Kiran

Dear Kiran,

Today you turned two!! Happy teertday! We asked you all day today whose birthday it was (Kiran's or churchin as you say) and how old you were (two- holding out your index finger and thumb to show two). It was a fun day- definitely a celebration of the two years of life you have shared with us.

Your first year of life was fun as you grew physically and hit many huge milestones- rolling over, sitting, eating solid foods, standing, walking and talking. This year was so fun because your personality really came alive. You are a joyous, infectious kid. You make people smile every where we go. From yelling hi to everyone we see in the Target parking lot to barking at dogs we pass on the street, you have a way of bringing people (and animals) into your happy world. You make us smile all the time.

When Daddy & I are away from you, we find ourselves saying "Kiranisms" before long. You are at that really fun stage where you mispronounce nearly every word. I don't have the heart to correct you becuase its so darn cute and I know the time is coming soon when these mispronounced words will be replaced with easily understood words. And I'll miss them. You talk about Chick-fay and Tarjet when we go past them (ok ok when we go in them). You talk ALL the time. We think Sienna's first words will be "Quit talking Kiran!" You call Sienna "Deedeena" unless you are in a hurry and then its just "Didi". You ask us to sing your three favorite songs all the time "Jesus me" (Jesus Loves Me), "Jesus Too" (Jesus Loves the Little Children) and "Tickle Stars" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars). You are trying to sing along with us now and that is one of the most precious sounds I've ever heard.

You love to eat. Oh you love food. All kinds of food- spicy or not, healthy or not. You eat oatmeal with blueberries most mornings although you love a from-scratch waffle or pancake that Daddy makes for you. You eat three meals a day and two snacks. You still love to sleep and almost always go bed joyfully probably because it comes after your favorite time of day- BATH! We try to have you in bed by 8pm and you sleep until 7 or 8 in the morning. We moved you to a big girl bed just a few weeks ago. You were so proud to sleep in a big girl bed. You transitioned wonderfully and we only missed a few naps. Last week I put you down for your nap in the pack-n-play at Mimi and Papa's and when Daddy came to check on you because you were still talking after 30 minutes, he found that you had climbed out of the pack-n-play and put yourself to bed on the big girl bed.

You love learning new things and soak up information constantly. You have known your colors for a few months now and that is still one of your favorite things to talk about. You can recognize your letters and are starting to count. You love to color and will do it for long stretches of time. You love to read your books and your favorite book is still your Bible. You request it at every nap time and every night time. Your favorite game is I Spy! We love finding new things for you to spy and you love spying trees, churches, power lines and big trucks. You are such a great helper to me. You help me vaccuum, sweep and wipe. You go get a new onesie for Sienna and hand me diapers and wipes while I change her. Your best buddy is Elijah and we go to the park with him about every week. I loved last week when I picked you up from his house and you were both stripped down to your diapers playing the creek behind their house. You two embodied pure joy at that time and I hope your childhood is full of memories like that.

The greatest joy for your Dad & I this year has been watching you become a big sister to Sienna. You are so gentle with her and attuned to her needs.You love to bring her toys to play with or to alert me when she is crying or awake. You always ask for her when you wake up and love to hold her- for a little while anyway. You have shown incredible patience with me as I learn to be a mom to two little girls. You've had to wait more and be more independent. You have had to come second sometimes and usually you take it all in stride. I eagerly look forward to watching you and Sienna develop a relationship as she grows older. I hope you'll realize how lucky you are to have a sister and that you two will share many fun memories as my sister and I did. I hope that when you and Sienna are older that you can sit and watch your kids play together and know life really can't get much better than this.

You still embody your name- our little ray of light. Your light shines brighter and brighter all the time. Your daddy and I pray that you would be "the light of the world" (Matt 5:14) by trusting in the one who is light (John 8:12). We thank Jesus every day that He gave you to us for our earthly family.

I love you Kiran Elizabeth! Happy Second Birthday!