Dear Milly,

Today you are 2 years old. We had a simple celebration at Regents Park with cupcakes and friends. The last 2 years you have brought me so much joy. You are an absolute delight. I love you so much. So often I find myself watching you quietly drawing or singing to yourself and just feel so lucky that you are mine. Even though as I write this, you are in your room with your Dad putting you to bed because you prefer him most of the time. You have such a fun personality. You’ve always been very sweet, but your sassy side is starting to show and it is so funny. I’ll ask if I can put you to bed and you say, “No mommy. Daddy take me to bed”. You are sweet and shy and for the most part always stay near me when we are out and about--very refreshing after chasing after your brother for 3 years.

 When you get sad you put 3 fingers in your mouth while you cry, it is so tender. When Otis steals things from you (which is very often) and I ask him to tell you sorry, you always say, “sorry Otie!” before he can and it makes all of us laugh. You love cheese and yogurt, but will eat almost anything.  You insist on riding your scooter with Otis now so we rarely use a stroller (but when we do you go in kicking and screaming ). And when you scoot you often ride with one leg while holding the other leg up behind you as a “trick” and say  “vroom! vroom!” to yourself. I love how you say, "Mommy, guess what?" and point to everything and "Yook Mommy!"

You like to do everything that your brother does. If he takes off his jacket you frantically say, “I’m hot! I’m hot!” until I take your jacket off too.  My favorite part of the day with you is after you get out of the bath and want to be snuggled in a towel and act like a baby.  You still take 1 nap each day in the afternoon.  Most times when you wake up you don’t want to play for awhile and you say, “Milly grumpy” in a fake sad voice that I can't help laughing at.

When we ask how old you are now, you hold up 5 fingers and proudly say "2!". Your laugh is my favorite sound in the world. And Otis can make you laugh harder than anyone. But he is also responsible for making you cry more than anyone. You are one tough cookie though and put up with a lot!

You’re just starting to tell Otis things like, “be careful Otie!” or “get down Otie!”. You’ve always been the more cautious of the two of you and I can see that you’re going to be the more responsible one. You tell me when you’re going to the bathroom now, but I have no interest in going through the hell of potty training anytime soon so I’m ignoring that.  But we did get rid of your binky a few weeks ago and you still randomly tell people, “binky broken” out of the blue. One of my favorite things you do right now is point to everyone and everything around you and ask, "What's that? Whas sat?"

You often say “Don’t touch that mommy” to me about different toys and you always tell me not to use the computer because it’s Daddy’s.  You have LOVED your birthday. All week you’ve been saying, “Milly birthday cake! Milly birthday toys!” Your favorite book is definitely Hairy MaClary from Donaldson's Dairy. 

You have decided that is is no one's responsibility but yours to pick out your outfits and pajamas and there is no changing your mind once you’ve decided what you’ll be wearing. Hats, sunglasses, babies and purses are always part of the outfits. And the only way I can even attempt to do your hair is when you are buckled in your high chair, and even then it is a battle to the end, so most of the time your hair goes wild.

I love you Milly June.