Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Happy birthday, Daphne Belle.

My dearest Daphne,

It has been about six months since I last wrote on this site proclaiming your brilliance and your cuteness. I spent a year chronicling your achievements and how your daddy and I marveled at them. You have astounded both of us with your graceful and girlish demeanor, your fierce independence, your aptitude at mastering new skills so quickly; how friendly you are, how polite, how well you listen and yet how stubborn you can be.

So much has changed in six months, my darling daughter. Your daddy and I are no longer married, but we still are together very much as your parents. We still marvel at you. I called him this morning to tell him about you. When you got in the car this morning, you said, "I play Sammie JoJo?" You were asking me if we were going to the daycare to play with your friends, Sammie and JoJo. You are so smart! You remembered their names, asked if that's where we were headed. He laughed and wasn't surprised a bit. We both know how smart you are. We both know how smart you have always been.

 In the past six months, you have grown astonishingly. In July, I wrote down a list of the words you knew. It topped 75. Now? It's most certainly closer to 200. You BLOOMED. You are stringing sentences together and even using the correct verb tenses! You love to read. Last night, you asked to read the book about Jeez (Jesus) and the story about Dani (Daniel in the Lion's Den). Your favorite books are the Highlight's magazines that Gigi Joan ordered you. You love to search for the hidden pictures. You have an uncanny knack for finding them! I am impressed every time. I clap my hands for you, sincerely, because you are incredible, Daphne. You blow me away.

You can recognize your name when you see it written down. You recognize the ABC's and have *started* singing them. You "count" and say 1, 2, 10. You love when the little piggies go to the market and you giggle all the way home. When you first started learning your colors, you learned blue right away. Then, you thought every color was blue. Now, you recognize blue! You haven't said other colors yet, but you recognize them! I'm so proud of you for this. You have started getting on the potty and you say, "I try potty, Mommy, I try!" You haven't "tried" for real, yet, but you sit on there and look very cute! :)

Your favorite toy seems to be a baby doll. I got you a brand new one for your birthday. I will give it to you this Saturday at your party and I am so excited! You are very nurturing. When I watch you through the window at daycare, I see you wrap up the baby doll over and over in a blanket and rock it and pretend to be its mommy. You do it at home with your Elmo doll and your Momo, too. You're so sweet, Daphne Belle.

You're also a tomboy, though! You love to play outside and to play rough. You climb EVERYTHING including your crib! Just the other day, you climbed right out of your crib. I had to take the side panel off and turned it into a toddler bed. I was worried you wouldn't want to sleep in it, but you did ... perfectly. The second night, you got up around 4 or so, and I just put you right back to bed. You seem to feel just fine in there and sleep peacefully.

Peaceful is a good word to describe you, really. Yes, you are almost two and you do have your moments of tantrums. You have started to say, "NO!" and "STOP!" but, on the whole, you are a very laid back and easy going girl. Many, many people have commented on your sweet nature. You are well loved by everyone in your life, Daphne. Everywhere you go, whether it's to Cheri's or the daycare or to see your grandparents (Lil or the Joan's), everyone loves you so much.

In the past few months, you and I have been blessed with even more people who love us. Dave and Nonna Sue are pretty taken with you as well. You have spent many hours giggling at Dave's antics and he often pretends that you are his pillow, which you think is hysterical. Nonna Sue loves you 1,000 miles away, and she is sending you a dollhouse for your birthday!

My dearest Daphne, you are growing up to be beautiful and fierce, intelligent and kind. You are exactly the daughter I dreamed of and hoped for. I love you more than I love anything or anyone and I always will. I praise God and thank Him for His gift to me of you and I pray for His hand to be in your life always. I love you, my daughter.