This little person.

My little Bean has been on the planet for two years as of today. Though I was not there when she greeted life that first time, her entrance into being fills my heart with light. She is special. And I know all parents — all loving parents — say that about their children. But my Bean really is special.

Her bond with her sister is telepathic. She empathizes better than most adults I know. At 22 months, she walked over to Jenn at the end of the day, patted her on the shoulder and said, “How’s your day, Mama?”.

Her memory for names and faces rivals any database. She takes care of those around her. She works the room. Just a couple weeks ago. as her Uncle Luke sat in the armchair, she walked up, touched him on the arm and said, “Hey Buddy, Buddy” before handing him a button that read ‘I’m okay, You’re okay’.

Sentences spill out of her like ribbon, her urgent curiosity to understand everything around her alive with music and color and a criminal deluge of ‘Why?’ questions that give me no choice but to eat three pieces of chocolate cake per day.

And she’s funny. Her newest endeavor is to take off her five-pound diaper every morning by herself (!). One morning not too long ago, she stepped out of her froggy feet pajamas, unfastened the velcro diaper tabs with the concentration of a military bomb diffuser and let the soiled behemoth plop to the floor. She lifted her shirt and leaned forward slightly to peer down over her belly.

“These my privates, mom?”

“Yes, honey. Those are your privates.”

“My privates! My privates!”

She is not a baby anymore. She wears her hair in poofs. She has become this little person.

My sunshine, my tender heart, my Bean.

Happy 2nd birthday to my favorite Nya in the whole wide world. I’m sorry we’re taking you off Pediasure cold turkey. You’re okay.

The Bean at Two, "Playing" Elefun with a wedgie, loving every minute of it.

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