Mika,

One day you might ask me what you were like as a two year old and im sure my memory will not serve as well as i’d like. so this is why i am writing this. for you to hear about and for me to remember.

when you wake up in the mornings or from naps, you say ‘no poopoo mama’ just so i don’t have to check your diaper and you ask me for ‘milk’ and you ask ‘papa at work?’ and i say yes and you say ‘elaine at work?’ and i say yes (elaine is your nanny) and then you are happy that you know where everyone is and we get up and read books.

you still love to read books. over and over. by mama in english and by papa in spanish and to yourself in your own little language. you can finish the sentences of most of your favourite books, which include (but are by no means limited to) ‘harry’, ‘the lion in the meadow’, ‘the little house in the big woods’, ‘the worst princess’ and ‘a summery saturday morning’.

you say ‘oh well’ and shrug your little shoulder and it is the sweetest and funniest thing.

you have a thing for toes. you treat them like people and you like to say hello to them, kiss them and wave goodbye to them.

like most 2 year olds, you love bubbles, you love chalk and you love sandboxes. you also love to run and you can almost run fast enough that it’s an effort to catch you. the happiest place we can be together is exploring and digging at the beach or lying on the couch reading books.

you can eat a whole punnet of blueberries. you love tofu. you love miso soup. you love hummus. i can’t think of anything that you hate specifically, but you tend to give most things a try.

today when you got up from nap we were cuddling and you were drinking your milk and you stroked my face gently then sat up and gave me a kiss on the mouth. sometimes we just stare into each others eyes and both start laughing and it melts my heart like nothing i’ve ever experienced.

i love the way you call me and copy me and cuddle me and kiss me. i love that your face is always grubby and your feet are always bare. i love that your hair is messy and your spirit is wild. i love that i get to be your mama now and forever.

x

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I can’t believe that this was a year ago and this was 2 years ago and that today we have a little 2 year old.

Mika,

Today you woke up and your papa and i sang happy birthday to you and you listened to us curiously and then said ‘pancakes?’ so of course we made you pancakes.

You opened some presents from uncle vinny & aunty brooke and oma & grandpa and mama & papa. Then we walked to your favourite truck park on 70th and 9th and we met some of your favourite little friends. Baby Elijah was there and Jamie and Fyo and Emy and Kimbre and baby Guy and Zev and baby Yael and Henrik and Ernie. It was probably the best day of your life.

We ate fruit and hummus and crackers and mama nearly forgot about the cupcakes that we had hidden from you but thankfully you reminded me.

You are the sweetest, cheekiest, jumpiest, fastest, most loving little girl we could hope for. You run so quickly, you kiss us so much, you sing so beautifully and you jump so high. So many people love you and you are the brightest thing in our lives.

Love mama & papa

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mika,

so here we are. 2 months away from your second birthday and it’s gone too fast. i want to remember these moments so badly. you are the sweetest little girl with the sweetest little kisses and the sweetest little voice. part of me can’t stand the thought of you getting older but then part of me is so excited to see the gorgeous person you are growing to be.

the other day i was sitting with you on the floor and trying to teach you how to jump and you were so close to getting it and it suddenly hit me how crazy it is that this is the same girl who not so long ago (in the scheme of things) lay in my arms, unable to hold her own head up. i watched you cheer and clap for yourself every time you tried to jump and i thanked the universe for bringing such a sweet girl into my life.

the other day i was holding you as you drank your bottle after nap-time and you were looking into my eyes like you used to when you nursed. you reached up and gently brushed some hair out of my eyes with your little hand and then you pulled the bottle out of your mouth, leaned up and gave me the sweetest kiss on the mouth then went right back to drinking. i never want to forget that moment.

you say all the things except most people don’t understand you. i understand you most of the time but sometimes when I don’t, you look at me really hard in the eye and repeat what you said in such a way as to say ‘mama, come on’ and i smile and say ‘ah!’ and pretend that I understand but you always seem to know when i don’t.

you love singing and you sing all the time even though you don’t know the words. you have a pretty good tune considering your parents are musically disabled and it is possibly the most joyful thing ever to wake up to you singing ‘twinkle twinkle’ or to watch you singing to your dolls.

you are so determined and so every day is pretty crazy. sometimes we’re winning and sometimes we’re struggling and sometimes it can take us at least an hour to get dressed for music class or sometimes we hurt the ears of everyone in the supermarket while you provide the screaming theme song of me rushing to pick up some groceries with a crazy toddler. i feel like it kinda sucks sometimes, i’m not gonna lie, but then you grab my face and kiss me fiercly and i realise that this doesn’t suck. it’s the most gloriously rewarding thing i’ve ever done, even if the rewarding part only shows itself in brief 1 hour intervals throughout the day.

gah! sigh. i love you so much it hurts.

love mama.

