Saturday, March 8, 2014

Happy 2nd Birthday, Alaina!

Dear Alaina,

You are TWO YEARS OLD!! I honestly cannot believe that my baby is two. Because, yes, you're still very much my baby. You have the sweetest little personality. You have always been an easy going little girl. You're generally happy and easy to please. Lately, you've gotten a little more feisty, but hey! You're two. It comes with the territory ;) You're still really sweet, but you are more opinionated about what you want, and you like to loudly express your opinions. For example, you always have a SPECIFIC cup in mind in which you'd like your beverage served. I've started letting you stand on the counter in front of the cup cabinet to pick your own cup. It saves us both a lot of frustration :) You also like to pick out your own pajamas every night. This sometimes turns into a long, drawn out process as you like to look at every pair in your drawers before making your final selection. I try to be patient and let you express your independence when appropriate. I also have to remind you sometimes that I'm the Mommy and I still get to call the shots :)
You are very affectionate.... on your terms :) You love to be held, and you like to snuggle when you're feeling like it. When you're not, you're just NOT. I understand, sweet girl ;) When we ask you for a kiss, you will kindly offer your check for US to kiss. But then sometimes, when we're least expecting it, you will grab our faces between your little hands and plant a big kiss on our lips. We take what we can get! Same with hugs - sometimes when I'm holding you, out of the blue, you throw your arms around my neck and just hold on and squeeze. There is NO better feeling in the world. You'll understand when you're a Mommy :)
You LOVE your sister and brother. It's the sweetest thing to watch. Often times, when you fall down and hurt yourself, you cry and run straight to "Aubey." You want nothing to do with Mommy. You also cry for "Aubey" when you get into trouble, which isn't quite as cute. I have to suppress a laugh at times, because you're just so pitiful crying for your sister when you feel like Mommy is being mean and ruining all your fun :) You and Jude are sweet playmates and really get along very well when Aubrey is at school. When she's here, Aubrey and Jude usually play together, and you take on more of the "baby sister" role. When it's just you and Jude, though, you hold your own, and I love seeing the relationships develop between all three of you.
You talk so much these days. It's so fun to be able to communicate with you so well! It's so cute to hear you talking with your brother and sister. Hearing your little conversations always makes me smile.

We recently turned you forward facing in the car, and I think you're LESS happy than you were rear facing. You can now see stuff on the floor of the car that you want, and you spend a good bit of our car time fussing for various items and being quite demanding. We might have to turn you back around, Lainey! ;)
You have always been SUCH a good eater. Recently, though, you've gotten more picky. I figured this would probably come at some point, but I was still sad when you quit gobbling down everything that was put in front of you. We still offer you everything we eat, and you get to decide whether or not to eat it. We don't make a separate meal for you if you opt out of what we're having, though ;) I don't stress about your eating habits since you're not the first picky child that I've dealt with. Ha!
You have a wide variety of names that you are called. The most common name that you hear and the name that you refer to yourself as is "Lu Lu." This started because I used to call you "Lainey Loo." And then I think Aubrey is the one who started calling you just "Lu Lu." And wouldn't you know, it stuck. I find myself calling you Lu Lu almost exclusively these days. It kind of makes me laugh, but it suits you in a cute little way. When you see pictures of yourself, you say "Wu Wu!" So precious. I'll be curious to see if that nickname sticks around. You also answer to Alaina, Alaina Ruth, Lainey, "Waina" as Jude calls you, and even Ruthie. You just never know what's going to come out of our mouths when we're calling you. Haha!

You absolutely LOVE and adore babies. If we see a baby anywhere, you yell "bebe!" until I look and acknowledge the baby. (And by the way, a "bebe" to you is any child less than probably 4. Ha!) You get SO upset if we see a baby and you don't get to look or touch as much as you'd like. I sometimes have to carry you away from a baby literally screaming because you didn't get to touch him or her. This kind of makes me sad. I love that you love babies so much, and I know that you would be SUCH a sweet big sister. We are praying that you get to experience this joy soon :)
I wish that I could better capture your personality on this blog, but it's just not possible because there's SO much to you.... so many little things that make us love you and make you unique. You are such a joy. We all just think you're the cutest thing in the world, and we're delighted by you. Our family would not be complete without you. Two years ago, you entered our world, and our family has felt more complete and been more filled with laughter because of you. When I'm rocking you before bed every night, I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord chose ME to me your mother. I don't forgot what a privilege that is, and it's a responsibility that I take VERY seriously. We love you SO very much.

Happy Birthday, my little Lu Lu!
Mommy

2 comments:

Sarah Denley said...

She's such a doll! It was a perfect day in BK, but I thought about y'all probably ten times, at the least. Miss you and those sweet babies so much!

Anonymous said...

The party was so much fun and I can't believe she's 2! The boys asked if Mrs. Sarah Denley would be there, and were sad that they couldn't come. They said, "she's always there!" We all missed them!

Love,
Gramzie