Dear Ana,
Yesterday you turned twenty-three months old. Your birthday is quickly approaching and this is a fact you are not oblivious to in the least. Lately you have become OBSESSED with birthdays. When you aren’t singing “happy birfday to Swiper” you are telling me all about your birthday party:

Ana: Mama, I have a birfday party.
Me: That’s right. It’s coming up. What do you wanna have at your party?
Ana: Um. Birfday cake.
Me: Of course. Anything else?
Ana: Um. Birfday hats.
Me: Sure. We can do that. Is that it?
Ana: Aydenowen!!

This last part is frequently changed to whoever is your favorite friend at the moment. Apparently all you need for your birthday to be complete is cake, some party hats, and your best buds. Sounds good to me!


Being the little charmer that you are, people are always stopping us to say how cute or well-behaved you are. The first thing they ask is your name and in true little girl form you have to assert your independence and therefore have started to answer the questions yourself, telling them, “I Ana.” Then anticipating their next question you chime in with, “I be TWO in Dis-ember!” More often than not, people are shocked that 1) you know how old you are and 2) you can speak so well for not even being two years old. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: you continue to amaze me.


Sometimes the fact that you are a nearly-two-year-old-prodigy goes to your head and you have been known to show off a little bit. For example the other day we were playing at the park when two little boys (I’m guessing about three and five years old) came over to the play structure where you were climbing. They were playing hide and seek and the younger brother peeked over the edge and shouted, “Where is you?” to his hiding brother. Wanting to play too, but always striving for perfection, you ran up behind the little boy and shouted, “Where ARE you?” Clearly illustrating the “correct” way to find someone who was hiding. Like I said: SHOW OFF.


Several weeks ago you were the flower girl in your Aunt Darcie’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and you played your part wonderfully. Leading up to the event I kept talking about “my sister” so much that you started telling people that you has a sister. At first I was a little concerned that you had developed some sort of imaginary friend but upon further questioning I solved the mystery. You started out by telling me your sister was little… and you loved her… and liked to kiss her… Then you informed me your little sister’s name was Amalia (your friend Everett’s new baby sister). It sounded like Maria when you said it so it took me quite awhile to figure this part out. I think all the “sister talk” made you want a sister too and the only person you knew who had a little baby sister was Everett. If you’re lucky, maybe he’ll be willing to share until you get one of your very own.


Here in the Bateman household, we love fall. We love the changing of the seasons, the falling leaves, the cool weather, the pumpkins and especially Halloween. And you are thoroughly enjoying all the activities we set up to celebrate this amazing time of year. I was really excited how involved you wanted to be in each activity, particularly when it came to pumpkin carving. You climbed right up beside me at the table and plunged your tiny arm into the sticky, slimy pumpkin, just as I had done. You laughed out loud in glee upon discovering what was inside the pumpkin. You delighted in the large slippery seeds and helped me (mostly) clean out an entire pumpkin before tiring of your role in the process. You slipped away to catch up on some Dora the Explorer while I did all the intricate carving, but quickly rejoined me for the exciting unveiling of the finished pumpkin.


I showed you the pumpkin I carved especially for you and asked if you could tell what it was. You looked up at me in disgust and informed me it was a pumpkin. I laughed and showed you the design I carved and asked again. This time you paused, and studied the varied shapes and slices, then muttered, “Umm. A car?” I knew it was a little tricky to identify in the daylight, so we took you down to the laundry room, lit the candle, and turned off the lights. You instantly shrieked out in delight, “It DORA!!”


Seeing how excited you were about your Dora pumpkin, I carved an Elmo one as well. This time you were much quicker at identifying the carved character. Anytime we were returning to the house from our daily outings you would shout, “Pumpkins! I see my pumpkins! Hi pumpkins!”


Then after all the excitement of pumpkins we got to celebrate Halloween. I was really excited because of how excited you were to go Trick-or-Treating. You wore your lion costume like a pro, even giving a nice “rawr” upon request. You said “trick treat” when asking for candy and whenever you forgot you filled in with the ever acceptable “candy please” making me the proudest mama of all time. You were completely in awe of the total strangers that were just giving away candy and probably would have trick-or-treated all night if it weren’t for the fact that you are a tiny littler girl who requires lots of sleep to maintain your pleasant nature. Lots and lots of sleep.


