Dearest Daughter,

Dear Milly,

You are two! I simply can’t believe it. You are a kid and sometimes I miss my baby, but the trade-off has its perks. You say more and more every day. For a while you would continually cup your little face with your tiny hands, and say, “Oh no, sad.” I don’t know what you found to be so gloomy, but if you don’t mind me saying, it was quite adorable.

You love wearing your tutu and waving your wand. One day you got up put a tutu over your pajamas and when I got you dressed for the day you chose a different tutu to go over your pants. It made it obvious to me you are simply not a baby anymore.

As for the terrible two’s, they are as true as the sky is blue. You can create a disastrous mess in a matter of seconds. The other day I was in the kitchen you were only a few steps away, I looked over and you had smashed your taco soup into the carpet. You were quite pleased with yourself. I guess it’s better than all the times you painted our furniture with your poop.

Right now your new trick is jumping. We say, “Milly how high can you jump?” You prep yourself with your arms swinging down to your knees then you jump as high as you can as your arms pop up over your head. You barley get off the ground, but I think to you, you are flying.

You love ice cream. Dad cannot eat his ice cream without you begging for it. You also love carrots dipped in hummus. Today you dipped your entire hand in hummus and licked it clean and just before that you ate handful after handful of pistachio nuts. You also love pizza, spaghettios and spaghetti; we’ve always thought somehow have some Italian heritage.

You are a dancing woman. If you hear music anywhere you will come running, or get off the couch as fast as you can to begin swinging you hips to the beat. And oh my goodness can you shake it.

Your favorite movie is Rio. You ask to watch it constantly, “Rio, Rio, Rio.” You’ll demand. I think it’s your favorite because there are a lot of tunes you can get really get down to.

Sometimes out of nowhere you will start laughing. You will look up laugh incessantly and your whole body will shake. We have no idea why you do this, but we get a kick out of it.

You love nursery and you also love kids club. You are quite the social butterfly.

You are crazy about dogs. The other day you would have followed the neighbor’s dog to the edge of the earth. It makes me really nervous, that you may start asking for one. I fear you and your dad will tag team me into it one of these days.

You never walk anywhere, you only run. You either stop and stand, or run. There is no in between with you. In fact, there’s no in between with you in many ways. You are either the most charming little person in the world or an absolute monster. Your mood can change with the flip of a switch and it’s a mystery to me as to which child you will be on a daily or rather an hourly basis.

Milly you’ve still got those famously chubby cheeks that I cannot stop kissing. I’m going to be devastated when you finally out-grow them. Your hair is long and curly and I only wish you’d hold still long enough to let me do something with it. You are a shorty, and you’ve got the smallest hands and feet of any two year old around.

Milly, we are simply crazy about you. Each night your dad goes into your room before he goes to bed and his comment is the same each night, “She’s perfect.”

Milly it’s an absolute privilege to be your mom. You are the sunshine of our lives.

Love you with all my heart,

Mama