Annalise turns two

It happened. We have a two-year-old. We smothered her in bed with kisses and birthday wishes when she woke up this morning (she was grumpy and in response cried and demanded fruit snacks and energy bars) and then spent the morning at Pump It Up, a kids' indoor playground of all-inflatable slides and bounce houses and obstacle courses with her BFF Anna. Then we met Daddy for lunch at Red Robin, where she wore her pink-feathered light-flashing diamond-encrusted birthday crown (much to the delight of the other patrons) and the servers sang Happy Birthday to her, brought her balloons, and presented her with an ice cream sundae. It was a two-year-old dream come true. She took a very long nap and then had a fun hours-long play date in the park, made it home around 8:30pm and received her requested dinner of scrambled eggs.

Annalise is a happy girl. She is a special, spunky, giggly person who constantly sings her ABC's, can count perfectly to ten, and is pretty good on the way to 20. She's been able to do this for a few months now. She (and her BFF) both mainly refer to her as 'Annalisie' and lately every time I ask her if she remembers what Baby Sister's name is, she says, "Ice cream." She is very bossy with the cat, likes to hold hands, and demands, "Annalisie do it!" (though she can't) about buckling herself into her carseat. She adores nail polish and make-up (she gets chapstick, and a blush brush swept over her cheeks). She is learning well to stop herself from whining/crying when threatened with being sent to her room, and counting to three is also a nearly foolproof way to get her to obey. She really loves older kids, and LOVES animals but becomes terrified if they put their faces up to her. She loves the park, slides, and when Daddy comes home from work. She is obsessed with airplanes and talks about them constantly. She calls them 'oh-planes'. She can spot them when they are a pinprick in the sky and when she hears one, she searches madly to find it, going wild with excitement, screaming, "Mommy! Look! Oh-plane! Big one!" She said her longest sentence the other day, to one of the guests leaving her birthday party: "Thank you very much for coming!" My heart swelled so big it almost leapt out of my chest and died on the sidewalk.

She loves Nemo and Elmo and her 'Dragon Show' (technically titled How To Train Your Dragon) and her water table in the backyard enthralls her each and every day. She wants to be wherever we are, and likes to be cuddled off to sleep for naps and nighttime (quite tedious for Mommy unfortunately.) She sleeps in her own big-girl bed, although she only makes it through the night without waking up about half the time, so we wake up to a guest in our bed lots of mornings. She is very gentle with babies and I have high hopes that she will be a nice big sister. She has a distinct sense of humor and is easy to make laugh. She told her first joke the other day. She has lately been very interested in labeling people as either boys or girls ("Mommy- girl! Grandpa... boy!"- her understanding of the concept is spot-on) and as we were laying down for a nap she looked at me sideways with an impish grin.

"Airplane," she said, smiling devilishly around her mouth full of binkie.

"Airplane," I agreed, wondering where she was going with this.

"Airplane... boy!" she shouted wide-eyed and began screaming with laughter at her own humor. I laughed so hard and she was so pleased with the response that she repeated the two-word joke for at least twenty minutes, howling hysterically every time she uttered it.

What a kid. What an amazing love she has inspired in me. What wouldn't I do for her? Her happiness and fulfillment are my highest daily priorities. What a kid.