Dear Ruby

Dear Ruby,

Today is the day before your second birthday. You’re busy playing at your Nana’s house and I’ve been driving around all day running birthday errands with a huge smile on my face, thinking about the year that’s passed and how amazingly you’ve grown. Not physically – you’re still a petite little thing who has trouble keeping her pants from sliding down, but mentally your growth could be measured in miles. Last year I had a beautiful bald little baby who could barely pull herself up on her feed or mutter a coherent “ba!” Today I have a sassy little blonde on my hands, frequently crying “myself, myself!!!” as she stubbornly struggles to put on her own shoes.

Last year when I wrote a similar birthday letter to you, I marveled on two things: how much you constantly surprised me and how much you made me laugh. At the end of year two these two things are still very much true, but I feel like I’ve learned so much more about you. You are less of a mystery (chatterboxes leave little to the imagination), yet you continue to reveal new things every day. Here are some things about you, my Miss, that I know to be true:

1. You are a girly girl. Yes, you love cars and especially airplanes, but you also love your purse, your pink cell phone, dressing up in a tutu and high heel shoes and applying endless coats of lotion to your arms and legs.

2. You love pretending to clean or make soup.

3. You like cake. And pie. And ice cream. And chocolate milk. And pizza.

4. You hate having your hair washed, but love pretending to wash it yourself.

5. You love swimming with your Daddy, even though you are afraid.

6. You love your family. Often in the bathtub you name all of your family members (including pets) and make me draw them on the side of the tub in bath crayon.

7. You are a stubborn (or, if you prefer, assertive) little creature, which simultaneously drives me crazy and makes me proud.

I’ll leave it at a lucky number seven – but there are so many other amazing things that make you you. Our journey so far has been both frustrating and delightful and although I find it so hard to believe that you’re only two, I also can’t imagine what it was ever like without you. I love you forever and more and more each day.

xoxo
Mommy