Two!
Today is my daughter’s birthday. Her second birthday. She’s two! She’s two?!
Where has the time gone? It’s like when you become a parent time travels at a much faster speed. Except during tantrums, when time crawls to a near halt.
How do I have a two-year old? I mean, I know how. Physiologically-speaking. It’s just, she’s two. She’s not a baby bump. She’s not a baby. She’s this little person, this little person who can answer the question, “Who’s going to be two?” with an exclamatory “me!”
Her second birthday is a big deal. We’ve been talking about it for weeks. Most of the talk has been “How do we have a two year old?” Or “We’re going to have a two-year old. When did that happen?” Or “How old is that tiny person who keeps saying No?”
Two. She’s going to be two and she sort of knows it. When we ask her “how old are you going to be?” she answers “two!” Occasionally she answers “seven!” or “three, five, seven, nine!”
She’s excited about her birthday this year. Last year she was overwhelmed when we placed a flaming cake in front of her and sang out of key. She was also recovering from an ill-timed fall onto a un-baby-proofed coffee table.
This year will be different. For one, she’ll be two. For two, we’ve moved the coffee table.
This is the first birthday where she sort of has an understanding of the event. According to her little monkey mind, two things are happening at her birthday: cake and bah-loos. The latter is “balloon” if you don’t speak toddler.
She’s right. There will be balloons. And oh yes, there will be cake.
There will also be presents and grandparents and the spoiling that comes with the grandparents. We’re all going to sing out of key again and open the aforementioned presents. Then we’ll let our daughter gorge on sugar and have an epic tantrum before crashing into naptime.
During naptime we’ll reminisce.
About her first word, her first steps, meeting her for the first time, and all the other things that have happened in these first two years.
Either that or we’ll eat the rest of her cake while she’s sleeping.