Happy 2nd Birthday, Anna Kate!

Happy birthday, Anna Kate! How on earth can you be TWO years old? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was 9 months pregnant with you and thinking you would NEVER come? And here you are two whole years later! To say that we love life with you would be an understatement. You are such a special little girl and you always keep us on our toes! You are so much fun right now that sometimes we wish we could just make time stand still and keep you at this age forever (and then you throw a tantrum and we change our minds...haha!). But since we can't freeze time, I am going to attempt to take a snapshot (using words!) of what you look like right now. We never ever want to forget these sweet days of your little life.


~ You are such a sweet and loving little girl. You love to give hugs and big fat slobbery kisses to your Mommy, Daddy, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. We have to remind you to be careful when you hug your sister and your friends though or you will just plow right through them!
~ You talk constantly! Whether you are singing, telling stories, or just narrating life, you are very rarely quiet! You have quite the vocabulary for a two-year-old, and are very good at putting long sentences together. Now, if we're honest, sometimes Mommy and Daddy have to translate for you to other people, but most often you make yourself pretty well understood.
~ You have just started to develop a little sense of humor. You love to tell "jokes"! The other day you heard your daddy mention in passing that the brand name of our coffeemaker was "Mr. Coffee" and you thought it was hilarious. Now you have a little game you like to play multiple times a day where you say, "Mr. ________" and then crack up! Usually it's food, but it can be anything! Another "joke" that you think is funny is rhyming words. Your daddy and I go back and forth rhyming words like "cat", "sat", "hat", etc. and you just laugh and laugh. Sometimes you even come up with a rhyming word yourself!


~ You are almost completely potty trained except for naps and nighttime. And even naps sometimes you wake up dry. You never wear diapers during the day anymore even when we go out (and you only occasionally have accidents!).
~ You can count to 12! I actually didn't know this until yesterday. You had been getting pretty good at counting to 10 and then yesterday you just decided to keep going to 12...I don't even think I taught you that!
~ You can recognize 16 out of 26 uppercase letters consistently and the other 10 are hit or miss. You love working on singing your ABC's, but can't quite do it by yourself yet.
~ A few songs that you do know all the words to by yourself are: "Jesus Loves Me", "Twinkle Twinkle", and "You are my Sunshine"
~ You are now sleeping in a big girl bed! It's a twin bed with a railing and you are doing pretty well in it (at least no worse than you were doing sleeping in the crib...haha!).
~ You LOVE to read books. You would sit and let us read to you for hours I think. You love regular books, but you also love to read books on your favorite electronic devices (Grandma and Grandpa's HP Touchpads and Daddy's Kindle Fire)! Your favorite book of the week is "Wacky Wednesday" by Dr. Seuss.


~ You know your first 6 catechism questions and answers as well as your first official memory verse, Genesis 1:1.
~ You love going to Sunday School, library storytime, and anywhere else that you know you are going to see your friends!
~ Speaking of Sunday School, your teachers (Ms. Tammy, Ms. Mandy, and Ms. Tonya) are always so complimentary of your behavior and your attentiveness in class. You listen so well to the Bible story time and can always tell us all about your story at lunch on Sundays. Sometimes you get a little confused about what the main point was (focusing instead on little details!), but you still are doing really well!
~ You are still a very good eater! You usually eat two helpings of whatever we are having at supper. Your favorite breakfast/lunch foods are yogurt, cheese, grapes, blueberries, and smoothies!
~ You are wearing all 2T-3T clothes. I can't believe you are getting so big! Every time I look at you, you just seem to be more and more grown up.
~ Your hair is finally starting to grow a little bit longer, but still not all the same length. Oh well...it's still really cute with two little pigtails and a hairbow on top!
~ We are still working on your jumping skills. About two weeks ago you jumped up into the air and it shocked you. We know you know how to do it, you just won't do it again.


~ You have quite a full bed when you go to sleep. You have to have your pink pillow, sock monkey (Molly the Monkey), lovey, lamb, blanket, paci, and unga (your extra paci)
~ Yes, you still have your pacis, but only when you sleep. We keep talking about you giving them away and let's just say you are less than enthusiastic.
~ Personal pronouns are pretty confusing to you. You think that the word "you" is another word for Anna Kate. In other words, when you want Mommy to hold you, you say, "Hold you, Mommy!" Or, if you want to do something yourself, you say, "You do it self, you do it self!"
~ Your favorite thing to play is baby dolls. You love to snuggle your baby, rock your baby, nurse your baby, sing to your baby, bathe your baby, put your baby night night in her cradle, and the list goes on. You also love the new baby sling that Mommy made for you to carry your baby.
~ Other playtime activities of choice are serving tea from your kitchen, drawing on your Magnadoodle etch-a-sketch, playing dress-up, playing with all your furniture and people in your dollhouse, playing in the sandbox, and driving your John Deere Gator "tractor".
~ You are so funny and finicky about certain things. For example, you are adamant that whoever is driving keeps both hands on the wheel. You say, "Daddy, TWO HANDS!" from the backseat.
~ Your best friends right now are (in no particular order): Nora, Friend Alice (not to be confused with Aunt Alice aka Allison), Aubrey, Stormy, Izzy, Gemma, Peyton, and baby Annie
~ You have a couple of favorite Bible stories that you always turn to in your Big Picture Story Bible. The first is the "marching" one (Jericho and the walls coming tumbling down), and the second is the one where "God came down in a cloud" and filled the temple. Not sure why those are your favorites, but they definitely are.
~ You amaze us every day by the things you say. For example, just a couple days ago we were outside and you looked at us and said, "It's a beautiful day!"



Anna Kate, we love watching you grow and learn and develop your sweet little personality. You keep us going and going and going and we collapse when we fall into bed at night, but you are so much fun and so worth it! We are so thankful for these two precious years since you joined our family and look forward by God's grace to many many more. You are loved.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, (and baby Caroline!)