And then she was Two.

Our little girl turned two today!

We celebrated last night with a trip to an Italian buffet. She got a tomato-shaped balloon, a mini-cupcake with a candle, a Caesar-esque hat, and a photo with the restaurant's cardboard cutout mascot, Frankie. She was not amused by any of it except for the cupcake, minus the candle.

We woke her up this morning with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday!" She replied, "Not Happy Birthday Ziggy, Happy Birthday James!" (The last time she sang happy birthday to a child was almost a month ago, and the birthday boy happened to be James.)

We then went to church, where I provided her Sunday School class with sugar loaded banana cupcakes. I wanted her to have a memory of celebrating the day she turned two as one with her little friends.

The day kept getting better as Robert Munsch came for her birthday. Okay, not really. We went to the Science Centre because he was there for Family Literacy Day. I was thrilled. Ziggy was pretty into it too, repeating, "back and forth, back and forth" during Munsch's recitation of "Love You Forever."

She had such a great day, but she has no clue why. She still thinks it's James' birthday, although we haven't seen him in weeks.

It's always amazing for me to reflect back on the years before each child was born. I remember distinctly wondering how I could have enough love for more than one child. And the moment she was born, that wondering really did go away. I can't imagine life without Ziggy anymore. She brings us joy. She makes us laugh. She makes us tear our hair out, and cry, "Why, Ziggy, why?" She creates such fun for our family and keeps us on our toes. She's a smart cookie, making us think before we speak, as she parrots all our words. She comes up with out-of-the-box ideas, like making a train with the baskets we keep her clothes in, or smearing cream all over mirrors and herself, or drawing with black crayons on our white couch...

She loves us unconditionally and we love her unconditionally.

There are no words to describe this precious gift from God. How cool is it that her real name means just that. A gift from God. And we're thankful for her each and every day.

P.S. I'm writing this for her to read in the future, but also for me to read later when the Terrible Twos kick into high gear!)

Earning more than me!

Muppet is earning more money per hour than most people in this household.

For her nine month birthday, she got to work.

She got to work as a model today for a Babies R Us catalogue!! She was so adorable, and the people at the media company said she was a superstar. They got the shot they wanted, so she's in! She was supposed to just sit and smile, but she kept crawling towards me. Then the stylist got out a magic solution: bubbles! Muppet was completely mesmerized (by that, and her socks).

I had to wake her up at 7:30am to get her ready. She looked at me like I was nuts. Then she conked out when we got home at 10am. She earned her money, that's for sure! :)

Demure Smile

Ziggy is hilarious. She's so sleepy during the day. Just mellow and chill until about 6pm when she suddenly awakens. Tonight, at dinner, Des showed her a photo of herself on his phone. She looked at it, leaned back, and gave a coy little, "I'm so shy; I can't believe you took such a pretty photo of me" kind of smile! :)

She stood by herself for 2 seconds again, and can walk around pushing the little walker with no problem. Almost nine months...

Sit? No Way!

There's definitely no question that the Muppet is our daughter. She does not stop moving - she wants so badly to be walking now, but she can't get her balance. Whenever we try to set her down, she will not bend her knees. Instead, she'll just "walk", forcing you to hold onto her until she gets to her destination.

She's now 8 1/2 months old. I haven't made a list of her favourite things yet, so here goes:

- laughing her head off
- smiling at you with squinty eyes
- crawling under the kitchen table and standing underneath it
- DVD player - she has figured out how to turn it on and off
- bouncing in her Exersaucer
- food: anything and everything FAST - I give her a rice cracker in hopes that it'll keep her occupied in her high chair while I try to do something - nope - it's gone in under 5 minutes (and yes, I actually timed her)
- head butting to show affection
- sleeping in (I have yet to hear her awaken on her own in the morning!)
- staying up late (she's just like her mommy - she gets her second wind around 9pm!)

- Eating the following:

• remote controls
• photo albums in the living room
• shoes
• magazines
• Cheerios
• pretty much anything she can get her hands on

As I'm typing this, I'm realizing how alike a list like this would be for a new puppy... hmmm...

She's such a joy - she just LOVES smiling - no matter what time of day it is, she has a smile on her face. Even when she's dead tired, she'll grace you with a half-hearted grin, to show you that she's trying. 

I love her!!

Crawling like a maniac

T is a machine. A late-night-owl kind of machine. She wouldn't crawl this morning, even though she woke up at 10am. But tonight, at about 9pm, she spotted the DVD player, and made a beeline for it. She is FAST already, and she's just 6 months and 13 days old.

Her favourite thing to go for? The Wii remote.

Rabbit

She's definitely more of a rabbit than a tiger.

She spent the afternoon in her crib while I worked. She was wide awake for several hours. I checked on her after about half an hour, and found that she had kicked off this pretty heavy blanket, and had her head cranked backwards at the weirdest angle. Turns out she was looking at the Starbucks Rabbit the Wardles got her. I put the rabbit beside her head, and she just looked and cooed at it. I came back a while later, and she was still kicking her little arms and legs, staring at the Rabbit. I moved the Rabbit to the other side of her head. Sure enough, when I came back a little while later, her head was turned to stare at the Rabbit.

What a girl... what a blessing!

Shots

Today was Muppet's day to get her two-month-old 5-in-1 immunizations. She was such a trooper, barely even crying.

The nurse was hilarious though. She asked if the outfit Ziggy was wearing was once her big brother's. This outfit was ENTIRELY pink, fluffy and had hearts all over it. (See the photo below for the outfit!)