That's How You Say "Thank You"

One of my favorite thing about toddlers is that they're so darn thankful. It's not that the Big Kid doesn't show gratitude, by the way. It's more that I'm ignoring her these days because if I ignore her, she can't possibly finish fifth grade. Life is better when I keep her little by pretending this whole end of the school year thing doesn't exist.

ONWARD! Grateful toddlers, man. They're so darn cute.

Mila will say "thank you" for just about anything lately. You could hand her a dead bug and she'd be grateful because she'd consider it permission to rip its legs out. Fortunately, I don't have to resort to those sorts of levels because she's grateful about good stuff, too.

Her birthday cake.

Ignoring the fact that my kids both take for granted my magical ability to make almost-decent looking cakes appear out of nowhere, Mila was pretty stoked to discover there was a Wonder Woman cake in the kitchen for her birthday. I have offered her that exact Wonder Woman doll approximately every time we've gone to Target lately and she didn't want it, but once I doused the thing in seventeen pounds of cream cheese frosting, she was AWESOMENESS.

Lighting candles made her better, of course. Because fire. Mila loves fire.

But cream cheese frosting is better. While I think I would rank fire a little higher, Mila is all CREAM CHEESE FROSTING OMG.

Especially the yellow stuff. It might be exactly the same as the blue stuff, but don't bother trying to explain that. Mila says yellow is superior and thusly she stole every yellow frosting star she could find.

Or maybe she was marking her territory? It's hard to tell sometimes.

Anyway, it has been two days since the Wonder Woman cake first made its appearance. Mila has drug the doll from the Wonder Woman cake everywhere for those two days and if you try to take her away, Mila will scold you. "I just wuv her. I need her."

It's the best.

The other thing that's the best is that what's left of the cake can still bring all the love from Mila. I mean, don't even look at what's left of the yellow stars because she will destroy you, but the cake itself? It's happiness.

I'm guessing that's why I found Mila standing in the fridge with her face buried in it earlier today. Literally, she was no-hands chowing down. Like a dog.

I love toddler gratitude. It's the best.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I am convinced that each trip you take around the sun goes just a tiny bit faster than the last. Don't try to tell me otherwise. I am certain that the past three years with Mila passed by faster than the first three years with Alexis. The next three years will go by even faster. Just watch.

Part of what makes time slip through my fingers faster these days is that there are two of them. Alexis is a separate being with a whole list of needs and wants while Mila is over there with her own list. Sometimes time with one is lost for time with the other and whoosh. It flies by.

With Mila's years passing by faster for me, sometimes it feels like the minutes are vanishing without note. I don't want to forget any of the things, though. She's wonderful and fantastic and the little things about her are what make her wonderful and fantastic. In that vein, here are a few random things about her I don't want to lose:

* Right now Mila will not sleep in her own bed. Forget it, it's not happening. She went from deciding the guest room was hers to now sleeping on the couch every night. I'm grateful she timed this phase just right so that it would coincide with hockey playoffs.

* While I've told her to wait until they're purple about 135135908 times, Mila insists on picking the plums from the little tree in our back yard. They're about as edible as a rock right now, but it doesn't stop her from checking them. So she stands at the top of the garden, ripping plums from the tree, and throwing them to the ground when they're too hard to eat. All the while, if she realizes I see her, she will yell, "I'M NOT DOING NOTHING!"

* If I call Mila "Tiny" these days, which I do often since it's basically her name, she will reply, "I'm not Tiny, I'm Baby."

* Our dogs are jerks who bark entirely too much. That's just a fact. They often explode when someone walks in the door. It doesn't matter who it is; they bark like their lives depend on it. Mila's current response to obnoxious barking is to say, "Oh my gosh. Enough!"

* Mila can completely dress herself now. It leads to her often wearing dresses backwards and things like that and we all leave it alone. She's super pumped about gaining that bit of independence so there's no reason to squash it.

* Mila super hates black jelly beans, but she is willing to try again just in case. And again. And again. Each time ends with her spitting them out, saying "BLECH!" super loudly, and then whispering "I don't wike them." She seems to think there is some sort of conspiracy theory involving black jelly beans ...

* Nobody has ever hated Time Out quite like Mila hates Time Out. The threat of it is enough to freeze her in her tracks, but it's only temporary. She just waits until you're not looking to continue her shenanigans.

* Speaking of Mila shenanigans, she plans for them. I constantly find contraband in her backpack. Today's contraband was a pacifier and a few handfuls of Lucky Charm marshmallows. She was sneaking them both into her mouth while we drove to school. When I called her out for it, she said, "I'm not putting anything in my face!"

* Mila super adores her big sister. In fact, she generally calls her "My Alexis."

 

Thanks for Being You, Sunshine

Three years and one day ago, there was a lot of discussion about names. Right up until the paperwork for her birth certificate was signed, the debate continued. We didn't know until she made her appearance that Mila would be a she, and it's a good thing that worked out the way it did. We didn't have a boy name. In fact, we were so far from having a boy name that we would likely still be debating the issue if it had come to that.

Girl names, on the other hand, were a better situation. We were pretty sure Mila would be "Mila," although the spelling wasn't decided until she was hours old. Her middle name, though. We didn't have a clue.

There were a few rules decided. She was to have a middle name that started with "J" so she could be "MJ." It couldn't end with an "a." Two names that end in "a" are just awkward together. With those few rules in mind, Alexis is the one who picked Mila's middle name. She did so when Mila was three days old and we were officially out of time to debate it unless we wanted to deal with her birth certificate the hard way.

While "Joliette" is the lovely choice that Alexis made, it's always bothered me that it's not quite right. It just doesn't suit Miss Mila. "Mila" does, by the way. It's a wonderful coincidence that the tiny creature who didn't have a name ended up with the exact right first name for her -- except for that middle name business. I've never known what it should have been; I've just known I didn't like what we finally picked.

I figured it out today. In the midst of giggles and glee, Miss Mila turned to me and grinned in the exact right way for me to figure out what she is and how we could have selected her name.

I don't know exactly which name would have been best, but sunshine. She should have been named for the sunshine. No matter the situation, when Mila bursts into a room (and she always BURSTS into a room), she brings rays of sunshine and light with her. Her personality explodes to fill every dark corner as she boldly asserts herself into everything. Even when she decides to play it cool and pretend to be shy, she can take total control of a crowd.

As with the actual sun, with all of that warmth and brightness, there comes a need to proceed with caution. While Mila is joy embodied, you have to handle her with a bit of care. She will burn you so hard if you don't keep up, but it's worth it. For every challenge that she issues, there's a reward.

Survive a "quick" run to get groceries with Mila in tow, and she'll reward you with a smile at the register for no reason whatsoever. Drag her down from the high shelves seventeen eleventy bajillion times, and you'll get a little hug. Argue with her about most anything, and she'll repay you with a random, "I just wuv you" later in the day. She knows how to pepper in sweetness and warmth at the exact right times.

And that's why she has everyone in the palm of her hand. Mila has earned the right to be the boss of everything. We're just glad she is here because everything is better with a little sunshine.

Happy birthday, Mila. Thanks for making our days brighter.