We've turned twooooooooo.

Our darling girl, Miss Zoe Caroline, is now "Twooooo."

Dear Zo-zo,

Happy 2nd birthday! Two months late is this letter of remembrances, but our lives are crazy right now. You don't mind, do you?

Let's start with a list of things you currently love:

Pooh-ba (Pooh-bear, of course.)

Ruh-ruh (Clifford the Big Red Dog. Your favorite episode is on a video Gigi got you for your birthday. It features this little dauschaund named Bob, who doesn't obey and gets in lots of trouble. You ask to watch the video by saying, "Ruh-ruh? Ruh-ruh? Bob! Bob. Bob? Yep.")

Spinning and singing and dancing. You especially love Ring Around the Rosies right now, because you get to fall down at the end. This is hilarious to you, and you'll spin and fall as many times as I will sing the song.

Saying all the names of the people you love, in a sort of song you made up. 
"Gigi, Nana, Opa, Dada, Mama, Ahka...Gigi, Nana, Opa, Dada, Mama, Ahka, Puppy..." Grandaddy's name currently has too many syllables, but when I add it to the list, you smile and say, "Yep!"

Beebee Ahka. This is what you call your baby brother, Eric. When you wake up, you ask for Dada, and then for Beebee Ahka. Sometimes you really get going saying his name very very fast, BeebeeAhkaBeebeeAhkaBEEBEEAHKA and then it morphs into BeeAhkaBeeAhkaBeeAhka. You love your brother so much and are such a good helper with him.

Painting, drawing with chalk, drawing with crayons, coloring with markers, anything that has to do with art. You love to create and when you get done, you point at your picture and say, wide-eyed, "WOW!" I love that your sense of wonder is so big and so evident. You also sometimes color on things that are NOT paper. I asked you yesterday, rhetorically (you don't know yet that sometimes I ask questions that I already know the answer to), why you color on the wall or the floor. You looked at me, looked at the wall, spread your hands out and said, "Hmmm...."

Hide-and-seek. You love the actual game played with Daddy, and you also love your version of it, where you hide objects like a sock or a spoon or your baby doll and then want me to find them. You always try to trick me. So if I ask, "Oh, where's the sock?" You point to the light in the ceiling or to the bathtub, trying to get me to look there instead of under the blanket. I love how your imagination is developing.

Reading. You love, love, love to read. I'm so very thankful you do. I want you to learn how the world opens up to you when you read. I want you to feel that simple joy of getting lost in a book, of reading into the wee hours because you can't go to sleep until you finish the story. (And I will try my hardest to remember this when I'm telling you to go to bed and you want to read just a little longer.)

The list of things you don't love is very short...raw tomatoes, flip-flops, getting your picture taken when everyone is looking at you, and lately, shirts that are not the color blue. Otherwise, you love to try new things!

Some of your firsts this year:

Your first sentence (phrase) was Daddy, Go! We were in the car, and apparently Daddy wasn't getting to wherever we were going fast enough, so you started telling him Daddy, go! You also love to say Mommy, No! So, Daddy go and Mommy no...I see how it is.

Your first joke was when we were in the car, waiting for the light to turn green. We were telling you that red means stop and green means go. When the light turned green, you said, "GOOOOO!" We laughed at your excitement, but then you started saying, "Ruh-ruh, GOOOO! Heeheeheehee." We corrected you, saying, No, red means stop. You looked right at us, shook your head, said it again, and laughed loudly. It took us a few times, but we finally realized you were making a joke!

Oh, Zo, darling girl. You mean the world to us. You have weathered the transition from only child to oldest child so well. You have such curiosity and a depth of understanding that is beyond you. I sometimes look at you, realizing how much you understand, and I am floored. We are just so thankful to God for you. Happy 2nd birthday!

Love you forever. xo

You & Daddy blowing out your candles.

Your new art easel!

The family