Ahh...my girl
This won’t suffice but lest I forget…
She’s in a “big girl’s bed” and I’ve had moments of panic and melancholy every time I see how vulnerable she looks all alone in it.
Her hair is now long enough to put up in various configurations. The little sprouts I make she calls “hair hats.” She’s such a sight with her hair hats! And how much Dr. Seuss do we read? One day Bill came home and couldn’t believe she wasn’t modeled after some Who in Whoville.
I'll say "you're a big girl now" and she'll say "not a baby anymore. Baby in mommy's belly." No there's no baby (I don't think) in this Mommy's belly but she's learning something pretty important for when there is.
Adele is wonderful most of the time but a little much some of the time. She talks A LOT and she's smart. She runs into the wind and exclaims "It's WINdy! I like it!" Yesterday, we were outside and she asked "what’s that?" After answering the question a dozen times with a dozen different answers ("that's a saw/ a bird/ a kid screaming/ a lawn mower/ someone's bass/, etc."), she says "No, what's that...smell?" Sure enough the neighbors were lighting up their grill and the scent of lighter fluid was clear. I didn't know she could ask such a thing yet. Kind of freaks me out a little.
She speaks in full sentences and when we're out and about, people comment on how she's too little to be speaking "like that." A lady at the grocery store made a fuss over her. She was wearing a plastic sunflower in her hair. As we walked away from her, Adele, as if waiting for us to be sufficiently distanced from her, says "Flower on her head. Weird." Adele has opinions (okay, most are ours) but she's vocal about them and sometimes it's taxing. Today Bill asked if she wanted mac and cheese and said: “Yes. I DO like cheese.”
While we were out working in the yard, she found a stone and asked what it was, knowing full well. I said “it’s a rock, what else could it be?” And she replies with reverence: “A turtle.” Having just turned 2, it’s unfathomable to us that she is so aware and engaged. Bill and I are pretty swift (most of the time) but I’m afraid with how active her brain seems to be growing, she’ll think she’s illegitimate. She also seems to have mastered the art of casual conversation. If she likes the looks of you while we troll through Walgreens, Costco, Trader Joe’s, you might be greeted with: “Hi how are you? I’m good.” It is the strange and newly spontaneous “I love you!” saved just for us that tickles me to the core.
She's at that age where you can really do things together. She exercises with us, plays music with us, sings entire songs (jingle bells, happy bday, itsy bitsy spider) and works earnestly alongside of us. Bill and I are constantly marveling over her ability to form and express various associations. She does have a tendency to be frustrated if things aren't all "just so." She got angry when she couldn't put all the crayons back in their box, pointy sides up. The point of one crayon had broken off and this was a bit of a show stopper for her. She wants to do things herself and we often hear her telling herself "You CAN DO IT." Bill thinks that's inspiring...I suppose I do too.
When you sneeze, she knows to say Gesundheit. If she bumps into you - which she'll often do on purpose just so she can say "excuse me." I'm both in awe and a little afraid of how well she seems to comprehend things. I don't think we'll get away with the "maybe's" and "we'll see's" for long. Already she knows...when I put in my earrings, she says: "Mommy's earrings. Where's Della's earrings?" Then answers herself before I can: "SOMEday...MAYbe." The latest thing she wants “SOMEday…MAYbe” is her own sized shovel because "mommy's is too big."
