Two Years Old!

Our sweet Madeline turns two years old tomorrow! The time has flown by just like everyone always says it will. She has turned into such a little person lately and Corey and I both said, when looking at this photo I snapped of her on Wednesday, that she all of a sudden looks like a little girl and not like a baby anymore. 

She is a combination of strong-willed and stubborn with sweet and affectionate. She is all over the place – running, skipping, and jumping and speaking in complete sentences all of a sudden. Counting to twelve and singing her ABC’s. The time has definitely passed in the blink of an eye.

This year has been so fun watching her personality start to emerge. At preschool, Madeline is the one to give a crying friend a hug or ask them “what’s wrong?” She also knows exactly what she wants and we are seeing our share of toddler tantrums already. She can be a little bossy at times and I’ve caught her more than once shaking a finger at her stuffed animals and telling them “No, no.” Even right now, as I sit at my desk, she is drawing a picture on the easel beside me and I am having to stop at every request for “Mommy make a brown heart. Mommy make a pink one.” She loves music, art, Elsa from Frozen, Peppa Pig, and Daniel Tiger. 

At times she is fiercely independent and wants to try things by herself and at others all she wants is “Mommy, hold me up!” which is her way of asking to be carried or hugged. She was quick to give up her paci and sucking her thumb on her own but when it is time for bed she needs two bunnies, an Elsa doll, and four lovelies for her to settle down. Right now she is referring to herself in the third person often, which I think is so funny. 

When becoming a parent and deciding to leave my full-time job, people often reminded me that the days would be long but the years would be short. That has held so true. The two years since she joined our family have passed in a flash yet it feels like she has always been here.

 If you want to walk down memory lane with me, you can view her birth story here.

Or the letter we wrote to her last year on her first birthday here. We will be celebrating Madeline with all of her little toddler friends and family with a Daniel Tiger party tomorrow. Happy birthday, sweet girl! I hope tomorrow is magical and you know how very much you are loved!