Two Years of Parental Bliss

I honestly don't know how it happened, but somehow my dear, little daughter has progressed from this:

to this:

It has been more than a pleasure to be an observer and active participant in this process. I feel that in these past few months, I have come to know Grace as a person, instead of just a dependent, smaller extension of me. Everyday she impresses me with her intelligence, wit, and overwhelming ability to be cute. She is playful, daring, creative, caring, persistent, and quite possibly capable of leading a small army. Or so her innate bossiness and self-confidence would indicate. :)

She learns quickly and loves to do so. She has mastered all visible body parts, the colors, animals of every shape and size, a plethora of shapes, and can spell her name with ease. She loves to "read" and spends a good portion of her day doing so. She can make a mean play-dough snake, and happily sits still while I paint her toenails whatever color she fancies that day. She is always the first to remind me to pray, and can sing "I am a Child of God" word for word. She's practically begging to be potty trained, but I've been dragging my feet...

This past month, she and I did a lot of traveling together. She sat/played/slept/cried her way through eight flights and a fairly ambitious number of long car trips. Barring one infamous three hour flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake (which was her first long flight), she amazed me with her resilience and patience. Whilst Spencer and I stewed with anger and frustration about an airline delay that cost us about nine hours, Grace cheered us with her silly personality and jumping prowess. People stopped us after numerous flights to tell us how pleasantly surprised they'd been to fly with such a well-behaved toddler.

Now, I was the LAST person who would have expected Grace to receive such praise. I'm well aware of her tantrum-throwing ability and tend to expect the worst from her in most situations. I guess I was still seeing her as the volatile infant who could explode into a fit of inexplicable crying at any instant. It was a big turning point in our relationship for me to see her in this new light. She's actually a good kid, perhaps in spite of me. :) She had her moments on our trip, of course, but for the most part, she did so much better than I ever would have imagined. I just wasn't giving her enough credit.

I love her so much and just can't imagine my life without her. It just keeps getting better and better.

In honor of her reaching the great milestone that is the age of two, we had a little party. Far from being infested with other toddlers (though there were a few), it was mostly attended by friends of ours. :) Grace spent the majority of the time trying to escape. Typical. :) But she enjoyed bits of pizza, hot dogs, cake, and ice cream, and REALLY enjoyed getting presents. Here are a few snap shots of the evening:

Grace and our neighbor, Jennifer. Grace loves Jennifer (as do I) and

tries to visit her often throughout the day. While we were in

Utah, she picked up my phone and had imaginary conversations with her at least twice. :)

Unfortunately, I don't feel like this year's cake was much of an

improvement over last year's, but Grace did like it. The concept

looked so much better in my head.

Wait for it, wait for it...

Here it comes!

Grace mostly blew out the candles by herself, but

her control freak mother might have

helped a little. I didn't really even mean to.

Friends Mandie and Makaya. And, yes, Grace is trying to steal that toy from her.

Friends Nicole, Robin, and Robin's mother (and son), Carolyn.

Friends Laurie and Cortney (holding Duke).

Friends Turhan and Clint (who belong respectively to Nicole and Laurie).

Sand bucket and shovel---brilliant! Why I hadn't thought of

that before I don't know. Thanks to Mallory and Jimmy.

Will and Grace. :) And again, yes, Grace is giving Will

the "don't touch my new caterpillar" glare.

More present opening with Jared and Will looking on. Grace

seems to get along better with little boys than little girls.

This does not bode well for her teenage years.

Grace's fabulous outfit is courtesy of my wonderful sister, Ellie,

without whom very little that I do would be possible. It's quite possible that

Grace asks for Ellie more than anyone else, including me. :)

Grace's "big" present from us. :) It cost all of $5 at a

yard sale. The LAST one we went to that day, of course. Her wardrobe

was furnished by Grandma and Grandpa Merkley.

It's been a great two years.