A Letter to the 2 Year Old

I attended a meeting of moms this week. Before we got started, a few of us were chatting about our kids. I said something like, "She's two, so some days are normal and some days are...." I just couldn't find the word. One of the other moms piped up right away, "Oh, I understand. Irrational, ridiculous, nonsensical . Don't worry, she will become human again around 3 1/2."

I've been thinking about what that means, so I decided to write a letter to my daughter, and it was a pretty fun exercise! You know my track record, if I don't write it down I will forget. And as I finished the letter I realized just how ridiculous she is, in an endearing way of course. I guess life with a 2 year old has become normal.

Here's a piece of that letter (and a pretty accurate picture of my life):

Dear Justice, 
You are growing in your imagination and creativity! I was at a moms group this week where kids your age were described as irrational and nonsensical. The other moms reassured me that you will return to humanness around age 3 1/2. While this sounds about right, this current stage of complete ridiculousness is so funny! So I thought I would share some of what you're doing.

You treat your stuffed animals and dolls like they are real. They use the bathroom, often wear diapers, sleep and wake, and you nurse them. They have blankets, they cry, and you rock and comfort them. Right now you are singing "Amazing Grace" to Sheepy as you put her down for a nap in your bed. Your favorites are Fleece Bear, Sheepy, Silly, and Baby Jack.

You love your apron, wear shirts as "pony tails" and "long hair." You like hats and sunglasses. You jump over any line you see, you use crawling, walking, skipping and running almost equally. Oh, and flying. You fly like a butterfly every night after a bath or shower. You have started reading books to me (and all of your animal friends).

You almost always dress crazily, you love to hula, and you can make any sentence into a song. Oh, and you talked on the phone to Papa this week.

You like to be silly, like pretending that Daddy works at the "Juice Shop" instead of the "Coffee Shop;" or asking Daddy to take the monster out of our car when he goes to work. And you are completely serious when you let the lions in our house, but make the tigers stay outside. Most of the time, you don't like tigers. Your pancakes are 18 different objects and animals with each bite you take and you frequently request "cow's milk" as your beverage of choice.

You are crazy-enthusiastic about life. You believe us. You challenge us. You share with us. You want desperately to play with your brother! He's in for a wild ride!