Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My daughter is now two!

The toddler years are by far by favourite age.  Honestly, I don't care much for babies.  Yes of course they are cute, no one can deny that.  But, they are so boring.  They just lie there, that's it. 

Toddlers - they are the best.  They are easy to impress, responsive, always looking to show you something new.  They want nothing but your attention.  Everyday is something new.  A new word, action (if you're lucky a hug).  Recently for my daughter's birthday I got her a little cedar playhouse.  It's a rather modest structure - about a 1 1/3 metres by 1 1/3 metres (4 x 4ft for the American friends).  I can only tell you the reaction from my daughter was marvelous.  I hadn't even finished it when she came bolting outside - yelling in excitement, grabbing a screwdriver to hurry the process along.  The other day I just found myself starting and watching contently while she busied herself inside the playhouse.

The other big change - the move to the big girls bed.  I painted the room months ago so as not to bother a pregnant wife too badly with the fumes.  We decided on a twin mattress as opposed to a toddler mattress figuring she's going to outgrow it quickly - so why waste the time and money.  The bedframe allows us to put the mattress right on the floor, so roll outs are not a big concern as the drop off is minor. 

The first night was tough as she made every opportunity to escape her bedroom - but she really took a liking to the bed.  Before, she would mumble about going to bed in the crib.  Now, she actually runs excitedly to her bed, ready to sleep in her big comforter.

Of course there is a downside to everything - yes it's really exciting to see her grow up and into the big bed . She's actually sleeping better at night (she doesn't wake me up anymore).  However, with a good night's sleep and mobility out of bed, that means 7am wake-ups.  Before we could get her till 8:30-9:00am if we were lucky.  Nope, Saturday morning, 7am, *patter patter patter* I hear the little feet thumping on the floor - "hi dada, hi dada" in my face.  Yes of course it was awesome to wake up to an excited little body, not so exciting at 7am on Saturday.

So back to why I love toddlers.  They are just the most amazing age - between 2 and 6.  They are funny, full of wonder.  My daughter sometimes loses thought in wonder at something simple.  Some folks absolutely hate white clovers.  My daughter is ecstatic when a couple of white clover flowers poke their heads above my lawn.  She bends over and collects a few to give to me as a gift.  In our harried rushed life, we always have a place to go, a place to see, appointments, shopping, whatever.  There are times thought that I realize appreciate when my daughter reminds me to slow down.  I'll catch her actually stopping to smell the flowers, admire something in my garden.  To her, understanding what's going on is important.  We're so busy most people could likely not recount various occurrences in their surroundings.

Either way - toddlers rock.  I couldn't wait for her to turn two and I'm going to squeeze as much enjoyment out of it - at least until the expected baby turns two.

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