May 19, 2009

Dear Sarah,

Well, here we are. We made it through another year. You have grown so much, come so far, learned so much and taught us so much in the past year. You started out your second year in a family of three and ended it in a family of five. A year ago you couldn't walk, you only said a couple of words and we were still feeding you with a spoon. Now you can run, jump and climb, you know dozens of words and can put more than one word together in a phrase and you can feed yourself, for the most part, when you feel like it.

You are talking up a storm these days. Your vocabulary is really exploding - even if sometimes I am the only person who can understand you. Your articulation isn't always fabulous but it is improving. It is interesting because you don't seem to need to know what a lot of words are. You don't point to things asking what they are because you already know. It is just a matter of being able to say all of the words that you already know in your brain. Some of the best words that we've heard this month include: crib, Owen (finally!!), stuck, swing, plop, outside (pronounced: owsiiiiite) and tree.

With Granddad being here for three weeks we have spent a lot of time outside. You are SO HAPPY outside. So much so that when I come in to get you out of your crib ("creeeeb") in the morning you immediately as to go outside ("owsiiiiiite"). It is really sweet. You play in your sand box, water the flowers, muck around and go down three slides. You have negotiated egress on the two adjoining yards and both have slides. As you go down you yell "Wheeeeeee!" We have been to the farm and the duck pond and we did have one memorable outing to an art museum. We won't likely be in a rush to repeat that any time soon.

This month your ability to do imaginary play has begun to take off. You can enact scenes from your Pooh video and your favorite game is to mimic the babies. You will lie on the ground and kick like they do, you will crawl around and you will get stuck under furniture like they do. Your imitations are spot on - you're definitely paying attention. It is really cool to watch you start to play like this - when your imagination really kicks in, the world is your oyster. Keep up the good work little one!

I am struggling a bit with this birthday because I feel like you're getting closer to a time when people will tell you that you're different. I hate to think that you will see yourself as different from other little people because you're adopted. And then I think to myself that your dad and I think that you are different if the definition of different is that you are special, amazing and somehow just a little bit closer to the divine than other kids. And then I realize that makes you just the same as every other little kid because their parents think that they are different too. And that makes me feel a little bit better.

For a couple of reasons, I am glad that this milestone is here. I no longer have the stigma of "three under two" and you now have carte blanche to have tantrums in public - something you have, mercifully, not done to date. Should anyone give me a harsh look, I'll just shrug my shoulders and say, "She's two." Hopefully that will scare them off. On the other hand, I am so sad that you're no longer one. We will no longer count your age in months. You can't fly for free and you can't get a drink on the plane. You ate your birthday cake by yourself. You can climb up slides without me. You don't need me to get up and down the stairs. Your rolls of baby fat are almost all gone. You wear your hair in pony tails - oh so cute, but oh so grown up. You aren't a baby anymore. But, you'll always be my baby.

Love,
Mama