I think two year olds everywhere should hire me to be their key marketer. You know, if they had the budget for me, but I've found two year olds are pretty rotten with finances. Still, I'd happily go far and wide, taking moms of newborns aside, looking them deep in their eyes and saying, "Don't fret, stop pulling your hair out, two is ahead of you."
Glorious, glorious two.
Two is the most amazing ride I've ever been on. I can't believe any age will ever compare to two, and since I hear three is a total motherfucker, let me enjoy two. Don't tell me what's ahead. Let me revel for a moment. Magical two.
There are bumps, sure. There is hastily leaving restaurants and malls and wedding ceremonies because two is over it all (and two will loudly tell you it's over it all). Two will tell you "NO JUICE" and then innocently ask "Where my juice?" two seconds later. Two will break the one thing you asked it not to touch and as you look, stunned, at all the broken pieces, two says "Mommy, what HAPPEN?" As if to say, "WHO DID THIS? WE MUST MAKE THEM PAY." Oh, sweet child, you happened. Two also likes to wake up at 6:45 am on Saturdays and 8:30 am on the days you have to be at work early for a meeting.
Oh, two.
But for every head-scratching, scene-causing, WTF?-inducing moment there are wide grins and silly dances and snuggles and hilarious awesomeness. And the talking! Listening to a two year old is the best hobby on the planet. "Mommy, I need chocolate milk and we go Target and Molly's funny and I put shoes on now and HUGS MOMMY! JUUUUUUICE!" Listening to a two year old is like listening to a totally out-of-control drunk friend without a hint of the concern. And they say all this nonsense in a voice that is so adorably eager. Eager for everything.
Two is innocent yet clever, sweet yet brave, smart yet heartbreakingly unaware of the tough stuff. Two is all the good in all the world, without any of the bitterness or cruelty or annoying Facebook updates.
Today, for one perfect day, we have as much two ahead of us as we have behind us.
Kyle is two-and-a-half today.
I know, it kind of blows my mind, too.
I think about his (near-perfect, really) birth often, and I think of how it all changed that day, how I looked into his steel-blue eyes with utter disbelief. I thought, "You're so much more beautiful than I ever dreamed you could be. I never, ever could have dreamed of you, and I dreamed of a lot." (He was an awfully cute newborn, wasn't he?) Man, how in love with that little guy I was, back then, and it's still just nothing compared to now.
They all say it'll stun you how much you love your child as soon as you set your eyes upon him or her, and yes yes yes that is true. That is the truth, but there's something else, too. All that love just grows. That love just wondrously expands. The love never stops building. You thought you loved then? Oh, just wait.
Just wait till two.
Happy half-birthday, my funny, miracle of a boy. I just plain adore you.
