Monthly Archives: June 2016

A Letter to Our 2 Year Old

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Dear Claire:

Two years ago, our lives completely changed. I’ll be honest, for those first couple of weeks I wondered what we got ourselves into. It was nothing but everything that I expected. It started with your birth, which I went into with what I thought was an open mind. My requirements: (1) a healthy baby girl and (2) an epidural because I was well aware of my pain tolerance. That’s at least what I communicated about but subconsiously I wanted so much more. I didn’t want a c-section. I didn’t want to be in labor for a long time. I didn’t want to have my hormones hop on a rollercoaster. But, it all happened. It took me a while to talk about it as non-chalantly as I do now but, man, in the moment I was a mess. I wanted what I thought was happening in all the post-birth photos of a mother and her child. The “mommy high” where you can barely sleep because you are so overjoyed. I ended up crying more than I ever expected. I was so completely overwhelmed with the amount of emotions swirling through my body. I felt homesick for the times when Daddy and I could spontaneously have a date night. I was unconvinced that there was light at the end of the tunnel. But I am so incredibly happy to say that I was wrong. You are our light, our joy, and so much more.

Two years later, I am so happy to say that you make everything more magical. Seeing the world through your eyes is the most wonderful thing, words can’t express it. It didn’t take us two years to get here but with every stage brought new fun, new adventures, and new things to discover about each other. We’ve only known you for two years but, at the same time, I feel like I’ve always known you. I think back to memories before you were born and strangely, have you inserted into them, as if you were always there with us. We love you more than words can explain and with the amount of love that you given us, I can understand why your birth and first weeks were so dramatic, you wanted us to know that everything we’ve ever known was about to change but in the most beautiful way.

We love you.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

2 Year Checkup

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Hello there! I’m going to try to post regularly on here but things are about to get crazy for us in the next couple of months so I can’t make any promises. Maybe I can convince CJ to write a post or two… maybe! 😉

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We took Claire to her 2 year checkup earlier this week and it went well! The doctor went through her list of skills and questions to see how she’s doing health-wise and developmentally and we’re proud to report that the doctor was so impressed with her! She said that she’s at where most 2 1/2 to 3-year-olds normally are. Most notably, she’s speaking in sentences (“I’m ready to go now!” which she promptly said after getting her weight and height), she can draw in circles (I guess kids can’t normally complete a circle until 2 1/2), and she’s potty trained (the doctor’s reaction, “Oh wow, we don’t normally ask about that until their 3 year check-up!”).

She’s been doing much better with potty training – she’s pretty much a pro at daycare with the occasional slip up and, at home, we have the occasional accident but it’s not normally a battle to get her to go anymore. If we try to race her to the potty, or let her bring a toy/book with her, she’ll oblige. What’s most surprising is she’s really awesome (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) when we’re out and about. We’ll be out to dinner and she’ll tell us she has to go potty and hold it until we get there. I’m always so impressed when that happens because there are so many distractions that you would think she wouldn’t even think about it. It’s a huge relief that she’s doing better with it because we obviously want it to be a positive experience with her rather than a power struggle to get her to try.

What else… well she had her first dentist appointment last month and that went so well too! The dentist was also impressed with how advanced she was and also told us that she has all her teeth in now. Go Claire!