On being the mother of an almost 2 year old

I write on the eve of Katie's 2nd birthday. In anticipation of "the big day" the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about motherhood, specifically about being Katie's mommy. So, as a public declaration of love for my daughter, I thought I'd share some of these thoughts as well as a sneak preview of some photos we had taken several weeks ago. (I'll post the rest once the Christmas gifts have been distributed to family!)

The foremost thought in my mind these past few weeks is what a JOY it is to be her mother. The past 12 months of her life have been so much fun. Week by week I've gotten to witness the many incremental changes in her development, the teeny ones that only a mother would notice (e.g. "She just made an 's' sound for the first time!" or "I didn't know she knew the words to that song!"). Then there would be those days when she seemed to have become an older, different child overnight. It seems like yesterday that I was trying to guess what her grunts and cries meant. Now I'm having real, actual conversations with my child...that she's initiating!

Here are a few of my favorite things about my daughter:

• She LOVES to sing and even tries to sing along with us at church even though she has no clue what the words are. It's hysterical because she sounds just like most people sound when they're singing along to a song but then hit a section where they don't know the words! You know what I'm talking about....


• She calls the "ABCs" the "HIJs."


• Whenever she sees a picture of me from my wedding day, she gets an ecstatic expression on her face and shouts, "Mommy Princess!"


• Her favorite song is "The wise man built his house upon the rock" although she calls it the "Wah-wee song." She even does the motions (as seen in the photo on the left above).


• When she pretends to cook (which she does often) and you ask her what she's making, she usually says either "rice" (which is weird because she hates rice) or "cupcakes." When you ask her what kind of cupcakes she's making, she says (without hesitation) "doughnut cupcakes," a response which is without a doubt inspired by her many trips with Daddy to the doughnut shop a block away.

I could go on and on, of course. But I need to go to bed so I can make sure to get up early enough to fix pancakes for breakfast. Why pancakes? Because when I asked her what she wanted to eat on her birthday, that's what she said!

More pics to come tomorrow!