To my kiddo on his second birthday

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Dear Leo,

It’s your birthday — you’re TWO. I know you’re still mastering that whole “counting” thing, and that’s fine, we love it when you count to Elmo. Anyway, two probably feels kind of like one and not all that different from three, so no worries if you’d rather think about trucks than the meaning of your 730 days on this planet.

I used to think two was so “old,” but now I know that you still need your Mommy, your giant stuffed bear, and your private chats with Elmo. Whew. I would probably go back to bed and never get out again if you were already trying to get an internship at Pinterest or something. It feels like you were just born! And yet you are already “phrasing,” as Mommy calls it (that means my kid strings two words together and I’m disproportionately proud, so I made a verb out of it), saying stuff like “crazy MUNI!”, “Elmo hat!”, “Wait for Mommy”, and “Owl plate!” You also have some very specific requests when it comes to footwear. Today, for example, you requested that you wear your frog slippers, but then you spied your Crocs and made some sort of mental calculation that resulted in the frogs getting ditched for the plastic shoe-sandals. It’s not the choice I would have necessarily made, but I respected it.

On Saturday, we took you to your very first football game at Mommy and Daddy’s alma mater, Stanford. You loved the Stanford mascot, which is a giant tree that dances around and is probably inebriated. You kept pointing at it and shouting, “Tree! Tree!” But then, later, when Daddy took you to meet the tree, you were shocked to find a Stanford student inside the tree costume (probably because you were wondering why a Stanford student would want that job). Anyway, you took one look at the man inside the costume and shook your head, declaring “No no tree. No no tree.” We thought you were afraid of the tree, until we later realized that you weren’t frightened by it, you were just clarifying. It wasn’t a tree at all — it was a person. Naturally, your new favorite phrase is “person tree.”

Leo, you have taught us so many things in your two inaugural years. That trains are ridiculously awesome for obvious reasons. That any food that anyone else is eating is automatically yummy. That bath-story-bedtime is an endless source of joy. And that the world, through a 2-year-old’s eyes really is infinitely fantastic. Oh, what you will teach us in 2 (or 20!) more. We can’t wait to find out.

Love,

Mommy

12 thoughts on “To my kiddo on his second birthday

  1. Oh yay, Happy Birthday, Sir Leo!!! Such a fun age (like I didn’t say that for every monthly milestone leading up to 2). The beautiful thing about being two is when people ask you how old Leo is, you can say two (and won’t have to do some crazy math in your head to figure out how many months he is). Also, between ages two and three, the number of milestones slows down, but the amazement at each milestone is no less. In the past year, Gavin has gone from phrasing (love the term!) to full on, unfiltered sentences, many of which make us crack up because they’re spot on (literally) and yet, so far off (figuratively). Anyway, clearly you are smitten by the little person in your life, as you should be, so I hope YOU are celebrating all YOU have accomplished in his life as much as you are celebrating his life! xoxo

  2. Happy Birthday Leo! Are those birthday cars in the picture? They’re perfectly awesome.

    (I have a good feeling this whole “phrasing” thing is going to inspire a few blog treasures in the next few months. Can’t wait!)

    1. Ha, no, we’ve had those cars for a while… we actually don’t even have a real present for him today, but he’s having a party on Sat so we’ll get him something then. Truly, I’m not sure he gets this whole birthday concept yet. 🙂

      Re: the phrasing — one of my favorite things in the world is reading about all the adorable things kids say…just by virtue of being kids.

  3. So sweet, Rebecca! My youngest, Nate, is almost two. I don’t think I realized how close in age they are. Fun! (Also, things start getting better, in my opinion. I have found year 1-2 to be the hardest.)

    1. I didn’t realize that either, Nina! They are the sweetest. And I agree, it feels like it’s getting even (more) better with each passing day. His wonder, his joy, his WORDS! xox

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