My Big Two-Year Old Girl

Can hardly believe it's time to write this post about Mae Mae. She's 2 years old today. How is that possible?!? Wasn't I just pregnant? Wasn't I just posting about how tired I was with a newborn and how I wished I could get some sleep? Doesn't seem that long ago that we were up every 3 hours with her, or playing with her on the floor, or watching her sleep on Daddy's chest. How is she 2 already?!?

Our big two-year-old girl is the light of our lives. She is so incredibly smart. She knows all her ABC's backwards and forwards...in English and in Spanish. One of her great "tricks" is to start reading letters off of T-shirts, in line at Target, off of menus, etc. She also knows all her numbers, in order, from 1-20 in English. She knows them from 1-10 in Spanish as well. At the store the other day, we were in the shopping cart and Mae was singing her numbers in Spanish..."uno, dos,..." really loud as we were walking. A lady stopped me and told me how impressed she was that Mae knew that in Spanish and how wonderful it was. I said "Thank you" as Maelin continued to count. It was pretty darn cute.

She's also a bit of a diva. She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. She will not hesitate to let you know. She is really talking a lot and tends to gibber at you...until you realize that it is real words that she's saying...you just didn't understand. Last week we were coming out of Uncle and Auntie's apartment building and a man was waiting for us to come out so he could go in. Maelin walked by him and looked up at him as he was waiting and said, "-orry!". It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. He totally started laughing and she said it again..."-orry." We gave her high-fives for having such good manners.

She loves to play outside. Given the choice, she'd be perfectly content to spend all day running around in the dirt, smearing it all over her, playing with rocks, poking sticks, running up and down the hills, in her sandbox, writing with chalk, etc. She is the happiest when she's outside...so I'm very excited the weather is starting to change for the better and we can spend more time outside. My favorite days after work is when I go to pick up Maelin from Sandra's house and she's filthy. Totally covered in dirt from head to toe. Smeared with dirt everywhere. But...she's got the biggest grin. I love it.

She can also be incredibly sweet. She loves her family and friends so much and isn't afraid to run over and give you a hug...out of the blue. Or tell you to "SIT!" down next to her while she's reading because she wants your company. She will light up with the biggest smile when someone she knows comes over. She's a lucky girl to have so many people who love her and love to spend time with her...and she lets them know she appreciates it by her sweet hugs, love pats on the arm and constant demands that they "Sit!" next to her. A few days ago, we went in to wake up Daddy (yes, he gets to sleep in sometimes) and she ran in and yelled "Dada!" and then went to his side of the bed and demanded "Up!" so he lifted her up. She lay next to him and put her head on his shoulder and patted his arm and said "Dada" with a big grin. It was the cutest thing ever.

Her favorite things now:

"Yo Gabba Gabba." If you're wondering what the heck this is...you can thank Peter and Megan for introducing this to Mae. She LOVES it...go check it out on youtube if you're curious. I warn you...it's not my cup of tea at all.

"Am-in-als" Hippos, horsies, doggies (but only in theory: she's not a fan of dogs in real life)

"Nimo" (Gizmo...our big lover cat is her best friend)

vanilla ice cream, chips, "-ies?" (fries), Dum-Dum suckers, The Wiggles, Elmo, dirt, and "A-do-bo" (her friend at daycare...his name is Adofso but she can't say that).

Our little one is so amazing and precious and we're so lucky to have her. Here are a some pictures from the past wonderful two years. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up but I'm so excited to continue watching this little person grow, learn and change.

I love you Love Bug! Happy Birthday!


This was about 3 hours after Mae was born. I was exhausted from being in labor for 3 days but so excited to meet my little girl at last!


This was when Mae was about 2 weeks old. She loved laying in her crib and watching her mobile go round and round.


Maelin's first Christmas. We had the santa hat and everything for her but she liked the boxes and ribbons the presents came in best!


Mae was 6 months old in this picture. Again...she's laying in her crib. This was just a few days before she figured out how she could roll herself over!


Maelin was about 3 months old here. You can start to see her personality shine through!


I love this picture too because it shows how into books our little one has always been. She's about 13 months old here.


This is one of Maelin's First Year Portraits. I love this one. I just think she's so pretty...


Maelin enjoying her pool in the backyard in her new house. We had just moved so she was about 14 months old here.


Look Mommy...I'm a big walking girl! She was about 15 months old when she started walking and boy, was she proud!


Maelin playing at the Children's Museum at about 1 1/2 years old. She loved being a vet!


Maelin's "Stink Face". One of my all-time favorite pictures of her. She is about 17 months old here.


This is Maelin just a couple of days ago at the zoo. She kept running over to these guys to yell at them..."Cows?" She loves the zoo.


This is the epitome of Maelin. She's happiest when playing in the dirt. No matter where we are, if there's dirt that can be played in...she'll find it and smear it all over her. She was way less interested in the animals at the zoo after she found this dirt. I sat next to her and made myself comfortable. We played in this darn dirty, muddy pool for about 45 minutes before I dragged her kicking and yelling away to wash her hands.

This is what the "Terrible Twos" are going to be like?!? Bring it on Mae...