Dear Darcie,
Today you turn two! (I’m posting this a week late because I’m forcing myself to stop editing it now. It will never be as perfect as I want it to be, it will never be as perfect as you or as perfect as you deserve, but I hope that one day when you read it, you’ll like it anyway).
I just read back over the letter I wrote to you a year ago today on your first birthday. At the end I wrote ‘You will grow and you will change, but please stay sweet, stay kind and stay you.’ That is exactly what you have done. You have stayed sweet, and you have stayed kind and you are still very much the you that you were last year (just with a little bit more sass!). You have changed and grown so much. I can see it happening right before my eyes and yet you are still so similar in so many ways to the person you were a year ago.This year has seen you change so much. You’ve learnt to walk, then run, then dance and spin. Now you can jump and love to throw yourself off of things that you really probably shouldn’t. You can be so reckless sometimes and then other time you are so careful. You like to say ‘careful’ to other people too. You once told Aunty Becky to be careful while she was driving over potholes which was absolutely hilarious.
You can talk now. Your vocabulary is so impressive and it grows each day. You clearly love learning to talk. New words bring you so much joy and I know how much you love being able to communicate with us and telling us what you think about things. When anyone hurts themselves you always ask if they are okay and you’ve even finally learnt to say ‘Sankoo Mummy’ (thank you Mummy) when I give you things. We can have proper little conversations together and I will never get tired of listening to you tell me about your world.
One of my favourite things about this past years with you has been watching your little personality develop and see you form clear likes and dislikes of things. You LOVE dinosaurs but have an inexplicable fear of pirates. You love going to the farm and feeding the lambs and stroking the goats, and yet you won’t stroke the pony down the road for love nor money. You love going to Grandad’s house and seeing the gerbils (which you are very good at saying!) and you love trying to make friends with all of our neighbour’s cats. You hate being the centre of attention unless it’s on your terms and you can recognise all of your favourite people’s cars. You love to say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to inanimate objects and animals, and find spiders so very exciting. Every morning you hand me my phone and my lip balm because you know they are my two essentials. You love the dragon in Shrek and will say ‘naughty telly’ if we happen to put on a program that you don’t want to watch. You believe in your magical powers and you have perfected your fake laugh. You adore going to Paultons and seeing your friends and every time the postman comes to the door you gleefully yell ‘parcel, toys!’ because that’s what you want it to be. I could list all your quirks and funny little ways forever and never run out of things to say. I love them all, they make you -you, and you’re my favourite little person in the whole wide world.
This next year will see even bigger changes in your life. Most notably you will become a big sister! Who knows how much life will change when your baby brother arrives but I’m not worried. I know you’ll take the changes in your stride and continue being the amazing little girl that you are today. I think you’re going to be the most helpful big sister there ever was and I just know you are going to be so keen to help me look after him. You are so kind to all your toy babies and to the real babies that we see in real life. You always tell me that you have to be kind when we are going to go and see our friends who have a baby. ‘Rosies’s house, toys, baby…kind!’ is what you always say on the way to see them.
You amaze me every day with your gentle nature and your wild soul. You are the perfect combination of everything that I hope you remain. You love to run wild and have the greatest imagination, you can also be so affectionate and you are always kind to the people around you. You love animals and are so gentle with them, which is probably why they love you back. And you know exactly how far you can push me before turning on your perfectly cute charm and forcing me to fall back in love with you. You are hilarious and you know it. You love to join in with adult conversation, nodding your head and saying ‘yes, no’ and you have a great little fake laugh that means you can laugh along with everyone even if you don’t know what the joke is.
One has been a truly wonderful age and I’m hoping that two will bring us all just as much joy. I can’t wait for all the memories we will make over the next year and I’ll continue to do my best to record them to look back on as you grow.
You’re my perfect little wild child, with your crazy hair and your gentle heart. I can’t think of a better way to say it than I did last year, so; ‘You will grow and you will change, but please stay sweet, stay kind and stay you’
I love you Darcie May.