Oh honey, you know I only tease you because I love you. And how could I not? There are just so many things about your personality that make you totally and completely lovable. I love the way you are suddenly obsessed with Rice Krispies cereal and insist upon eating it for breakfast–“at the BIG table”–every morning. I love that you beg me to “sing Rock-a-bye Baby and tickle me” every time I try to put you to sleep. I love that for a week straight you counted like, “1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 9.” Every. Single. Time. I love that you think it’s hilarious when you ask someone, “What’s your name?” over and over again. I love that you say “cheers!” and chink your glass at least once during every meal. I love when you burst into song and sing one line on repeat. I love that you want a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. I love that you understand the library is a wonderful place. I love when you ask for a family hug. But most importantly, I love you.


All my love,
Mama

Dear Ana,
Yesterday you turned twenty-two months old. We’ve been pretty busy lately so the date actually snuck up on me. In fact I didn’t even realize it was the 9th until I opened my weekly email from Baby Center and they announced, “Your child is 22 months old.” But even more shocking was the little postscript at the bottom of the email informing me, “In two months, your toddler will turn 2 and you’ll graduate to the ParentCenter newsletter, My Preschooler This Month!” Preschooler? PRESCHOOLER?!


One of the things that has been keeping us so busy is the sheer fact that it’s fall. My favorite time of year. Very soon you will discover all the wonderful things that come with fall: pumpkins, the leaves changing color, Halloween, crisp autumn air, burning candles, wearing sweaters. I digress; I just love it all. The other day I decided we would go out and plant some allium bulbs. I thought it would be fun to be outdoors, get our hands dirty, and several months from now I could share with you the softball size purple and white blooms that would surely delight you. I explained what we were going to do and you seemed pretty excited, particularly about getting to have your very own shovel. You were having a great time until about five minutes in you leaned over a little too far and fell into the (barely six inch deep) trench I just dug. You stood up, decided gardening was not for you and insisted, “Wanna go inside now.”


I am consistently amazed at what a person you are becoming. Complete with your very own thoughts and opinions on just about every matter. In the last month you have really started expressing your emotions. You are always telling me, “I wuv you Mama” and wanting to give your Daddy and I hugs and kisses. When you’ve been crying and I ask you what’s the matter you simply say, “I sad…need a tissue.”


You got sick a couple days ago while your babysitter, Steph, was watching you. Luckily Daddy was home and rushed down to help: stripping you out of the soiled clothes and cleaning you up. He later told me that as he was cleaning you, you looked up at him and said, “Juice come out mouth….make me sad.”


With learning how to express emotions, you are also learning how to manipulate them. Playing to our weaknesses and turning on the sweet, innocent charm to get the things you want. Anytime you’ve just gotten in trouble or done something bad you shrink down a little and softly whisper, “Hi Mommy.” I’m sure you would even bat your eyelashes at me if you only knew how.


More than just sharing your feelings and getting yourself out of trouble, you are always keeping us entertained with the things you say. For example today at lunch you took a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and declared, “It my favorite!” Totally out of no where. In fact, in the past you were less than impressed with the childhood staple. These are some of your more frequent expressions lately:
“Where are you, Mommy?”
“Hi friends!”
“I wan’ choca’ milk. Choca’ milk p’ease?”
“I did that!”
“I hold you, Mommy.”
“Shhh! What that?”
“I hear kids!”
“Wanna watcha movie?”
“Daddy workin’…office!”

Several of your playgroup friends started preschool this year and as a result there has been a lot of discussion involving school. A couple weeks ago you asked me to help you put on your tiny back-pack and you climbed on your bike and informed me, “I go school!” Soon enough, my dear, soon enough.


In lieu of school, we are taking another class through the parks & rec. This particular class, “Creating Together,” is a parent participation art class. I wanted a way to let you be artistic and messy, but not necessarily in OUR own home. This was the perfect solution. I was a little worried when you walked up to the homemade play dough, touched it and promptly walked away proclaiming, “it yucky!” But you came around when you spotted the paint and even let me help you to finger paint…once you realized it would wash off of course.


All in all, I would have to conclude that this has been another amazing month. As we get closer and closer to you becoming a preschooler (a chill went down my spine as I wrote that!), I feel like our time–just YOU and ME time–is slipping away. You are growing up faster than I could have imagined. I want to spend every minute with you, filling our days with fun outings and exciting adventures. I love that fact that you have truly taught me to live in the moment and never take anything for granted. I can promise you right now, I will never waste an opportunity to wrap my arms around you and remind you that you are the most important thing in my world.


All my love,
Mama