Life Set Apart

You’re Two.

Two years and nine months I have known you.

Years that go back since before I was married, when I was just a teenager, I hoped I would have a boy one day. 

Eleven months of hoping you would come to us right away, to finding out you are here to stay. 

To moving to Maine, quitting our jobs, knowing your name, and living with your DeeDee & Pops. 

You’re here and you’re two. 

They say the days go by slow and the years go by fast. 

But I say, the days are fast, and the years don’t last. 

You are the sunshine to my day. 

You are the laughter to my smile. 

You are the goof to my dry moments. 

You are funny & bright. 

You love Jesus & pray to God. 

Not a meal goes by that you do not pray. 

Your anxiety goes away with the sound of my voice as I state all the things you are thankful for to the God of the Universe. Thankfulness trumps anxiety & fear. Remember that little one. 

You love your shows & TV time. 

You love your bear, moose & puppy. 

You sleep on your belly to start, one arm over a bear, one over a puppy or moose. You rest your head on your crib mattress, I lay a blanket over your back, and you ask me, “Back, Back” and you point to your back. You say “Me!” to request the song “Jesus Loves Me”. You sometimes don’t finish the song before requesting “Star” for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So your Dad created a beautiful rendition of the combination of both songs almost every night you request it. You love back rubs, gentle face strokes, and on days you’re having a little harder time to fall asleep, Mama lays down next to your crib & patiently strokes the open palm of your hand that’s reaching out of the crib rails to be near Mama. Once asleep, you roll to your side or back and sprawl out without a care in the world, as comfortable as can be. You sleep through the night & sometimes long enough for me to read before you wake. 

When you’re hungry, you want hugs and you won’t let us sit down. You tell us to “Cook”, “Cook Mama”. You love cooking at the counter with me. You love helping me with anything I ask help with. You are the sweetest little boy I ever did meet. 

Your default emotion is to be happy. You occasionally make crankiness your close second, but you are getting molar teeth right now, so I don’t blame you. But sin is something we are teaching you about so you can talk to God more, learn forgiveness, how to say you’re sorry, how to serve, and how to go back to being happy & joyful in Jesus as quickly as possible. 

You love blueberries, all berries, really. Bananas, apples, peanut butter. You love mac & cheese/noodles, sweet potatoes, avocados, french fries & sauce to dip. You love “juice”, which is really apple cider vinegar water (yes, I’m a crunchy crazy Mama… I get it from your DeeDee…) Oh, and you love pretzels, especially at your DeeDee & Pops’ house. 

You wrestle every night with your Dada. You need wrestle time. You growl, run, scream, you say “Get Me! Get Me Dada!” and then go hide around a corner or a room or door and wait for Dada. You get wound when Dada jumps you, but you keep going. You love your Dada time daily. 

You are most relaxed when you are in the car or go on stroller rides with Mama. You don’t mind if she plays loud music in the car, sings terribly loud, or stops a million times to go to the store. You are her shopping buddy, and you love anywhere you go with your Mama. I will miss those days some day. I don’t like going to the store alone anymore, and I never go on a walk without you. You’re just so fun to take with me! As long as I bring you snacks… you still don’t understand the concept of purchasing before eating…. And if we are outside, you rarely ever complain. 

You randomly yell in stores or in large spaces because you know it echos – you’ve done this since you were really little. It doesn’t bother me anymore, it’s just something you do, and somehow makes me love you all the more.

You have the biggest blue eyes and sweetest voice. Your nose is still a button nose that you’ve had since birth. Your feet still have ankle rolls and rounded squishy tops. Your toenails are the hardest to cut… You are patient when I cut your fingernails. You still have those wrist rolls that a lady at church told me at 8 months old that they would go away soon, but God has been gracious to me to let them last. You still have big cheeks that turn pink when you’re warm. Your ears are perfect. You have a long torso and shorter legs. You have the cutest little booty cheeks and chunky little thighs.. Which are slowly going away now… so I’ll enjoy squeezing them while they last. You have a round belly that gets rounder when you’ve had a really good dinner. 

When it’s dinner time you yell, “Dinner Time! Dinner Time Dada!” That’s my favorite. You go running around the house and to your high chair. If the meal is really good, you say, “Yummy Mama! Yummy!” And I say, “Thank you Baby!” You are just the sweetest! 

You love to brush your teeth. You grab your step stool, bring it to the bathroom sink, attempt to turn the faucet, but can’t yet, and you make faces in the mirror until I’m done. Then we “tap tap” and wrinse. You wash your face off, spit and we go read books before bed. 

