“I’m showing you two, right?” Peeper asks, holding up her index and middle fingers to show how old she is. She hasn’t quite mastered holding up a half-finger, though technically she should: She’s 2 1/2 years old.
Eric and I routinely marvel at how freaking awesome she is. She makes me laugh, like when she warned Eric, “Don’t get a head wedgie!” and when she blows a raspberry and says, “You tooted with your mouth.”
She’s smart. We play War, and she not only knows all her numbers plus the face cards but also knows which one is bigger. (What a card shark! We should take her to Vegas.) She’s also beginning to write and read sight words like “zoo,” “cat” and “woof.” When she tries to write her name her Es have a few extra lines, but that only makes her beginning penmanship more adorable.
She’s sensitive. If I go on an errand, she runs up to me and asks for a hug when I get back. “You’re sad Mama left you behind, aren’t you?” she’ll say. And when she overheard me say I’d cracked my knee on the bed frame, she kneeled in front of me, put her stethoscope on my shin and then kissed my leg. If only all doctors were as sweet.
She’s beginning to embrace her role as big sister, too. Peeper is scared of a badger in the wonderful, quirky book Findus Disappears, but she’s working through that fear. The other day she asked to look at the badger pages. Afterwards she ran over to Kiwi, patted her head, gave her a hug and said, “It’s ok, it’s ok, you don’t have to be frightened.” She’s only 2 1/2 years old but is already looking out for Little Sis.
I love that Peeper has such a strong personality. She is sometimes serious—her look of intensity shows she’s focused on taking in the world—and sometimes goofy, spinning around in circles on the ground while shouting “What are you doing?!” She loves singing, jumping, reading, painting, hiking and throwing rocks. She hates washing her hair but will play in the bath for as long as we let her—then demands to be carried around as a “burrito” in the towel. She’s opinionated (“You don’t want any of those choices!” she’s been known to insist) but also polite. She is complex, vibrant, challenging.
Sometimes she drives me crazy—usually when I’m trying to get her to eat something, anything—but nothing could make me give up my role as Peeper’s mother.
Happy half-birthday, sweetpea.
What a sweet, sweet! I can see so much personality in her smiles (and…head wedgie? I love that!?)
I know! I can’t remember the context for the head wedgie comment, but it cracked us up!
Aww happy half birthday!! Such a beautiful description of a beautiful soul. What a lucky pair the two of you are to have each other 🙂
Truth! I am so lucky.
That’s awesome! What a great personality she has already! We have friends with a 2+ year old and we are so impressed by how much of a person he is, speaking and making decisions and everything. Congrats!!
I am impressed every day by how much independence and initiative she shows already. Two year olds are amazing!
Beautiful. I love that you celebrate the big milestones and the little. Happy 2.5!
Thanks Ali! It’s fun to take stock periodically—and then look back at previous milestones.
Happy half-birthday Peeper! I’m also a firm believer that half birthdays should be celebrated. I love that photo of her in the sea foam.
She is obsessed with sea foam! She’ll play for hours in it.
What a sweetheart! Happy half-birthday, Peeper!!
These posts logging Peeper’s evolution are so sweet, and they will be a treasure to her someday. In decades to come (and they come quickly) it will be a beautiful thing to be able to show her what she looked like through your eyes as the years pass. Such a gift.
That’s what I’m hoping to do: chronicle the little moments we so easily forget. I haven’t been as diligent in doing so as I’d hoped, but even a few snapshots will help jog our memories, I hope!