“I can’t say that it will last forever,” I wrote a year ago. “Georgia turned 1 yesterday (how did that happen so fast?), which means that any minute now, she will be yanking on the wires to Elliot’s Xbox and scattering Ruby’s crayons across the room and copying them and following them and otherwise being an adorable toddling nuisance. But for right now, it is pretty great.”
It is not often that I can see into the future with such clarity, but I nailed that one. Georgia turns 2 today (how did that happen so fast?) and has spent much of the past year destroying things, putting hazardous items into her mouth, pulling on wires, throwing toys everywhere, and generally being an adorable toddling nuisance.
Her latest pastime is to scale the sofa and flip the lights off and on repeatedly. When removed from the back of the sofa and reprimanded, she screams as if the world is ending for approximately 45 seconds – and then abruptly shuts up and starts attempting to climb the sofa again. Yesterday, she stood quietly next to me while I chatted with my husband, and I thought she was gently patting me with love, but actually she was drawing on my nicest pair of seersucker pants with a red marker.
In the past year, she has created messes big and small, thrown numerous tantrums, and required one ER visit when we could not rule out the possibility that she had swallowed a magnet (she hadn’t).
She has also learned how to shake hands, can sort of sing parts of lots of songs, and goes absolutely out of her mind for chocolate ice cream. She loves Cookie Monster and Curious George, she has 16 teeth, and her hair is a crazy mess when she wakes up. She likes to put various things on her head: hats, of course, but also pants and paper bags and cardboard boxes. Her favorite food is probably black beans and rice, with any kind of pasta a close second. She hates milk. She talks constantly. She gives great hugs and blows kisses and has everyone single person in our family wrapped completely and entirely around her adorable little finger. In short, she is perfect.
And now she is 2.
I can’t accurately predict what the next year will look like, not really. I can foresee more tantrums and more laughter. I can foresee frustration and joy. I can foresee more messes and potentially more ER visits but also more fun, more discovery, and love – so much love – from every corner of the family. I can see the rough outlines of the evolution of our family, even if I don’t know exactly what our lives will all look like a year from now.
But for right now, it is pretty great.
