Curiosity and Enthusiasm – Two of Caitlyn’s Gifts

This girl is two and it’s a wonderful, exciting, never-a-dull-moment, try-not-to-freak-out, increase-her-mama’s-patience kind of age.

“What’s this?” she asked as she knocked the #10 can of tomatoes off the counter:

It splattered onto every surface of our kitchen and extended onto the carpet as well.

“Are we having pumpkin butter on our bread?” she asked as she stood on a chair and peered over the back of the stove, grabbing a fistful of kosher salt out of the nearby bowl and dumping it unceremoniously into the pan of simmering pumpkin butter.

(Answer: Not anymore!)

“What’s this?” she asked as she nonchalantly opened Mackenzie’s present for Scott one minute before he came downstairs for his birthday breakfast.

(This happened so fast I was actually speechless. Fortunately, Mackenzie handled it well.)

This is what happens when she stretches and tips the muesli bowl a bit to see what’s inside:

(And then has a little splash party while I’m in the other room.)

Here, she’s getting into the spirit of giving by wrapping up a full glass of water to give to her daddy as a surprise. I’m glad I was there to capture that moment and head off the disaster:

Today we were outside playing with neighborhood kids and she found and put on her friend’s fuzzy white and pink mitten, and promptly started digging in the mud with it on her hand. Maybe she thought it was a gardening glove? I’ll admit to being slightly embarrassed.

She will still, at 2 1/2, shove some dried beans in her mouth surreptitiously given the opportunity. By now she knows they’re pretty much inedible but she nevertheless stands willing to give them another chance.

She will drop things from high places, not to be destructive but just to watch them fall. She’ll deliberately roll a ball into the street to see what happens.

Last week when I had the stomach flu and was out of commission on the couch, she was eating her breakfast and Mackenzie announced, “Mom! Caitlyn has her bowl of oatmeal on her head.”

I assumed she had tried balancing it on her head, but since I didn’t hear it hit the ground I just thanked Mackenzie for letting me know. When I finally roused myself a while later to come clean the girls and dishes, I saw Caitlyn was covered in oatmeal. “So, when you said she had her bowl on her head… you meant…” I ventured.

“Like a hat, Mama!” Caitlyn nodded vigorously.

She fully embraces everything life has to offer. Music playing, breeze blowing, or an early spring flower popping out of the ground are each enough to send her excitement meter through the roof. Nothing is too small of a pleasure to enjoy.

These two pictures encapsulate the way Caitlyn approaches the world. There was a fresh snowfall and you’d think Caitlyn had never seen snow before. She was absolutely overcome with excitement:

Never mind that her boots were much too large, she had no snow pants, her mittens weren’t waterproof, and her warm coat was in the car at work with Scott. She flung herself into the glorious whiteness and thoroughly enjoyed herself until she became thoroughly cold and wet and then we headed inside. 🙂

Already lost a boot!

There was a week where every chance she got, she’d don this hat and march around singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of her lungs with a big ole’ smile on her face. She’d sing to anyone or anything that caught her eye, and showed genuine enthusiasm on behalf of the coming of age of various stuffed animals, chairs, etc.

I am learning so much from being Caitlyn’s mother. I am a happier person for knowing her and she makes me laugh every single day. My reflexes are getting quicker (maybe next time I’ll catch the tomato can before it hits the ground!) and my powers of observation have been heightened. Not only do I notice (and preemptively confiscate) any potentially dangerous or destructive items like scissors, permanent markers, and sources of dirt or goo, but I find myself noticing the silly and delightful things around me as well so I can share them with Caitlyn and we can enjoy them together.