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My favorite age

I know I say every age is my "favorite age."  But I really love the 2's.  Sure, this girl is spirited (beyond all belief) but she is also experiencing explosions of language development, social emotional understanding, and cognitive gains.  Daily she throws several new words into the mix and is exploring with sentence structure.  I am in awe of how much learning and development happens in the first three years; sure, I went to school specifically to study this, but seeing it play out in real life is fascinating.

A personal favorites?

"Where my Danie?"
"My Ryan pooping."
"My need 'dis fruit snack."
"My Papa Nana go to zooooooooo."
"Where my Oompa?"

It's all about "my" and "needing" things.  Every time she sees something and we label, she demands to know where hers is; this includes but is not limited to siblings ("where my sister?"), all kinds of food, lip gloss, bronzer, contacts, glasses....... it's really just not limited.

This. Kid.


I am routinely exhausted by the time my head hits the pillow but Porch and I are so proud of the tiny human we are raising and our greatest hope is that we successfully raise someone who is not an asshole.  That's pretty much all I need to be validated in my parenting.  Don't be an asshole, Charlotte.  Don't judge people on the color of their skin.  Don't look down on those who are down on their luck (because that could totally be you/us in a hot minute).  Don't let society tell you who to be.  Go ahead and crush that glass ceiling.  Do what makes you happy (legally).  Question the things that seem wrong and be prepared to offer solutions.  And seriously -- don't be an asshole.

Don't doubt that our parenting now impacts our children much farther down the road.  We can teach our children how to be capable, considerate, and compassionate.

I may have fed this girl some less than gourmet choices this weekend, but it's obviously because we've been doing such a stellar job with our parenting.  ;)  I mean, we went for our walk in the dark, in the falling snow last night.  Porch pulled Charlotte in the sled and I felt pure magic.  I hope Charlotte did too -- or that she looks back at these moments some day.

xo
Danielle
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