Dear Ana,
Today you turn thirty-one months old. And what a busy month it has been. Now, more than ever, we are just go, go, GO-ing all the time. I strive to keep up with your permanently high energy level. While I rely a little on my morning coffee, your enthusiasm energizes my soul in a way that caffeine can’t even touch. Seeing your eyes light up and a smile spread across your face are all it takes for me to take your hand in mine and set out to conquer the world together.


You love to be on the move. And whenever our weather is comfortable enough (not pouring down rain or scorching hot), we are outside soaking up the Vitamin D. We go for bike rides (you behind Daddy in the Burley), walk to the park, or simply let you cruise around the cul-de-sac on your scooter.


But of course, all this takes place between all your classes. Ballet class has started back up again and you could not be happier. What little girl doesn’t love dancing around, wearing a crown–excuse me, a tiara–and waving a magic wand? You spend a lot of the class twirling around the room and checking yourself out in the mirror, but you still manage to learn some techniques along the way as well. Skill level aside, I’m just happy to have found an activity you continue to look forward to week after week. After all, this is our third session of ballet class and you still love it.



You manage to find ways to be a princess outside of the ballet studio as well. In fact you have taken to climbing rocks (or anything you can pretend is a rock, for example, your overturned Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere chair) and re-enacting the scene from Little Mermaid where Ariel sings “Part of Your World” on the rock. Belting out the “Ah ah ahhh, AH AH AHHH!” just like Ariel does when the Sea Witch takes her voice. Always the little drama queen, you take your performances seriously.



In an attempt to keep your princess time in check, I also try to balance our overly girly activities with some more dirty, farm-friendly ones. We have gone berry picking several times in the last few weeks (strawberries and raspberries) and while you don’t mind getting dirty and even occasionally help me pick berries (rather than just eating them) you simply love the farm life that tends to accompany our local produce. While driving to Smith Berry Barn last week we drove past cows, horses and even stopped to roll down our windows at a deer wandering through an apple orchard. Then once we actually arrived at the farm they had chickens and goats that you very enthusiastically got to feed.


You also have several friends of the opposite sex to keep your interests rounded. Case in point, your friends Ayden and Everett recently had a joint 4th birthday party with a pirate theme. Everyone ran around flexing their (temporary) tattoos, shouting “Arrr!” and raising threatening hooked hands. You had an amazing time and even allowed all the pirate garb to join your princess costumes in the dress-up box.



But I just can’t seem to keep the girly stuff from you for too long. In celebration of the 4th of July, we painted your toe nails OPI’s “I’m not really a waitress” red. Now I’ve been painting your finger and toe nails for awhile now (since you were the flower girl in Aunt Darcie’s wedding to be specific) but I have only used sparkly clear nail polish. Mostly because I cannot stand when nail polish chips and there is NO WAY to keep a 2 year old from chipping her nails. (The clear basically fades away.) But you have recently become obsessed with my red toe nail polish and tell me practically every day, “when I get bigger I can have sparkly red toe nails.” So one morning last week we sat down (I took many calming breaths) and painted your toes. You were so excited you showed everyone your toes for the next several days.




We went to Seaside for the 4th of July this year. Partly because it was on a Saturday and was feasible but also partly because it was going to be in the 90’s here in Portland and your parents do NOT like the heat. So we escaped to the beach and enjoyed the balmy 70 degree weather. We kicked off the celebration with the Seaside Parade. You knew what to expect at this parade, having been to the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade recently, so you enjoyed the fire trucks and marching bands, but you were tickled pink by the fact that this parade threw candy to the watching crowds.


Later in the afternoon on the 4th of July we went down to the beach and staked out a spot for us to watch the fireworks. You had the best time playing on the beach. You have recently gotten over your aversion to sand (slightly to my dismay) and decided that it is The. Best. Thing. Ever. There isn’t anything I can do to keep you out of your friends sandboxes, so being entirely surrounded by sand was like a little taste of heaven for you.


And then we took you down to the ocean. Oh man, the smiles I saw on your face made me forget about how the sand was now going to be glued to every little crevice on your body. Watching you skip down to the water line, your curls bouncing behind you, and cautiously step into the crashing waves, then run will pure glee from the water that was lapping at your ankles, made my entire week. I loved the way you would squeal with delight every time the waves chased you down the beach.



Once you were finally soaked from the ocean we went back to our spot and built a nice bonfire to dry you and your clothes. Then we decided to make some s’mores. You savored your little beach treat; nibbling gently on the graham cracker and licking at the ooey gooey toasted marshmallow. You got about half way through the decadent dessert before the sugar started to kick in. I’m convinced that s’more alone kept you awake to see the very last firework that night.


I was so amazed by your utter lack of fear with regards to the fireworks. The first (illegal) ones that went off sent you running back to our blanket with your hands over your head like it was World War III, but upon seeing that no one else was frightened, you quickly adjusted to the loud bangs and pops. Before I knew it, you were ready to hold your own sparkler and even pretended to write “A-N-A” in the air.

