The two year old here.

I never want to forget Rory at two.

She is equal parts opinionated and spicy and hilarious and sweet. How one tiny person can embody all of that at once every day makes my head hurt to think about, and some days, to parent.

Things I don't want to forget:
-How she sings all day long, and can pretty much get the tune and not just the words. Current favorites include "How Far I'll Go" from Moana (pronounced Boana), the last line of the "You're welcome" song (also Moana), and 10 or so Daniel Tiger songs, most recently "It's ok to feel sad sometimes, little by little, you'll feel better again" which is a favorite of her nursery teachers.
-Speaks like a 3 or 4 year old, according to our pediatrician and anybody that knows little kids
-Can't sit still long enough to watch a movie unless it's Moana or Daniel Tiger
-Loves soda. She hasn't met a soda she isn't fond of.
-Also loves sugar. All sugar. Candy and Nilla wafers and chocolate and fruit snacks all the day long
-Battles sitting in her seat for dinner with full blown tantrums that incur time-outs about half the time. So basically dinner is russian roulette. Some days it goes down without a fight, some days it's a war.
-Asks really funny adult questions all the time like "How was your food mom? Should we go outside? or Guess what? I go to the gym. And child watch."
-Has the funniest run in the whole world. It's super bouncy and a little off kilter to the point that you think she'll fall over, but somehow she almost never does. And she uses that run to run away from me constantly. An old lady gave me one of those sympathetic chuckles as she watched Rory SPRINT away from me in the parking lot of Home Depot the other day. I like to think she knew how it feels to be equal parts scared and angry that your child is putting their little life jeopardy.
-Calls party hats unicorns. I don't know if it's because her birthday party was unicorn themed or because it's like having a horn on your head, but it's hilarious either way.
-She says "I love you so much" without prompting. Often.
-Still takes a solid nap and sleeps a solid twelve hours. Gosh, I wish that never had to end.
-Loves Boo and is constantly trying to get her to play with her and follow her, though Boo is so overly obedient that I have to tell her to play with baby before she will do anything Rory says.
-It really good at comforting people when they're sad. She walked in on me praying the other day and my head was bowed and eyes were closed- She immediately started rubbing my back and saying, "What's wrong mom? You okay mom? It's ok mom." Then proceeded to sing me her favorite Daniel Tiger song detailed above.
-Basically does everything I say not to do right now. The boundary testing is strong with this one.
-Still loves all accessories including but not limited to shoes, purses, watches, bows, socks (current favorite being her donut socks), earrings, and ever since our most recent plane ride... headphones.
-Asks if I have a baby sister in my tummy every day (though there is not- but someday) and wants to be potty trained more than anything. Though on the latter, I'm trying to get her in a big girl bed first so I at least have the option of trying to potty train through the night if that's in the cards for us. The potty training adventure is forthcoming: pray for me and stay tuned. Update: today we went to buy big girl panties for said adventure and she has not stopped talking about the potty nor using her new step to go sit on it with her diaper on for five minute increments. Update again because I keep not posting this: she is currently napping and we are halfway through day 1 of potty training!


This is maybe my most emotionally exhausting phase of motherhood with Rory second to the colic in the beginning, but I'm completely honest when I say I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I love her I love her I love her, and I love being her mom.