The Burkett Bundle: Almost Two

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day! Jason is off and we're getting family photos done while we celebrate GEMMA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY!!

It is so hard to believe that day is here already. These last two years have been like a dream in so many ways. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself that this sweet, beautiful girl is really mine.

Now, she's not always perfect - the temper tantrums have started, and boy can she scream - but usually she is happy, well-behaved, and downright funny. She knows how to make people laugh, and she knows how to make people feel special. She is truly one-of-a-kind.

The kids finished first grade yesterday (yes, more on that later), and we are really looking forward to having them around all summer. Not that Gemma doesn't love me, but Kyran and Karyssa are just so much more entertaining to her. While it is certainly not harder than having two toddlers running around everywhere, it is slightly exhausting to be one toddler's main source of entertainment. She loves to "read" and plays very well independently, but when she's awake, she wants to be near me, and I'm on call for reading, dancing, tickling, playing outside or any number of fun activities she suggests.

She is still tiny, wearing mostly 9-month shorts and 12-month tops and dresses. (She can still fit in some of her 6-9 month clothes!) We won't have an official weight until her appointment next week, but I think she is around 21 pounds.

She has a mind like a steel trap. She doesn't forget anything. Names, faces, things you promised to do or give her after she eats all of her food. Her vocabulary grows every day, and she is speaking mostly in sentences now.

When we're in stores, she loves to say "hi" to people and name everything she sees on the shelves. When I take something from the shelf, she asks, "Can I hold it?". Then she holds it for a minute and either drops it or throws it into the cart, exclaiming, "I throw it!" or "I drop it!". (Of course, she doesn't get to hold the eggs!)

At night, she sleeps with her pillow, her Leap Frog, and a baby doll. When I come in in the morning to get her, this is usually what I hear: "Frog away. Baby doll away. Pillow stay in bed. I poop. Change a diaper? Where daddy? Daddy work? Eat breakfast? Eat cheerios? Where Syssa and Dude?" This varies from time to time but usually doesn't stop until we get downstairs and sit down to eat breakfast.

One of her cutest new things is that when she falls or starts coughing, she'll ask, "Am I ok?" I love that she is learning her pronouns, and how to change them to I or me to make them fit the sentence correctly.

She really notices the absence of things now, even in TV shows. One of her favorite questions is "Where *insert name* go?" Today, we were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she kept asking, "Where Goofy go?". When they finally showed him, she said, "There he is!" And at the end, when they did the Hot Dog Dance, she looked at them and said, "Where Pete go?"

She still loves to "rock rock" in the rocking chair at night and before nap time. Her favorite songs for me to sing are Brahm's Lullaby, Twinkle, Twinkle, You are My Sunshine , Ain't No Sunshine (she'll sing I know, I know, I know over and over again), Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, the Alphabet Song (she calls it ABCs and can fill in many of the letters now), and Rock-a-Bye Baby.

Just today at my doctor's appointment, the doctor was running late and then I had to get some lab work done. She (very loudly) said to a waiting room of people, "I'm ready to go!" Luckily, everyone thought it was cute and laughed. Like her big brother and sister, she is not afraid to voice her opinion and tell you what she wants.

My favorite moments are the times that she comes up, gives me a hug or lays on my lap and says, "I love you, mommy." Those spontaneous "I love yous" and sweet moments keep me going.

The last two years have been so fast. With Kyran and Karyssa, it now seems like it went fast, but at the time it did not. Two babies, two toddlers, two preschoolers...it takes it out of you, even if they are good babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Now that I have just one baby and two big kids, it seems so much easier.

Don't get me wrong, I get stressed. Very stressed. I sometimes yell. I still need naps occasionally. I'm also working from home now during her nap times, so that adds to it.

But the days with my sweet girl are just zooming past. Tomorrow she will turn two and, while she is still baby-sized, she is certainly not a baby anymore. I'm so looking forward to what the next year holds for her, but tonight, I held my one-year-old as long as she would let me before laying her down for bed.