Dear Zoelle

Hi baby girl! Right now, you are, *I think* sleeping in your big girl bed. Daddy says that not too long ago, you were still singing and talking, and he couldn't get you to stop. Why does that not surprise me? You are so much like me sweet, silly Zoelle.

Tomorrow (11-18-09) you turn 2.5 years old. I cannot believe that you can be that big already. It seems like just yesterday that you were this tiny little girl all hooked up to monitors with dozens of doctors and nurses surrounding you trying to figure out what exactly was wrong.

Now you are 2.5 all snuggled into a big girl bed. At 2.5 you can do so much more than I ever expected you to be able to do. You can:

Speak in complete sentences
Have an "adult like" conversation
Get dressed almost completely by yourself
You can recognize all your letters and the numbers 1-10
You can say your abc's and count up to 20 if you feel like it
You know all of the common shapes (triangle, rectangle, square, circle, oval, diamond, star)
You know all of the common colors (black, brown, white, red, blue, purple, pink, yellow, orange, green, silver)
Pretty much everything else (which basically means I can't remember everything else you do)

Two things I thought for sure you would be done with at 2.5:

Nursing-Mommy always said I would have you weaned by now, but you still ask once a day in the morning. Sometimes you do nurse, other times, if we are busy, you don't. I'm ok with it most days, but other times, I struggle nursing you. Not because of you, but because I feel at times that you take away from your little sister. I do however realize there are so many health benefits for you, not to mention it is a good bonding time for us.
Potty Trained-You are so very close. You almost never have day time accidents anymore. I'm also pretty sure that if I took the leap and made you wear "chunies" in public, you wouldn't have any accidents either. You often wake up dry after sleeping all night or at nap time.

You are so stubborn and determined and I know that God will use that for good in your life. Your dad and I constantly pray for God to use that spirit of leadership in you always. On the days you are stubborn, I look at you and often tear up wondering if things would be different if it was still just you and I baby girl. I wonder if you realize how much I too sometimes wish it was. Not because I don't love your baby sister, but because I want the "old you" back. The one who would just hang with her mommy and not throw tantrums. We had so many good times together. I want you to know, that just because you have a little sister now, it doesn't mean that we can't continue to have those good times.

As you grow in these next six months, I am going to strive to take the time to snuggle you, cuddle you, and love you more. After all, time is just going way too fast. You no longer look like a baby, but instead, look like my big girl.

Happy Half Birthday to my first daughter; my spirited baby girl.