Dear Julia

You are TWO YEARS OLD TODAY!!! That is amazing to your Daddy and me. On the one hand, it doesn't seem like our baby could possibly be that old; on the other, it's hard to believe that you've only been with us for two years since we can't imagine life without you.

You have grown so much this year. On the outside, it's easy to see, you've added inches and maybe a few pounds. You are a very tall girl. You keep bonking your head on the corners of tables that you used to be able to walk underneath. You've also become adept at so many physical skills: using a spoon, using a fork, walking, running, kicking a ball, throwing a ball (or any other object light enough for you to lift), somersaults, drinking from a cup

You have learned how to hop. Your Daddy and I think you learned at church one day. We came home and your Daddy asked me, "When did Julia learn to hop?" And I asked him, "Julia knows how to hop?" You love to hop. We think this is so cute except for the times when we are trying to get from Point A to Point B quickly and you want to hop. Then we think it's a bit annoying (but also still a little cute).

We love watching you twirl. You spin around and around in circles with a big grin. In the glimpses we get of your face, we can see your eyes looking as far to one side as possible. You like to keep an eye on where you've been when you're spinning.

You have become terrified of loud noises. We noticed this a couple months ago. In a parking lot, if a car starts up nearby, you come shrieking back to us and insist on being carried. You now cry when the vacuum cleaner is going. It's been an interesting few weeks.

You are not at all scared of strangers, though, especially women. You walk up to them and lift your arms to be held. Or you try to take whatever is in their hands. It's really funny, but a tiny bit scary.We have to keep an eagle eye on you when we're out or you might just go home with anyone willing to pick you up!

You are such a helper. If Mommy unloads the dishwasher by herself, you get very upset. You love to go get a diaper, put a toy away, get the Kleenex away from Dax, run grab the remote ... anything that we're too lazy to do ourselves, you do joyfully. And your face lights up and you run to us with open arms and an enormous grin when we call out "Helper Hug!"

Your vocabulary is expanding. It still sounds like a foreign language most of the time, but through vigorous pointing, context clues and emphatic repetition, we can usually figure out what you're asking for or trying to tell us. Some of our favorites:

"Feeck" = fork
"Fun" = phone
"Schteek" = Chapstick
"Hep" = help
"Dee-Tee" = TV
"Ah-pul" = apple (although you use it for anything red and vaguely roundish)
"Ba-oon" = balloon
"Gee-see" = Jesus
"Day Doo" = Thank You (We think it's great that you're starting to say this one without any prompting)

Of course we adore hearing "Mommy" and "Daddy" You spend a lot of dinnertime pointing to everyone and naming them--"Mommy!" "Daddy!" "Dat!" "Ah-toe!". We gave you the hardest name of all to say so you generally save yourself until last. Often you just say "MINE!" instead of Julia.

You understand so much of what we're saying these days. Since you can't talk very well sometimes I forget just how much you do understand. Then I'll tell you to go to the living room to get your chair and get in it ... AND YOU DO IT! Then I have to rapidly think back over everything I've said on the phone in your hearing and wonder if you are storing all that in your toddler brain.

You are fast approaching the point where you will have been a big sister for more than half your life! You had such a huge adjustment to make, sweet girl. Now, your brother is your favorite person. You look for him first thing in the morning and love to have him sit in your lap. In a bit of a frustrating twist, your new skill of opening doorknobs means that Dax no longer has an uninterrupted nap time. You miss him too much and have to go find him. If he's asleep, you squeal as loudly as possible and poke at him through the bars. When I try to put the two of you down for naps at the same time, you both stand up in your cribs and jabber and laugh at one another while flinging anything you can get your hands on to the floor. I really find this hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. I love that you guys love each other.

I don't want you to think you're a perfect angel. Daddy and I spend quite a bit of our time at home refereeing. You've gone to Time Out more times than I care to keep track of for hitting or poking or shoving or stepping on Dax. There's no easier way to make you pay immediate attention to us than for one of us to pick up and cuddle your brother. And your favorite toy is always, always, always whichever one he is enjoying at the moment. Even if you just tossed it away like a piece of trash. Even if you have all the animals in the farm but one of the (many) sheep, you glare at him contentedly playing off to the side with his one little sheep and we can see the covetousness in your eyes. I'm not sure if it is the desire to have every single toy in your possession and power or if you just don't like him having fun without you. Either way, rather than playing with the toys you do have, you stand stock still and stare at the one he has until you can't control yourself any longer and you snatch it from him. Then he cries and you go to Time Out. And he gets the toy back. And you come back from Time Out and see him playing with it. And the cycle starts again.

We are starting to see tantrums begin to emerge. You really hate not getting your own way. And really, I understand. I don't like not getting my way, either. We'll work on it.

You are beginning to have definite opinions. Most recently these have emerged in the question of fashion. You loved the Christmas PJs Mama bought for you and Dax. Loved them so much, you didn't want to change out of them to take Dax to the doctor. It didn't seem to matter how uncomfortable those footie pajamas were when you had to put on your shoes. You thought they were grand. So did the nurses at the doctor's office. Now that you've had a taste of choosing your wardrobe, it appears there's no stopping you. The day after the doctor visit, you walked straight over to the dresser after Mommy got you out of your crib and you picked out the dress you wanted to wear that day. Since it was at least a size too small Mommy tried to convince you to choose something else. A short sleeved dress when the day promised a high of only 40 degrees seemed chilly so Mama tried to offer choices with pants and long sleeves or even just tights underneath the dress. You wanted none of it. You spent the day in a Spring dress that didn't even go past the bottom of your diaper and you loved it.

If I could make a suggestion ... maybe think about eating some vegetables? I'm not a big fan of peas myself, but you also toss out carrots, green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, squash, sugar snap peas ... without even trying them. These foods you used to love. Well, except for squash. I think you want to eat veggies because whenever you get in the fridge, you make a beeline for the grape tomatoes and bite into about half a dozen of them. You don't eat them, just leave them littering the fridge shelves. But you at least try them. To your credit, if we ask you to take one bite, you typically do. Often the food barely gets passed your teeth before you're pushing it out with your tongue, but we applaud the effort. You're eating a lot of tomato soup these days because it's the only thing vaguely resembling veggies that you'll eat. And you scarf it up. You'd eat the whole can for lunch by yourself if Mommy didn't make you share with her.

We're so excited to see what changes happen in this next year. We're really hoping it doesn't go as fast as this last one, though!

We love you so much,
Mommy and Daddy