Dear Matilda -- a Prelude to Two

Dear Matilda,

It's you. Yes, you. You are emerging as your own person. With your own preferences, demands, style (you LOVE those kitty jammies), and quirks. You have a personality. And it is one that I adore. My lack of Matilda details these last few months on the blog kills me because you have done so many things, and said so many thing I want to capture and remember forever. And the absence is not a reflection of my not noticing you or those little tiny moments, it is my inability to find time to blog.

You light up the room when you arrive announcing with a loud "HI MAMA", and ensure no one misses your exit either.  You are becoming more social, and less skeptical of strangers. There are still moments of shy caution, but you offer up greetings and smiles more often.  You hold out your arm, and wave your fingers to friends as if to say "come play with me".

You are obsessed with animals. But really only in theory. Once you have the chance to get close to puppies, kitties, etc, you kind of freak out a little. Every time we go for a walk, you basically ask for us to find you puppies the entire time. And, we do a pretty good job rodeo-clowning you to believe we are on a puppy hunt and not just a family walk. 

You are turning into a polite little girl. Saying  please and thank you. To that end, you are talking up a storm. Stringing new words together to form new sentences every day. You now call Daddy, Dah-dee. It is precious, and melts his heart (something I am sure we will need to lock down in the very near future). You are so excited to tell us stories when you go on an adventure with only one of us. "Mama, guy up down up down beep beep, up high".....the most recent story of your escapade to Home Depot where you saw a guy on a lift getting some lumber.

You can't pronounce your "c" if it comes at the front of a word. Cat is "dat" (pretty confusing since that is also you 'that'). BUT, if the word ends in a "ck" or "k", you take such. great. care. annunciate every single syllable. Ducks becomes a 5-second word to say because you say "du" and the "cks" comes very thoughtfully and carefully after.

You love your Daddy. So much. 

And you love his bike, and that he bikes. Every morning running to the window to watch him bike away. And EVERY person you see on a bike while we are out and about you say: Daddy Bike. You love trying on all of his gear and 'tickling' him with his big winter gloves.

                                                   

You still love Peek a Boo. But what I love is that now you say "Peek" and then when you look you say "See you". Ugh. I die for it every time.

 I also love seeing you get frustrated. Not because I like to see you frustrated but because I see a determined, persistent little girl emerging that is going to be ready to take on this world. Yesterday morning you were making a stack of books that kept toppling over and you got. so. mad. that they wouldn't stack. But you figured it out, and eventually got them stacked juuuuust so.

And, you are now a big sister. And you are a great big sister. It has been a lot of change for us. And a lot of change for you. And I am so proud of you, and how much you already love your baby sister. Announcing "Bea's up!" whenever you hear her in the morning (because let's face it, you are still our little 5:50AM alarm clock), and  pointing to your eyes whenever Bea is crying, even suggesting to me "Bea milk" in case I hadn't thought of that.

You love to play "Ready, Set, Go"...whether it is to start a race, go down the slide or run circles in the living room. I would be lying if I told you I hadn't used that to my advantage to get you to get your hat on. Coat on. Shoes on. Pretty much anything I can use this game for, I do. But that is how much you love it. 

                                           

The obsession with monkeys is real, but partially our fault as it is your only interaction with videos to this point. You will sit and watch the same 8 minute, 6 second BBC documentary clip on monkeys every day. And will beg for more every time you see Daddy or I with our phone.

You have a happy heart. And even though M-I-N-E is your favorite word right now, you love to be around other kids. Cautiously watching from the sidelines before you jump in and play. As they said in your daycare conference: "you are happy to play with others, but are quite content on your own path as well." And I hope you keep that as you get older. It will serve you well because sometimes that path everyone else is on, isn't the right one for you.

You are getting ready to turn 2!! And I can't wait to see what this next year holds for you. My big girl. Who will probably always be getting too old too fast for me.