hey g-man, it's your birthday!

Dear G,

You turned TWO today!

Two! OMG, two!

I still can't believe you're old enough to be two yet. Sometimes you still seem like a baby to me. And sometimes I stare at you thinking, you look big enough to be a three year old. You have your two-year check-up on Wednesday, so we'll see just how tall you are, my big beautiful boy.

You were such a sweetheart today. You loved all of your gifts. You kept hugging your flamingo from the zoo like it was your new best friend.

 I don't have them edited and uploaded yet, but I took pictures of you chowing down half of a chocolate cupcake, which is half more than I thought you'd eat. You'd look at that cupcake, look at me, and say, "yum yum!" ha.

We went to the mall today and got you your first Build-a-Bear teddy. You like your stuffed animals, but I was surprised at how much you held on that bear for the rest of the day.

You've been signing like crazy lately and today was no different. As soon as one of us steps out of sight, there you go tapping your forehead or chin for whoever is missing. You ask for milk all day long, but I think you like using that sign to ask for any kind of food. I'm trying to get you to use the signs for please and thank you, but toddler politeness is a slow process.

You're still sleeping in a crib and you love it. You ask to be put into it to play several times a day. You use a fork when you feel like it, and you use a spoon too but you suck at it. You love to use my makeup brush to apply "blush" to your cheeks and mine. You're as obsessed with reading as ever and you ask to read many times a day. Right now, you're stuck on reading the same handful of books five times in a row (after which we distract you with something shiny so we don't go crazy). You kiss your stuff animals and then throw them on the ground. You love to tuck yourself against my side as we play with toys on the couch. You know almost all the letters of the alphabet and can point to them when asked; you're especially obsessed with "w" and will find it in any book we read. One of your favorite things to do is run around in circles. You can go down slides by yourself and often you'll climb back up them.

Tonight, when I asked for a goodnight hug, you opened your arms wide and put them around my shoulders for the first time. My heart melted.

I love you so much, G. I hope your second birthday was as grand as we could make it with your sick daddy and preggo mama. Your birthday party is on Saturday so we'll get to celebrate all over again.

love,
mama