Dear Bailey,
On Thanksgiving day you turned 2 years old, and truly you are our biggest blessing to be Thankful for! We have experienced a lot together over the course of this year. You learned to walk fairly quickly after your first birthday, it was an overnight transition really. You took your first steps several different times throughout the day and by the next day you were walking all over the place like a pro. You could turn corners, stop regain your balance, pick things up and carry them... you just seem so fearless, cautious but fearless.
You overcame your fear of grass shortly after Easter. For the longest time if we tried to put you in the grass your legs would fly up over your head (you're very flexible) and you would try to climb up us like a monkey. We took you to the arboretum where the grass is pleasantly soft, bright green and cut short and after a while you began to warm up to it, eventually kicking your sandals off and running through the fields bare foot. And now you love playing in our backyard, running, and chasing bouncy balls and footballs. One day I spread out a king sized soft blue blanket in the grass and you rolled around snuggling that blanket and looked up at the clouds for over an hour in pure joy.
A blanket in the grass is your happy place and now you take great pleasure in noticing the things in the sky like the clouds, stars, and the moon which you think is a ball. You love balloons, but find them even more entertaining when you set them free and watch them drift up into the sky. We first discovered freeing the balloons after Ava's birthday party this summer, but more recently I took you to an arts festival where the flower shop gave you a balloon. When I tried to tie it to the stroller or to your wrist you cried very loudly because you wanted to watch it sail away. I thought for sure that losing your balloon would make you sad but you proved me wrong when you instantly cheered it on and tell it bye!
This year you have developed your own special relationship with Mr. Kitty. You have always been fascinated with him, but he never let you touch him. Now that you can walk, and even run, you have learned to keep up with him. He was pretty unsure of this for a while as I tried to teach you to pet him softly, but then one day I found you resting your head on him as he laid there and excepted your hugs. He actually seemed relaxed and it was then I realized how much he has bonded to you. He doesn't like many people, but you have always lit up when he walks by you and I think he likes that about you. His meow is one of your first words, it sounds identical to his and I have a hard time distinguishing which one of you it came from when I hear it. As you chase him throughout the house the two of you meow back and forth as if you are talking to each other. Now you feel you are the boss of him and you tell him to "GET DOWN!" when you seem him perched up on the bathtub. I am not sure why you yell that at him because I don't think I or Daddy have yelled at you or him in that way, but sometimes you just have to use your outside voice.
You have become my little helper in doing chores. Sometimes your help causes bigger messes but I always appreciate your interest in the things I do. You are a fast learner, I show you how to do a chore and you are quick to figure it out and take over such as picking up you blocks, or clothes, or crayons, washing the table or high chair, throwing trash away etc. Your favorite of these chores is sweeping the patio, this can keep you happily busy for quite some time. You may be getting your own Bailey sized broom for Christmas this year.
Daddy and I have noticed that you have many hiding places throughout our house for your many treasures such as remote control batteries, cell phones, sippies, pacis, shoes, toothbrushes, brushes, toothpaste, Daddy's contact lens cases, sunglasses, your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc. I have found these stashes tucked away in the drawers of our kitchen, in the sub woofer, under the chair cushion, in the clothes basket, in the bathtub, behind the blinds, in the seat of your push car and I am pretty sure there are some I have not yet discovered because if I search the house for your sippy and ask you where it is you wait until I leave the room before you some how locate it. I admire this strategy and mostly find it amusing. The fact that you remember where you hide your stuff must come from me because as you know you certainly didn't get that from Daddy. You help him look for his missing stuff all of the time, whether it was lost because of him misplacing something which is usually the case or if you hid it from us. One morning he lost his keys and ran frantically through the house trying to find them. He kept saying, "Where are my keys? Bailey do you have them?" and you promptly found your set of plastic keys and chased after him trying to give them to him. A big help indeed ;)
You are super cuddly and I love this the most! You climb up in our laps and hug our faces tight and will not let go for a while. As you do this you sway back and forth saying "ohhhh!" As I do the dishes you run up to me and hug my leg tight. As we grocery shop you pull my shirt so that you can pull me in for a hug as I push the cart and it's just so lovey of you! It makes strangers stop and coo at you because it is adorable of you. In the mornings we dog pile onto Daddy if he is still home and laying in bed when you wake up, and we do it at night when he walks in the door. You love talking to him on the phone when he drives home from work and as you tell him about your day in your special baby language you show him toys, share pacis, sippies and snacks with his picture on the id. When you hear a car door shut in the evening, or someone at the door your ears perk up and you freeze to listen more closely. If you hear nothing else then you look at me puzzled asking "Daddy?" and I say "no he's still working!" but if you do hear the keys in the door you scream "DADDY!" and run to the door. As he opens it you throw your paci at him (this is something you often do when you are excited) and tell him all about how much you missed him and the things you were up to in your baby talk.
Some of your favorite things are: you love Nick Jr and most of the shows on it but specifically Olivia, Yo Gabba, Fresh Beat Band (not Mommy's favorite!), and Little Bear. Your favorite books are Five Little Pumpkins, Once Upon a Potty, Hop on Pop and all of the vocabulary/picture books specifically the great big one that Andrea sent you for Christmas last year. Your favorite toys are definitely bouncy balls, a little wooden push cart from Ikea that Holly got you for your first birthday and the Laugh and Learn Fisher Price Puppy. Your favorite songs are the Itsy Bitsy Spider, If you're happy and you know it, most Incubus songs (that's my girl!), and a few of the 30 seconds to Mars songs. You love reality TV. You don't like leaving the house with out your blanky, your paci, your juice which you call Dee Daah which means juice please, and your crayons or a random stuffed animal. You love jumping on the bed or stomping around with happy feet. You love for your cousins to push you around in your stroller or in your push cars. You REALLY love Bella, I think your cousin Skylar might be jealous so try not to show too much favoritism ;) Your favorite fruits are fresh sliced apples, blueberries, raspberries and purple grapes. You eat raw carrots cherry tomatoes and sugar snapped peas, but I have a hard time getting you to eat any of your other veggies this year so I find ways to sneak servings into your foods. You love dips like salsa and guacamole, but you don't like ranch even though you want to like it because of it's dippability. You like pizza, which you call PEE-pa (Pee is in all caps because you say it in a high pitch), specifically spinach bacon artichoke Dee-light from Papa Murphy's or plain cheese. You love yogurt and cheese but hate milk. You do not like a lot of meats but just recently you've been giving chicken another chance, you'll eat turkey lunch meat and fish sticks. Your favorite games we play are Here comes the little mouse, Where's Bailey? as you hide behind the curtains giggling, and knocking on the doors and opening/closing them waiting for me to pop out around the corner to scare you. We are also quite fond of chasing you around the racetrack design of our kitchen/ living room. You are pretty strategic in this game as you check the reflection in the refrigerator to reveal our hiding spots or you change up the direction on us and sneak up behind us. When we scare you in play you come running towards us laughing with arms open ready for hugs. I find you delightful in every way! Happy birthday baby girl!!!
