Happy Second Birthday, Chloe!

Chloe,

Today is your second birthday. I can hardly believe that you've outgrown being a baby; although, you'll always be our baby.

You are a spirited toddler. You love to laugh and follow most things you say with a hardy chuckle. You are going to have your mom's temper (that she inherited from your Pop). It's not a mean temper, but you wear your emotions on your sleeve and are not afraid to express your discontent with a situation.

You know what you want. Your vocabulary is beyond your years. I have no idea how many words you can say because there are literally too many to count. You will repeat almost anything that I ask you to repeat and can speak to me in simple, complete sentences. On Tuesday you told me, "Get up, Mommy" because you wanted to go outside. You regularly tell me that "I want Goldfish" and also ask, "Where daddy go?" And those are just a few examples.

I think your ability to express yourself verbally has helped with temper tantrums. You don't seem to have the terrible two fits. Don't get me wrong, you can slam yourself down and scream with the best of them, but you don't have as many fits as I expected. (Maybe I speak to soon.) I believe it's because you can tell us what you want and we understand you.

You prefer to be outside playing rather than inside playing house or watching tv. You do have a few stuffed animals that you are rarely without...Minnie Mouse, Tickle Monkey (TT) and Tasha (from Backyardigans). You like to draw with crayons, on your Magnadoodle or with sidewalk chalk. You hate to have dirty hands. If you even get a little dirt on them, you want them washed immediately. "Oh no, I dirty" is your command for washing your hands.

You love books and are so smart. You can count to 10 and have started saying some numbers in the teens. You know most of the alphabet song. You can sing most of 'Twinkle, Twinkle' and 'Ring around the Rosie'.

You have such an beautiful imagination. You pretend a lot. It's very evident that you are playing make believe. An example, would be when you run around the backyard yelling, "oh no, Swiper get you." (Swiper is the fox on the cartoon Dora the Explorer)

Even though I see the tomboy side of you, I will be the first to admit that I'm in over my head in the girly department. You LOVE pretty things. You might be more into shoes than your Shorty. You love purses, sunglasses and jewelry. I'm pretty sure you are going to be a sassy little thing. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from you over the next few years.

I could go on and on about you, Chloe. I'm trying to be brief. You are happy, happy, happy. I want that to continue throughout your life. Be happy!

Love Always,


Mom and Dad