2 is Beautiful.

I have a 2-year-old. It’s the fifth 2-year-old that we have had in our house in the last 7 years. And yes, that math is correct. This particular 2-year-old is the most difficult yet, by far. Austin and I jokingly call her the “tiny tyrant” (only when the kids can’t hear us). She is certainly tiny and mighty and knows quite well what she wants, when she wants it, how she wants it, and from whom she wants it. She is incredibly demanding, quite independent and self sufficient, bossy, and sometimes downright mean. I’ve watched her hit her brother on the bare back with a train while he screams and she laughs. We joke that God saved her for last in our family so that we’d have a lot of practice first. We also joke that if she had been the first she also would have been last. They call these the terrible twos right?

But are they really terrible? I can’t help but think of her right now and smile. There is so much personality in that tiny body and it is all coming together to form a whole person. Sometimes I look at her and I remember that she’s just a full human in a tiny little body. She is growing and learning every single day. She can be harsh, but she’s also tender. She is smart as can be and she is funny and adorable all at the same time.

2 is beautiful my friends. This is the age where their faces light up as you read a new book or as you read a favorite book for the 100th time. Ginny points to The Giant Jumperee on the hallway bookshelf and proclaims “my favorite.” Be still my heart. My favorite indeed. This is the age where you can sit on the floor and build puzzles or block towers for hours. 2-year-olds learn to share and to say they’re sorry. They are taking in everything about their world and they are learning what is right and wrong and what to do when they mess up. They are taking so many cues from you and watching all the time. Learning, growing, changing. We went to IKEA tonight with the kids to get a new mattress for Ginny’s big girl bed (more on that in a minute). Ginny also got a new stuffed elephant with a baby elephant. On the way home she shared her “Mama elephant” with Zeke and let him hold her the whole way home. A brand new toy. How far we have come. She also opened up her water bottle and spilled it all over the books in the van. That was not as cute . . .. But then she said “I sorry Mama, I not do that next time.” Music to my ears. And not just because next time the books will be spared a shower, but because she is getting it. She disobeyed and she had remorse, she repented. We all mess up, we all do things that we ought not do. To be able to repent, to say you are sorry and turn and and go in a different direction– that is the way of the Lord and it is one of the things that sets His people apart. She is getting it. She is watching and growing and learning.

We put that sweet 2-year-old, my baby, our last child, into a big girl bed tonight. We no longer have a crib in our home. It is shocking to think that this day has actually come. I feel excited, and nostalgic, and maybe a little sad. But mostly I just look at her and I’m amazed at what a difference 2 years makes. How much they learn and grow in 2 years. This girl can feed herself, dress herself, go potty on the potty, sleep in a big girl bed, get on her own socks and shoes, buckle her top buckle in the car, and build a magnatile tower. She learned all of that and so much more in 2 years. How much have I learned in 2 years? How much have I grown? It is astonishing what they are capable of, what their brains are doing each day.

Last week we were on a walk and she lost her “waddle.” This is the beloved stuffy that she sleeps with every night. It was a disaster in 2-year-old world. After a very tumultuous nap, we prayed that we would find waddle. I then promptly posted on the Madeira moms facebook page that we had lost it. Shout out to all you Madeira moms who sprang into action to help us find it! Do you know that when I handed her that waddle, she said “Jesus helped me find it, Jesus got it me.” That wasn’t my first thought. I didn’t immediately connect the dots with our prayer. I was more thankful that I lived in a neighborhood where other mamas knew what it was like to lose the beloved lovey. But this girl, this 2-year-old, she got it. She helped me see something that I couldn’t see on my own.

Friends, these 2-year-olds are more than meets the eye. Sure, they can be difficult, they can be moody and strong willed. But they are truly a blessing and if you just slow down, if you just look a little closer, if you just watch–they are the most fun, most loving, most joyful of humans. 2 is so beautiful. I’m going to slow down and enjoy the last 6 months that I get to live with a 2-year-old. I’m going to spend more time sitting on the floor playing, I’m going eat more pretend ice cream and read more books. I’m going to build more puzzles and towers. I’m going to finger paint and color. I’m going to laugh and smile and adore. 2 is beautiful and I’m not about to miss it.