Thursday

Thursday was a day of little picture-taking. We were invited to a lovely visit at the home of my friend Beth, whose daughters are some of my daughter's best friends. I love watching my girl play with other children. I'm from a large family and was never without a playmate, so it's a bit sad for me to see my daughter get older and older as an only child.

A regular afternoon nap just didn't happen. The nap pictured above happened around 6:00 in the evening. Yes, that made for a very late bedtime. She napped on my bed, which is a treat for her. It was very dark in there when this picture was taken; I was mean and used a bright flash. When my daughter woke up (at 7:30 pm!), she climbed into my lap and said, "I sleeped in Mommy's bed for a whole week!" I'd love to figure out her understanding of the word "week".

This book is one of my favorites right now. It is a collection of lullabies, and there is a famous work of art to correspond with each lullaby. It is a beautiful book. I like looking at it with my daughter. She sees things in the art that I wouldn't notice, like cats hiding in corners, yellow shoes, shadows.

We do a lot of singing at my house during the day. I really enjoy the way we learn new songs around here. When we're learning a new song, we will sing it every which way - loudly, then quietly, quickly, then slowly. Repetition aids learning, but can be boring if it doesn't include any variation. Once we've learned the song pretty well, we move on to mixing up words. For example, I'll sing, "Twinkle, twinkle, little cupcake...", and my daughter will immediately jump in and say, "No, not cupcake! Star!" I reply, "Ooooh! Star!", and thank her for helping me learn the correct words. This works remarkably well. It's fun when we read, too. When we're reading a familiar story, I'll stop a few words short of the end of the line. My daughter finishes the line for me. She takes great pride in this, and I love hearing how she emulates the intonations she has heard me use.

Two is a very challenging age, it's true. I don't think it would be entirely out of line to give parents of two year olds (and three and four year olds, I'm told) prescription steroids so they can keep up with the 28 pounds of perpetual energy. (Yes, I'm kidding. Sort of.) But at the same time, it's such a fun age! It is amazing how quickly they learn, how much they understand, how many discoveries they make. My daughter amazes me with her perception. If I say "ow", she'll ask I'm okay. If I'm being quiet or I seem distracted, she'll say, "Mommy, are you having a sad day?" She's so innocent and sweet and wonderful. She wears me out, yes, but I wouldn't trade this time for anything.