Happy Birthday to You

Well, I woke up not believing this child could be two years old. I am amazed at how time flies. Sometimes a day seems to last a long time, although that is even more rare, it seems, yet the years fly by. My oldest is 11 years old, and I just don't see myself as the parent of an 11-year-old.

But I am the parent of an 11-year-old, and a son, and this 2-year-old daughter. I love so many things she does, but I don't feel like I comment about them often. I am going to preserve them here today. This is as close to a baby book as I have for this one.


Gertie is smart. I was reflecting on what she knows yesterday, and she impresses me as smart. My others were smart too, and I'm not sure if memory fades about these things or not. But anyway, she counts to ten without missing a beat. She'll say her ABCs with lots of holes here and there, but she gets through the song. What strikes me most is that she talks in complete sentences. Long ones. It doesn't hit me every day, but as it was her second birthday I was thinking that is a little unusual. She likes to call people by their names. Even little friends she plays with or just meets. Names seem to be important to her.

She loves her brother. She often calls him
Brother," or "Boy." And if she sees a group of kids, she calls out to them, "Hello, kids," or "wait for me, kids."

Gertie also loves soup. She gobbles it up every time we put it in front of her, which is often. She likes hot dogs and fruit. I've watched her eat three dogs in one sitting. Where do they go? She calls strawberries blueberries no matter how many times I correct her. She won't drink white milk, but she will drink chocolate milk. She loves nuts, and ate them at every chance she got over the holidays when there were many around. She loves suckers, and will even sneak them if she
gets a chance.

Gertie doesn't obey as well as I'd like her to. I really did make my other two listen better (at least as I remember it today). I sometimes ponder this and wonder why I don't force it as much. And what I conclude is I'm more patient, and I mean to a flaw. I say, "Let's put your coat on." She runs off. I say, "Come on, Gertie. Let's put your coat on. " I say it again. And again. Finally, I say, "If you don't come right now I'm going to put you in the no-no chair. " It never fails: She comes right away. I need to work on this.












Gertie is moody. And a bit whiny. A lot whiny. I am working on that as well, but it is sloooooow going. If she wakes up in the morning and I go in to get her, sometimes she wants Dad and she won't come to me. If Grace goes and she wants me, she won't go to Grace. If she kicks you in the head and you're hurt or mad, she says, "What happened?" like she's got no clue. She wants a kiss on every ouchie, including the ones on her rear end. She has faith in those kisses, though. And they don't have to be from me. There is no special magic there. She wants to kiss my ouchies too.


And Gertie is so independent. This is another thing I don't remember so early from my other two. Gertie wants to put on her own clothes, go to the bathroom all by herself, zip her own pajamas, brush her own teeth, get into the car by herself, eat by herself. If I do any of these for her against her wishes, she unzips or climbs down or pushes it away so she can redo it by herself. She just erases what she doesn't like and fixes it so she likes it. These things take three times as long as if I could just do it and be done.












She calls blankets mapes. We don't know where she came up with this. We can't find any logic in it. Sometimes she slips and calls it a blanket, but then it's right back to mape. She's clueless about colors. With all the things ticking around it that brain, there is absolutely no room for an understanding about colors. She loves to read books, be tickled and chased. She loves to give and receive raspberries. She has a funny sense of humor and laughs big and hard sometimes. I like it. She's been picking her nose lately. Any time she feels like it. And I've seen her eat it too. Not cool. She doesn't care at all when I tell her she can't do this.

Well, that's all the time I have for this today. She's my last baby. My gift from God. Oh, she loves going to church too. She thinks it's great. I'm glad I get to spend my days with her.

Happy Birthday, Gertie. I love you.