Another Year

(An Open Letter to Baby Bee on her 2nd Birthday)
To my dear, sweet Baby Bee,

It’s super cliche to say that these last two years have gone by so fast and look how much you’ve grown, but the milestones you have reached this last year are amazing, to say the least. In the last year you’ve rolled, crawled, crawled on your knees, taken your first steps, crawled some more (and then some more) and then finally started walking and we haven’t been able to catch you since!

You waited until you were almost 19 months old to start walking and I know it’s simply your determination to get things perfect before trying out a new task. You love to wait and watch and take everything in before diving in to a new toy or activity and I love that you have become a perfectionist, just like your mommy!

While you were sitting back, biding your time before walking, Daddy and I joke that you must have really been taking EVERYTHING in because, by the time you started to walk, you could also recite all of the alphabet. It wasn’t long before spelling and letters became your favorite toy! With the four (yes, four! You can’t say we don’t love you!) sets of letters in the house, Mommy and Daddy are always finding words that you’ve created on your own. Sometimes, we don’t even know that you know a particular word until we find it on the ottoman, or the floor, or by stepping on it in the middle of night…

Daddy is so very proud of you and has started making a list of all the words you can spell on your own. So far we have: [Your Name], rope, jet, box, slide, hat, tub, stage, milk, duck, dog, cow, map, bee (of course!), cookie, machine, float, goat, boat, pit, pot, pig, bug, log, frog, water, cap, crown, nest, truck (one of your favorites), horn, bag and the list keeps growing! Not only are Mommy and Daddy so proud of you, but you continue to amaze us each and every day with your talent and love of learning.

In your second year, we also got to experience moving. When you were almost 1 1/2, we moved in to our new home. We can’t wait to share our first summer here with you, playing in the backyard and enjoying the neighborhood parks!

This year has also been the year of making new friends! You love to hang out with your besties “A” and “C”. We try to see them at least once a week and you usually don’t stop talking about them for a few days afterward! We are incredibly lucky to find such wonderful friends for you to play with and hopefully you will be friends with “A” and “C” for a very long time!

Like mommy, another thing you like to do is watch your favorite television programs! Your favorites are Word World and the Backyardigans. You love to carry Tyrone, Uniqua, Austin, Tasha and Pablo all around the house and sing Backyardigans songs! You know almost all the words to their songs, too!

Among other things, Bee, you are so sweet, funny, thoughtful, precise, careful and loving. Every morning, the thought of spending more time with you makes me jump out of bed! (Okay, maybe I still roll slowly out of bed, but I can’t wait to see you first thing!) I can’t even put in to words how much you have brought to Daddy and Mommy’s lives. I truly have never felt such a deep and powerful love before you came in to my world. Two years later, I still run as fast as I can you get you up from a nap so I can spend more time with you!

I hope this next year brings more love, more humor, more fun and more potty training in to your life (and hopefully a baby brother or sister!)! You are my world and I cherish every second that I am lucky enough to share with you, my sweet girl.

Know that Mommy loves you with all of her heart and would do absolutely anything and everything for you.

Except buy you Hannah Montana concert tickets. You’re on your own for that.

Happy Birthday, Baby. I love you to the moon and back, my sunshine.
XOXO
Mommy

Song title: Another Year by Leo Sayer