2010 - Year End Review

Happy 2nd Birthday, my sweet pumpkin-headed, spitfire, be-pigtailed best girl!

Oh my gosh, I've been reading your monthly recaps from 2010. I can't believe how much you've changed in just a single year. And it's also cool to see how much you've stayed the same. In keeping with last year's recap, I'll now present several Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. Airplanes and Helicopters
2. VeggieTales
3. Sesame Street
4. Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse
5. Cheese
6. Cookies from Publix
   
7. Playgrounds
8. Bananas
9. Busses
10. Books

Top 10 Things You Hate:

1. Being told 'no'
2. Waiting
3. Sitting still
4. When the credits roll on either VeggieTales or Sesame Street
5. Tacos
6. Loud noises (especially the vacuum)
7. When your stuffed animals or dolls have clothes on
8. Riding in a shopping cart without anything to eat
9. Riding in the car for long periods of time
10. Having a sock and a shoe on your left foot while riding in the car (weird, random, and 100% true)

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Making Daddy and me laugh
2. Running and jumping
3. Eating
4. Sleeping
5. Giving Eskimo kisses
6. Identifying all your letters and most numbers up to 20
7. Counting 1-5 and 10 on your fingers
8. Entertaining yourself with books
9. Making funny faces and noises
10. Climbing stairs

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Being patient - I mean really, come on kid, one of these days you've GOT to learn that things don't always happen on your timetable. Pitching a fit because dinner's not ready while I'm physically making you dinner is not helpful. It's not like I'm taking a nap and you want to eat dinner. I'm in the kitchen, cooking your dinner and you're in Nuclear Meltdown Mode.
2. Sitting still - it's like you think I'm going to make you take a nap if you're still for more than 2 seconds. Sitting still is fun. Trust me.
3. Accepting that you're not the boss - Daddy and I are the bosses. Team Smith is a dictatorship. I know that's unfair, but think of this - you get to be the dictator when you have kids. Until then, you're under the authority of Daddy and me.
   
4. Folding clothes - throwing clothes around the living room is NOT folding. Sticking your hands through Daddy's socks and making hand puppets is NOT folding. Climbing in the basket of folded clothes is NOT folding.
5. Mowing the lawn - you might be too short to push the mower, but you're tall enough to reach the phone to call someone to mow our lawn.
6. Being go-with-the-flow - you're not the most content child. Philippians 4:11 is a verse that I hope to teach you and one I hope you'll take to heart.
7. Keeping your books on your bookshelf - you prefer to be able to see every book you own, and what better way to see them than to spread them all over your floor. And many times, you like to take a quick swim through your books.
   
8. Saying certain words - you know a lot of words, but there are some key ones that you should work on, namely 'hi', 'I love you', 'Mommy, you're the best and most beautiful mommy in the wide world'.
9. Sharing - I hope it's normal for a 2-year-old and especially for a 2-year-old who's an only child, but you know nothing of sharing. I imagine you'd rather eat tacos while holding a fully-clothed doll while I run the vacuum than share a toy.
10. New situations - I can totally relate to this because I'm the same way. You're extremely panicky in new environments, you often want to leave immediately, and crowded situations really send you over the edge. I'm not sure how to help you overcome this, but it's something I'm really going to focus on in 2011.

From January 2010 to December 2010, you've gone from someone who hadn't taken her first step to someone who runs in circles. You've gone from someone who said two words to someone who says over 20. You've gone from someone who has 4 teeth to someone who has 12(ish) teeth. You've gone from someone who haaaates baths to someone who loves baths (as long as you're standing up). You've gone from someone who weighed a tad over 20 lbs to someone who weighs at least 30 pounds. You've got from someone who loves food to someone who, well, still loves food. You've gone from someone who didn't know her numbers to someone who, when holding two things, holds up two fingers (and when you hold three things, you hold up three fingers). You've gone from someone who doesn't know her alphabet to someone who knows each letter and knows words that start with each letter. You've gone from someone who slept in a crib to someone who sleeps in a toddler bed. You've gone from someone who didn't know anything about Sesame Street or VeggieTales to someone who loves Elmo and Bob. You've gone from someone who hates being in the church nursery to someone who's all giggles when I pick her up. You've gone from someone who likes books to someone who looooooooves books. You've gone from someone who was awesome and funny to someone who is fantastically awesome and excruciatingly funny. You rock our world.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy