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dear bean: welcome to being two

kitchen bandit 3.0
my dear sweet little bean,

you are two! you are two. how have we had you for two years -- the unexpected perfect capper for our little family? i still think you are in my belly, or maybe a teensy little baby bean in my carrier on my chest.

but no! you are a dude now. a HAPPY dude: i've never known a baby (ehem, toddler) who smiled so much, and laughed so much. your sparkly little eyes light up so bright and you brighten everyone's days, from your family to your friends to your teachers to strangers at stores who are taken with your little impish grin.

you are fearless and very big for your little body. i think you think you are the same as your brothers, that anything they can do you can do and nothing is stopping you. you have discovered the pool this summer, and you love to swim and "play water" and splash in our kiddie pool in the backyard, too.

you love koalas. you call them kolalas. it makes me smile every time you see one in a book, because it is like the greatest thing you have ever seen.

you have so very many words, and they are combining into sentences and you are just so grown. every night when i nurse you to bed i cling to the little bit of baby that's left in you ... but then you sit up and say, "other side, mama? and lullabye?" and i know you are not a baby at all. (but if you want to keep on snuggling like a baby, i will always hold you, my sweet bean.)

there is a lot of noise and mess in our house, and you are right amidst it, happily playing and laughing and occasionally letting your brothers know if they are being "stupid" (we're working on that language, kiddo ... ).

i am sure there will be times when you are very two (like tonight, when i tried to put your pjs on and you firmly believed it was time for trucks, not pjs. TRUCKS. that was all you wanted and you made your wishes known!). but no matter how "terrible" things may get, know this:

you are my sweet little bean. your family is so lucky to have you reminding us to laugh at kolalas and asking us to sit "next to you?" at dinner.

sleep tight, little ben. here's to two, and all of our adventures to come.

love,
your lucky mommy

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