As I stare down the barrel of your second birthday, there have been many times lately that I wanted to capture the seesaw of pure joy and angry frustration that you are these days. This won’t do justice to the real-life you but here is some of what you’ve been up to lately:

You are a climber. You climb the outside of your crib, the footboard of the guest bed, anything at the playground, and all the furniture.

You wail at the top of your lungs over major injustices such as putting your food in the microwave to heat up.

If we are in the car for more then 10 minutes you will take off your shoes.

You love to laugh when other people are laughing. When you hear a laugh-track on TV or the radio you unleash a belly-laugh, too.

You are generous with hugs and kisses. You run full-throttle at daddy and me to give us big hugs. You love giving kisses, especially on our noses.

You love to draw and color.

You know all the colors in your rainbow book.

You love making animal sounds.

You can kind-of sing the ABC’s. You know the first 7 letters for sure; from then on it’s hit and miss.

You love singing your own little songs when in your carseat.

You are obsessed with the “Cool Tricks” segment on Yo Gabba Gabba.

When we ask you to shake your dupa you spread your legs wide and shake your hips Elvis-style.

You are 100% a water-baby. You are attracted to water like nothing else. There have been several times this summer when watering the tomatoes ends with a drenched, fully clothed Magpie. We just installed a hand-held shower in the bathtub so you can take showers and you love it!

You have perfected the skill of going limp during a tantrum.

You love to try new foods and will taste just about anything we put in front of you.

Your concept of sharing is that if you want something all you have to do is shout “Share!” then you are free to grab it.

You like to kiss my and daddy’s “ouchies” to make them “all better!”

You can melt my heart when you say “tank too, mama!” after I hand you something as simple as a spoon.