Your favorite books right now are Little Blue Truck, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Jesus Saves, The Bible, Brown Bear, ABC Chiefs. Honestly, you like almost all books, especially if it has a barn, farm, tractor, ball, dinosaur or cow. 

I always say you’re a ball playing bookworm. 

You love the park. You love the swings & slides. You love to pretend to sleep on the bottom of the slide near our house, saying “hugh, shhhh, hughh shhh”. You love throwing the mulch & any rock you can find. You could throw rocks for hours, and did when we took you to Colorado. 

In Colorado, we went on vacation with the Leshers. Dada carried you up a 13,400ft mountain. We biked you down a 17 mile bike trail. You took naps in your stroller. You had the attention of 10 of your cousins plus their spouses. You loved every minute of it. You were so good to us on the 12 hour car ride. All we had to do was take you to a truck stop to let you run around partway through and you said “Big Big Truck!!” a million and one times. You ran circles around the vending machines and pointed to the trees. 

You still try to put everything in your mouth… although it’s getting better, today you ate a corner of your book in the car, and I think you ate a whole tissue on the way home… but I won’t know that for sure until tomorrow… 

Occasionally you get anxiety, but we have realized that prayers of thankfulness have turned you around faster than anything else we have tried. 

You still hate cuddling unless you are watching TV. You don’t like it when we sit down or when we take you into the bed with us. You want us to keep moving or to be able to move. Everything is a jungle gym to you now too. Like the bar in your closet that’s at your height… you now swing from that. 

You love baths. You love bubbles, cars, and playing with the running water. You recently have enjoyed laying on your belly in the tub to test the boundaries of the water on your face. 

You are loved, Mr Two Year Old. 

You have challenged your Dada & I to be better followers of the Lord, to repent quickly, to apologize when we have done wrong to you, to be patient, gentle and kind. You have grown us more in two years than we had known to grow before you came around. We want to be better for you little one. 

We want you to know that all our decisions on parenting, foods we give you, how we spend our time, where we take you, and who we spend our time with, is all prayed over. We are living differently than the way the world lives, and we hope it is all a reflection of our relationship with our Lord & Savior. We teach you about him daily in word & deed, shows & songs, books & Sunday school. We pray with you, pray for you, and point you to Him every day. We are not perfect parents, but God chose us to be your parents, and I hope we never take that for granted. Parenting you little Mr Two Year Old, is the greatest gift we could receive. 

Two years of parenting you, 16 more until you leave the nest, but a lifetime ahead of loving on you, our little two year old. 

You’re Two.

A Prayer For My Two Year Old

And my prayer for you is that you never stop talking about Jesus. You have talked about him since you were one or younger. You pointed to your heart and said “Me!” and could say “Jesus”. You love church and that’s still your favorite place to go. When we took you on the hike up the mountain, it was just your Dada and I for a bit and I asked you who made the mountains, and without any practice or prompting, you said “God.” You know your Maker little one. Your Dada & I did not make you little one, God did. We desired you, we asked God to send you to us little one. And the meaning of your name is “God Send”. He chose us to be your parents and I pray every day that you receive Jesus in your heart at a young age. I pray you continue to love reading your books, feel refreshed when you have moments of quiet time alone, and continue to give the biggest hugs I have ever received. I pray you never stop saying “Hi” to the people in the store that don’t look your way, to those who look like they’re having a bad day and need it most. I pray your masculinity only grows & does not get dampened by this world. I pray you have balance between strength & gentleness. I pray your pride & sin does not grow faster than you can repent of it. I pray for your continued health, continued strength, and continued growth. I pray you remain a good eater. I pray you never stop praying at mealtime, asking others to “Pray” “Pray, Food, Eat, Amen”. I pray you ham it up when the attention is on you, and you continue to use discernment when approaching strangers. You are already so smart & wise little one. You know more than I know you know some days, but I pray I never stop getting to know you, who God made you to be, your interests, your changes, your growth, your needs, your wants, your desires, your emotions, and your abilities each and every day. I pray I help you to know these things and do not place a hindrance on your desires & God-given talents. I pray you grow to know your emotions, wants & needs. I pray you love others the way God loves you. I pray you are a joy to all those you meet and all you are around. I pray you are a pro at potty training, that you love your transition here in a few weeks to your new big boy bed. I pray not a day goes by that I don’t soak in you being two little one. 

You’re two and I love you. 

Xoxo, 

Your Mama