Darlene's Blog 2011: Almost Two!

It is almost September…the month you will become two years old! You are so talkative and you have a very big vocabulary. Yesterday when I picked you up at school as we walked to the car past the fenced-in play area you said “I play there.” A spontaneous unprovoked complete sentence meant to share information with me. It had been a week since I had seen you. You had grown a lot in a week! Since your Dad started back to work this month I’ve begun my time of staying with you while your Mom works. You have become somewhat more assertive and more easily provoked and impatient. I think that is a “rite of passage” and part of the challenges of parenthood. But you have also started showing more delight and excitement about things--such as chapstick! You are able to put facts together and figure things out without specifically being told. You remember many details like the morning at breakfast you reminded me to push up your sleeves. You take my telephone and talk to your Mother on the phone in the car. And you took a picture of your leg! One day early in August you surprised me by running ahead when I set you down as we came out of a restaurant. It scared me to death but I retrieved you and learned a lesson. The world was calling to you…as it will continue to do. En route to and from school we listen to a CD of children’s songs. You remember them & ask for specific songs. One favorite right now is “Happy Birthday”. You don’t sing along yet but you are taking in the songs. You love pop sickles, blowing bubbles & your dog Sunday. You had allergy testing this month and went to the dentist for the first time. And you’ve started “potty training”. And when you turn two, there will be “no more bottles”. You have a small bottle before nap & at bedtime. I think you will be able to give it up okay, but it will be significant that bottles and diapers will be over soon. Although it is no longer a new awareness, I continue to admire what good parents you have. They love you and work together to do what is best for you, even if it’s hard sometime. One day after I left your house while you were napping your parents told me you cried when you woke up and I was gone. I told them that I cried too. Maybe not literally…but I do have a sense of loss as I leave you for a week! How lucky I am that I can spend time with you at this time of your life.