2 Years!

Dear Silvie,
You are two! Two! Which you signal by holding your index finger up on both hands and wiggling them alongside your chubby cheeks.

I am so in love with this stage of you. You are learning words at exponential speed and generating original sentences all the time. You still have lots of articulation errors so it’s sometimes a bit of a guessing game to figure out what you’re saying, but you are daily sounding a little less “Nell” (Chicka, chicka, chickabee) and more little girl.

Given how rain is the bane of our existence here in Portland (and also your middle name), we had a rain themed birthday party for you.  It was great fun especially the coloring wall and the play dough.  Your favorite gifts included a stroller for your baby dolls and a wooden barn with farm animals.   Actually you were delighted by all of your gifts except for the scooter bike that your Papa and I bought you.  It’s still a little big for you and are scared of it.  Maybe you’ll warm up to it later this summer.

One of our favorite things about your right now is how you are  using polite language.  When you are given something you now say, “Thank you, mama” with no prompting.  You’re still trying to figure out when it’s ok to say “no thank you” and when you are really just supposed to do what you are asked to do.  And you’re working on saying, “May I have ___ please?” when asking for something.  You know how to do it but it takes some thought and each word comes out a bit labored and short.  Thank you, Miss Naomi, for teaching you to be so polite.

Things that make you cry:  loud noises of any kind, clowns at the library, and wind in your face.  Things that make you laugh your deep down belly laugh:  playing chase around the house with Papa and Mae and going down the big slide “all by myse’f on my belly button”.

For part of spring break we went to Manzanita on the Oregon coast.  We rented a house a couple of blocks for the beach and had a relaxing time.  Our friend Amy (your “Aunt ‘Mi’Mi”) stayed one night and had a great time playing on the beach with you.  Your Papa had been working a lot of extra hours and it was good to see him relaxed and in a playful mood with you.  You spent a lot of time gathering up sticks and pine cones.

Like most toddlers you really like sticks.  This week we walked the three blocks down to the library and back to return some books.  It took 45 minutes.  Not because you walk slowly, but because we had to stop frequently to pick up sticks, “draw” with the sticks on the sidewalk, climb up into the neighbors’ yards, look at every single flower and enjoy the sunshine.  It’s good for me to slow down to toddler time and enjoy the sunshine with you.

Love,

Your Mama