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!)