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The words you say: Papa, mama, agua, bebe, car, carro, no, ball, arbol, sky, bubbles, plane, yellow, thank you, gracias, bike, apple, banana

The sounds you make: rooroo (dog), meow (cat), nomnom (squirrel), moooo (cow), neeeigh (horse), tsttst (rabbit), rahhh (tiger/lion), ah ah ah (monkey), beeeeepbeeeep (car)

The things you can sign: more/mas, please/por favor, thank you/gracias, banana, ball/pelota, book/libro

You can point out almost all your body parts.

You understand: simple instructions like ‘go put this in the rubbish bin’, ‘go get a book’, ‘can i have a kiss please?’, ‘abrazo! (hug)’ and so, so much more.

Things that make us think you’re pretty much a genius:

• The way you take your own diaper off, take it to the rubbish bin, put it away, climb up on the toilet seat to reach the basin and wash your hands with soap and then dry them with the towel. I mean, come on!
• The way you try so hard to climb up and down stairs without using your hands
• Your ball skills. You can throw, kick and roll.
• The speed at which you run. It astonishes people. It doesn’t look like it should be possible. Your little legs move so quickly!
• When we get home from being out, you take off your little shoes one by one and put them in the closet next to ours.
• When you see a mess on the floor, you’ll pick up the little pieces and take them one by one to the rubbish bin in the kitchen.
• The way you tell us when you need to go toilet. (We’re scared to potty train you. I mean, it’s gonna happen, you won’t be in diapers when you’re 20, but we’re in no hurry.)

Your favourite things:

Books. Always books. You will tell us which order you’d like your books read to you in, and they must be read in order.

Your little toy animals.

Dogs and cats and squirrels.

Balls.

The swings at the playground.

The foods you love:

Yams.

Moroccan stew.

Bread sticks.

Things we don’t want to forget:

• The way you call anyone wearing a bike helmet ‘papa’
• The way you run to find me after your bath, naked and clean and warm and you leap into my arms and give me a huge hug
• The way you squeal when we tickle you. The way you laugh randomly when we say something that you find funny (like ‘oops’ or ‘woops’ or ‘goat’)
• The way you love the water running on your back as your bath fills up.
• The pitter patter of your tiny feet as you chase your papa down the hallway playing hide and seek when he gets home.
• When it nears 6pm, any sound that you hear from outside you turn to me and ask sweetly ‘papa?’

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Your new words are “bubbles! sky! bike!” and they are (as your aunty tess points out) glorious words. You don’t have very many words really, but you talk your own language non stop and the words you do have, are gorgeous.

In the last few weeks your papa and I have noticed you really interacting with other kids on the playground. Not just the token ‘hi’ and fuss over a shared toy, but really playing with each other and enjoying the company. It’s pretty cute to watch.

Your nap times are pretty consistent now – you go down once a day from around 1:30pm til about 3pm. You like to sleep with your brown bear (osito) and your little baby doll (bebe).

You’ve finally come to terms with the fact that we stopped breastfeeding and you love drinking your little toddler vitamin shake from your bottle. Your papa has been amazing at getting up for your 5:30am (or sometimes earlier) wake up and giving you your bottle ever since we stopped breastfeeding.

You’re testing boundaries and it’s getting tricky. The road outside our house is now the most terrifying thing for me. You used to stop at the curb, but now that you’ve figured out how to jump off it (yes, jump off it), there’s no stopping you! It’s can still be tricky to know what’s ‘normal toddler behaviour’ and what’s ‘Mika’, but I’m happy to be along for the ride and watch you develop into a little person.

Today we walked for an hour in the late afternoon while we waited for papa to come home. You love dirt and dandelions and sitting on things. I took my camera:

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