I found the below reflection in my drafts and although Finley is nearly four now, I still want to share this cause I want to remember what her twos were like—wonderful and sweet.
Written sometime in 2020:
Too many people refer to this stage of toddlerhood as the “terrible-twos”—a phrase that excludes the sweetness of this phase. Having a two-year-old is joyful and exciting, and immensely humbling. We love watching as she learns and problem solves at home, and how the skills and relationships she making through daycare inform her thought process. She has her own separate life from us at daycare, which is becoming more evident each time we mess up a nursery rhyme she’s learned at school. She has been sleeping 10+ hours each night, and has incredible bursts of energy that get us all dancing and singing and painting and running around the house. Yes, tantrums happen, but when we slow down, get on her level, and ask what she needs it’s usually just a long hug.
I don’t know what the future holds for our family, if we will have another child or if we will remain perfectly content and happy as a small family of three. What I do know is that we have decided to raise her as if she was our second or last. We do not helicopter, we encourage solitude and quiet time, we play like we are also kids, we encourage her to explore with us and independently, and we embrace her for who she is. She has transformed our thinking and reactions, she has guided us into parenthood, she is terrific and challenging, and has been a storm of love unknown to us both. This year may be terrible, but our time with her is anything but.
