Right here - right now - at 2

Here you are a day after turning two. My 2 at 2. Just moments after being pulled from my tummy they placed the both of you in my arms. Amidst kissing your pink faces, I remember thinking "Well... here we go!" And here we went - laughing and giggling through most of the days and learning how to deal with frustration and big emotions on others.

Sweet Lucy Leigh - your smile lights me up on the inside. I love hearing your little voice call out "Moooommmmy!" first thing in the morning as you dump your beloved fuzzy crib mates overboard. The second I step into your room, you begin jumping up and down in your crib so full of glee and happiness that you nearly burst into rainbow colors. You want to hold my hand wherever I go. This makes me smile. I remember wanting to hold my momma's hand wherever she went, too. 

I love the way that you share your treats with Luke in the car. Inevitably, he finishes his road snack before you and promptly says "I want some more! I want some!" I call out to you - asking you to share - and then watch as you use the hand that's farthest away from him to hand him your snacks. You strain your right arm across your body when it would be so much easier to just use your left hand. But the two of you manage. You smile as Luke takes the treat you offered. You have a generous heart. 

We'll often play a game where I'll ask you for a kiss. You laugh and say "no!" while I pretend to pout. You wait for that pout. As soon as you see my head dip, you come diving into my lap giving me the biggest kisses. Tonight as I left for boot camp, you followed me, waving and calling out "bye! bye mommy! bye!" and blowing kisses. I almost didn't go. I hated to leave you. I wanted more big kisses.

Your favorite movie is "Oompa" - otherwise known as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the 1960's version with Gene Wilder. You've memorized the Oompa Loompa dances and love to sing the "Candy Man" song. A day rarely passes without you stomping around the house singing "Oompa Loompa Oompa Ooompa!"

I taught you and your brother many signs including "please", "thank you" and "water", but it's the signs for "more" and "all finished!" that you use the most. Communicating with you has been so much easier since you mastered those so long ago. I adore watching your little hands wave "all finished!" whenever you declare yourself finished with a meal.

You thrive on routine. You know what's coming and can anticipate each activity through the day. In the evenings, you hop right off the couch and declare "Go 'night 'night!" I've started playing "Knock, Knock. Peak in. Turn the latch. Walk in." with you at nap time. You giggle when I 'turn' your nose and open your mouth so wide for me to 'walk in.' You love to sit in my lap and let me do your hair (thank you!!) and have a serious shoe fetish. Each day you carefully select your footwear from the 3 pairs of sneakers that still fit. Just wait until you see the red, sparkly Converse I ordered for you in the next size up! I haven't shown them to you yet because I know you'll want to put them on straight away! You love to try on my shoes and scoot around proudly in Momma's rockin' sneaks. We're 2 of a kind Lucy Leigh. You give me warm fuzzies. I'm having the time of my laugh watching you grow. I love you beautiful daughter.

Sweet Luke William - you are so very different from my other two. You are my thoughtful, mechanical little boy. You can dive into projects with such intent and focus that I wish I could bottle it and sell it to those of us who are easily distracted. You are the one who went nutty over the tea set given to Lucy for her birthday. You bring me "tea" and "cookies" and "pie" and love to pour me a "dink". Your spoon spins furiously as you mix up all the special ingredients in your cup and then pretend to slurp it down. 

Most days when I walk in from dropping off Jack at school, I immediately hear you yell, "Momma! Momma!" and you scurry as fast as you can down the stairs to give me a hug. You hug so tight and always place your sweet noggin on my shoulder.

You're independent and like to "work" alone. Though you love your sister and rarely do anything without her around, you enjoy sitting quietly and drawing, putting together legos, coloring and "fixing" things with your tool set. You can play with the tea set and bake in the kitchen for unfathomable amounts of time. Lucy grows bored easily and often moves from toy to toy, but you prefer to pick one thing and stay with it. Yesterday you re-adopted an alligator pull-toy. That alligator ate lunch with you. He stayed with you all afternoon. He even settled down in my lap with you while we watched a little pre-nap Sesame street. Today he was forgotten for a yellow ball. You're a one-toy boy.

You speak all the time. You're constantly talking. Yes - you speak and get what you want, but you also have "Luke" language - a string of sounds so interwoven and filled with inflection that it sounds just like a real language. I wish I could understand it because it's chock full of stories. You're usually pointing to a picture or something unique in your field of vision. I usually get the gist of what it is you're trying to tell me and accompany your story with English words of my own. You'll nod in agreement and pat my head. 

Hats are your thing. Any hat. You even make a real pineapple into a hat. On our last trip to the grocery store, I pretended to place a pineapple on my head and asked both you and your sister "Do you like my hat?" in my best Dr. Suess voice. You thought that was absolutely hysterical and insisted on holding that heavy fruit up to your head on the course of our trip through HEB. Your favorite hat is the one Miss Kristen passed down to us. It's red and fuzzy and has cool fuzzy balls hanging down from it. You wore that warm thing through the heat of summer. My silly boy.

Yes, you're my silliest child. Instead of a blankie, you carry a remote control. Instead of stuffed animals, you cuddle with a flashlight. You eat bagels by the dozens and love to mix yogurt tubes with a bite of Cheese Nips. I don't pretend to understand this. I find it repulsive. But if it gets you to eat more yogurt, then I'm all for it. 

Speaking of food - you're definitely more selective than your brother and sister. You'll eat a Power Bar, but not a bite of hamburger. You adore grilled cheese one day and throw it at me the next. A few constants remain - chocolate - pumpkin muffins - cupcakes - and your milk bottle. But please, don't think I feed you only junk. Those are just the items you'd have at every meal every day if you had your way. I gently persuade you to try new foods by showing you with every bit of zeal I can muster as I try them myself. Sometimes it works, and other times you'll taste it only to spit it back out all over me. 

I love how you adore playing with Jack when he gets home from school. You're working on mastering his Jedi moves and love it when he engages you in light saber battles.  Jack's full of energy and you adore it when he pushes you on your big wheel. The two of you play hide and seek, tumble with each other and chase each other from one end of the house to the other many times over. You must travel several miles in the course of one game of chase.

Whenever you sit in my lap and give me big, giant hugs, my heart melts and I cover your noggin in kisses. Your engaging personality, your natural curiosity and inquisitiveness fill you up with so much light that you nearly glow. I love you, Luke... my cuddle monster.

Let's rock this 3rd year together, kiddos. Let's get our groove thing on and dance right through it. "Ooompa Loompa" anyone?