Darlene's Blog 2011: And now you are two….

When I was a child and went to my grandparent’s house at Dauphin Island with my cousins in the summer, we would play a card game called “Authors”. One author was A.A . Milne who wrote Winnie the Pooh books and a book of poems titled “Now we are Six”. I can remember hearing that title before I was actually six…many years ago. Now for a few years my age begins with the digit “6” however. This is the title poem:

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

I was with you yesterday, and it had been a week since I had seen you. As always, you had grown and changed in a week. But now you are two, you seem to change even more quickly. You have an amazing memory! We listen to children’s songs on a CD while riding to and from your school. You have always enjoyed them, but yesterday for the first time you sang along with some of the songs. And you could “name that tune” after hearing only one or two notes! Last Friday on the way home from school a large truck towing a house trailer blocked traffic for awhile. You were intrigued by the truck backing the house off the road. It was unusual to see a truck going backwards, much less with a house attached. You are very attentive to your surroundings. You comment about the buses as we pass the school with many yellow buses parked outside. One of the mothers at school brings her daughter a little orange called a “cutie” every day after school. She always gives one to you too. Yesterday you gave your classmate a Sesame Street bar. You were so sweet handing it to her. You seem to enjoy school; you are never upset when I drop you off. And I think you are learning a lot. I’m glad your awesome parents have made school an part of your early life.

You & your parents hosted an amazing birthday party to celebrate you becoming two years old! You were dressed so cute & you seemed to really enjoy yourself. It had an Elmo theme and it was a delightful party. Elmo’s friend Dorothy the goldfish joined your family. When your mother was little she had a goldfish like the one in the cartoon movie “Pinocchio”. She decided she wanted to pet the fish and I think that contributed to an early death. I think the death of a goldfish is one of the earliest “death experiences” many children have. Goldfish often have very short lives but I hope Dorothy survives a long time.

Reading books to you and putting you down for your nap is such a special thing to do. You are very attentive to all of the details in the books. You are always so sweet even though I still can’t sing your favorite bedtime song. You seem to enjoy your pre-sleep time with your bed buddies (dog, sheepie, Nanny & extra Nanny). You chat with them and quietly play in your bed for quite a while before you go to sleep. Yesterday we played outside with your neighbor Camdyn who is 7 months old. It is fun to watch you be the older child rather than the youngest. Time passes so quickly. How can you already be two? Even though I think it’s going to be delightful and exciting, I know you will not be two “for ever and ever”, so I’m going to enjoy every minute I am with you…now that you are two.