Happy 2nd Birthday...

To my messy,

Rock star,

Sweet,

Silly,

Smart,

Loving,

Funny,

Birthday Girl, Elsa.

From the very beginning, she was always on the go. Learning at a pace that has always amazed me. She has a heart that is full of love and forgiveness. She is passionate and strong-willed. She is my helper, my snuggler, my milk addict. I love her with all of my heart.

She is so incredibly smart. She can already recite her ABCs and count to 15. She can sing the words to entire songs and has the words to certain books memorized. She knows all her colors and shapes. She can put on her own clothes, socks and shoes...the right way (she knows the tag goes in back and which shoe goes on what foot).

She is my mischievous, sly and agile girl. She loves to climb up on everything so much that I had to put safety locks on my kitchen cabinets above my counters. She gets a certain twinkle in her eye when she is about to do something wrong and loves to push the limits.

She has a bond with Sophie that is so heart-warmingly strong. She forgives Sophie quickly through all her stages of aggression. At times, they have huge belly-laughing fun moments. At other times, they cuddle up and sleep next to each other. At other times, they are beating each other up (even though Sophie is twice her size, she can hold her own).

From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she has to account for everyone in the family (Daddy work, Charlie sleeping, Sophie at school). When it is just the two of us hanging out during the day, she is the first to hear Charlie's cry when he wakes up from a nap and insists that I go get him right away. She loves to feed him his bottle and always makes sure he has a bib.

She is mostly potty-trained and INSISTS on running around naked all day long. She has a love-hate relationship with clothes. She loves to pick out what to wear but hates to wear them unless I threaten to leave her at home unless she gets dressed.

Her sippy cup of milk is her lovey. She screams for it whenever she is tired or hurt. If I let her, she could probably drink a gallon of whole milk a day. And yet, she remains my little peanut. She is so tiny that she makes Charlie look big.

She loves to help me with everything and always has to know what I am doing every second of the day. She is practically glued to me at times. I love taking her out and about with me. She makes running on errands fun. She has such a huge personality on her.

She has somehow inherited my slight OCD behavior. If she gets a drop of liquid on her clothes, they must come off immediately (maybe just another ploy to get naked) no matter where we are. She is very particular about certain things and notices the tiniest details. Like a little paper tag hanging off the edge of her new Memory game card MUST come off.

She LOVES her baby dolls and does everything with them. It is fun watching the way she interacts with them. She is so gentle and caring and loving.

She goes to preschool two mornings a week and her teachers refer to her as the other teacher. She is always concerned that everyone is taken care of and loves to clean up the toys.

Happy 2nd Birthday my dear sweet Elsa. I hope you have a wonderful day.