I am so blessed to have you as my daughter. To get to spend my entire day with you, playing and having fun, making memories that will last forever is more wonderful than I could have even thought possible. I know that at your age, these aren’t memories you will retain (even with the steel trap of a memory you have) but I hope that these letters together with the pictures I have taken will help you understand why these are the best days of my life.


All my love,
Mama

Dear Ana,
Today you turn thirty months old, and now we will be telling the truth when we tell people that you are “two and a half” whenever someone asks your age. Although you are always quick to add, “I’m gonna have a birthday! In December! And then I am gonna be THREE!!” Which of course, is accompanied by you thrusting three tiny fingers into their face. The thought of being three excites you to no end, but I have to admit the thought of how quickly you are growing up truly scares me. Can’t you just slow down a bit?!


The big news this month is that we finally got around to painting your “big girl” room. And we could not have done it without your help! We moved your Daddy’s office downstairs a couple months back, knowing that there would be lots of things to do to get you moved out of the nursery and into your new room. The most daunting task of all was the painting. See, the office was red and we wanted your room to be yellow. Not wanting to end up with an orange room, we had to prime everything before painting the actual color. So one week while your Daddy was out of town on business, you and I went to Home Depot and bought all the supplies we needed, then once you went to bed, I painted the ceiling and primed the entire room (your Nana even helped one night!). Then once Daddy was back, he didn’t have any excuses to help us paint and we all worked hard and got it finished over Memorial Day weekend!


Hearing horror stories from our friends and family about moving their toddlers from their crib to a bed, we had no idea what to expect with you. But as with everything else, you were amazing. You were so excited from months of us talking up your big girl bed, that you just climbed right up, told us good night and went to sleep…without escaping once! In fact, for the first week or so, you didn’t even climb out of bed once you woke up, but rather called out to me, “Mama! I woke up! I’m in my big girl bed!” until I came and got you. Now you realize it’s ok to get out of bed (once it’s time to wake up, of course) and have startled me on more than one occasion as you move quietly through the house and then all of a sudden you are beside me. Don’t you know you take years off of my life every time you sneak up on me like that?!



Since you are two and a half now, and oh-so-very-grown-up, we decided it was time we got you your very own scooter. For months you have been telling us, “when I get bigger I can have a scooter” as you stare longingly at the children scooting on by down the street. So I took you to the fancy toy store and let you pick one out. Naturally, you chose the pink one and fell in love with it instantly. You really inherited your father’s athletic ability because you jumped right on that scooter and took off without waiting for me to offer any instruction.



A couple weekends ago your Daddy took you with him to go hiking around Jenkins Estate. While you had a great time exploring the great outdoors, you kept saying, “I just can’t wait to go camping.” While the two things compliment each other very well, you don’t have to do them together. But since the weather was so nice, we thought why not?! However it happened to be Memorial Day weekend and there was almost no chance anything would still be available. So we did the next best thing; we went camping in our own back yard. We had recently bought an outdoor fire pit, so we even got to roast marshmallows before retiring to our sleeping bags for the night. While you have been camping since you were less than six months old, this was the first time we didn’t have you sleep in your Pack ‘N Play, but rather in your own sleeping bag. You would have done great if we had actually bought you an air mattress, but we skimped and just picked up a pool mattress and you kept slipping off. Around 3am, when you had fallen off for the third time, you said, “I wanna go sleep in my bed.” and we all went inside. Trust me, when we go camping for real this summer, we will make sure you have a proper air mattress since your bed will be much further than 30 feet away.



We have been having an unseasonably warm spring and several times have had the luxury of being able to play in the pool and sprinkler. I am very happy to report that your love of the water is still going strong. I was worried you might need a little coaxing to get into the water, at least initially, but I’ve actually had to resort to bribery to get you out of the water…more often than I care to admit.



When you aren’t playing outside, you are letting your imagination run wild inside. I am constantly overhearing a steady stream of narration as you go about your day. You talk to your dolls, your stuffed animals, your toys, the dogs, and more than everyone else put together, you talk to me. All day long with the talking. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, and it is my largest source of entertainment through the day. Your “Ana-isms” keep me (and most of my friends on Twitter and Facebook) laughing and smiling long after the conversation occurred. Your understanding of the world around you blows my mind and the fact that I am easily able to follow your thought process proves that you are more like me each and every day.



Not that there was any doubt that you and I have lots of things in common. You want to do everything that I am doing and are therefore always helping me with the cooking and cleaning. I figure if we start early enough by time I have another child you should be able to handle most of the cooking and cleaning on your own. I mean, you vacuum more than most men, you can make a mean pink cupcake, and can order carry out like nobody’s business. What else is there?!



While I am totally teasing about you having to run the household, I am sure you would step up to the challenge with impressive skill. You are always amazing me and pushing your limits further than I would have ever though possible for someone your age. You are the best daughter I could have ever imagined. All I can say is you’ve set the bar pretty high, kiddo. Thank you for always striving to be your personal best and making sure that, in turn, I work to be the best Mama I can be. You make me feel like I can conquer the world. And I will, Ana, I will do it all for you.


All my love,
Mama