My baby turnrs two-years old on the 11th. Sweet baby Sylvia! I somehow can’t believe it. While many of her friends are already two, I find myself saying on a daily basis, “She’s just One!” When she’s having problems, she’s just one. When she is being heartbreakingly sweet to Andrew, she’s just one. When she wakes up two or four or eight times in the night, she’s just one. When she gets dressed all by herself and has well-formed ideas about her clothes, her food, her books, she’s just one.
When Sylvia first turned one, she was just stepping (crawling) out of tiny babyhood. Now she’s a full toddler and even setting her sights toward the world of preschoolers.
I went through all the clothes in her room yesterday, removing the last of the 12-month (too short in the arms and legs) items, and weeding out some of the 18-month clothes since many of them have become high-water pants and 3/4 length sleeves in the last couple months. I was thinking back on what life was like a year ago. When she was not-quite-one, she was pulling up and cruising on furniture. She was crawling after her brother.
A year ago, we had just recently improved her dreadful napping situation so she would nap for more than 20 minutes at a time. And she was still nursing. What times I spent nursing my sweet baby girl.
It was just about one year ago that Sylvia was still nursing every couple hours at night. In February 2009, I went to Texas with the kids to stay with Bryan’s family, and I used the opportunity to wean her of some of her night feedings. She and I shared a room on the opposite side of the house from Bryan’s parents and Andrew. When Sylvia woke to nurse, I would comfort her but not nurse her. And she wailed for 45 minutes. This happened three times, and each time, she wailed for 45 minutes. After the clock hit 4:30am, I nursed her. She was very unhappy for two other nights, but after that, she slept straight from bedtime until 4:30. What a wonderful relief that was! Continuous sleep is a wonderful thing. And these days, although she still tends to wake up 2-3 times, Bryan’s usually the one who hears and re-settles her.
These days, Sylvia’s favorite activities are dressing up in costume, or perhaps more often, running around in the buff with her big brother. She loves music…making music, dancing to music, listening to music. She loves dolls, and it’s so sweet to watch her tend to them – feeding them, covering them with blankets, patting them. She loves to make me soup in her kitchen and warns me several times that it’s hot and I must blow on it. She likes to color and play with play dough. And she spends hours at the sink or in the tub playing with running water. It seems to soothe her soul.
Sylvia is into high fashion. Or at least her version of high fashion. She picks outfits with lots of colors and dots and strips, she likes her hair done up in more than one barrette. She loves shoes, and since she was old enough to stand, I would come into her room in the morning, and instead of greeting me, she would gesture dramatically to her shoes…she wanted them on her feet!
Dear Sylvia, I am so honored and thankful that you came into my life. Thank you for bringing such vibrancy into our family. Thank you for being such a tender, fun person. Thank you for saying, “Daddy” when we go around the table at dinnertime to share a gratitude. Thank you for morning snuggles and bedtime stories, for jumping into new situations with such enthusiasm and vigor. For holding onto things and not letting go. For exclaiming each morning when we open the curtains, “Snow!” For becoming such an amazing playmate for Andrew. For being my little girl and for loving me.
I’ve loved being your mama these last two years, and I look forward with joy in my heart to seeing what comes next.
Love and hugs,
Mama
Happy Birthday, lovely big growing up girl!