the audience as if to ask, "Who ARE all you people, and what are you staring at?". But even though you didn't really love performing for strangers, you perform for us constantly. You are always singing and you can bet that if there's a mirror in sight, you'll find it and watch yourself put on a show. Your current favorite songs to perform are "Happy Birthday", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "The Wheels on the Bus", and of course the ABCs (which you sing very well except for the letter "w"...for some reason you pronounce it "double-ubble", which we don't bother correcting because it's quite cute). You've recently added dancing to your songs and you are very impressed with your moves.

Bug, when you aren't singing, you're talking! You talk constantly...you are speaking in long sentences these days and sometimes I feel like my life comes complete with my own personal narrator ("Mommy is putting Jensen Todd in his carseat! Mommy is getting in the car! Mommy is driving the car!"). I wouldn't trade it, though...I love listening to your little voice and all you have to say.

Even though you are our happy, mischievous little Bug most of the time, you still bring the drama. You are a girl who wants what she wants, when she wants it...and you aren't afraid to let the world know! You have certain things that you just hate, like getting your hair washed. I am honestly surprised none of our neighbors have knocked on the door during bath time to ask what we are doing to make you scream so loudly. Every single time we wash your hair, you absolutely scream your lungs out...I'm not going to lie, there have been days that you have faced the world with less than squeaky-clean hair because we just did not have the heart to listen to your screaming the night before. 

Actually, I guess there's another thing about the past year that I know for sure: As you have grown, you've helped me to grow, too...both as a person and as a mom. You have helped me to learn more about patience and understanding and when to just let things be. The other day your dad took Jensen to run an errand and you chose to "stay home with Mommy". We sat on the living room floor, facing each other with our feet touching, and just talked. I felt like you and I were developing our own little friendship. It has been little times like this over the past year that make me feel so blessed to have a daughter of my own. I know there will be times that you probably won't consider me your friend, and that's fine...just know that you are the most amazing little girl we know and you are loved beyond words. We constantly alternate between laughing at how funny you are and being in awe of your intelligence and spirit. Charlotte Anne--you don't always make life easy, but you sure do make life fun! We love you, little Bug!