Sydney's Two year old letter

My Sydney Jo,

Sydney this past year has been such a joy for me being your Mommy! I can't believe how much you have grown, or all the things that you have learned this year. I can't believe all the things that I have learned being your Mommy either. At times it seems almost overwhelming that you were sent to us to raise and love! I sometimes feel as if I am not worthy to be your mother. You have taught me more about love, patience, gratitude, the power of prayer, and joy in these past two years that we have had you, than I had ever thought possible.

Sydney, you have such a strong spirit, it is an honor to be you Mommy! You are such an active little girl, so much so that I have had a hard time just keeping up with you! You constantly amaze me! You have never once let the fact the you have a heart defect slow you down, for that reason alone you are an inspiration to all those that know and love you. Even your doctors are constantly amazed at your progress! What a constant joy you are to your Daddy and I, you have us wrapped around your fingers. Who knew that being your Mommy would be such an amazing journey!

Sydney, you have not had it very easy these past two years. With your open heart surgery when you were two weeks old, and the many infections and allergies you have had, it seems as if you are always sick. Even with all these added trials to your short little life, you are such a fighter, and they don't seem to keep you down for long.

Sydney you have an amazing ability to learn. This past year you have wowed me with all the things that you know. You have learned over 150 different signs, your ABC's in sign, and your numbers. You use sign language as you talk so much that I find my self focusing more on your signing as you talk because they are more clear then some of your words are.

You have started using 3-4 word sentences.

You love the ABC's and everywhere we go you are constantly pointing out all the different letters around you.

You love to go to the Starfall website and read all the online books. You enjoy reading these books so much that you drag us up to the computer several times a day, begging to do your "ABC's".

Your Daddy and I have learned that you are very visual and that you can learn at amazing speeds if you just see it first. So we bought you a few preschool dvd's, from them you have learned your colors, shapes, numbers, and about 40 sight words.You are learning so fast that you are even teaching yourself your own sight words as we read to you. I am confident that by the end of your 2nd year that you will be reading.

You are such a social little girl. You love it when your friends come over to play. You have started to grab them by the hands and lead them to the places that you want them to go. Most of the time it is upstairs to your room to jump on the bed, or around and around in circles, singing "Ring Around The Rosie".
You love to go to church and visit all the Grandpa's and Grandmas that sit on the back row. Each Sunday you go over and sit by them before church, giving each of them your killer smile and a high five.

You love nursery and run down the hall until you get to the nursery door. You go in with out even a backward glance at your parents because you love to play with all your friends so much. The only bad thing about nursery is that you are always getting sick, so Mommy and Daddy make you stay home. However you are always so happy to come back the next week and never cry when you are left.

You love animals, but most of all puppies. You have one favorite puppy that you call "Poppy", he is ragged and has lost one of his ears, but that doesn't stop you from loving him so much that you almost never let go of him. I think that you are as attached to that little one eared dog as you are to your pink silky blanket.

Your love for your "Poppy" has branched out to many other different little puppies that you carry around every where you go, you insist on sleeping with them too!

You love to watch puppy movies, your favorite ones are: 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, Oliver & Company (which you watch only for the puppies!), Milo and Otis, and Fox and the Hound.

You also love our little puppy Penny that we got this summer. Your favorite thing to do is go outside on walks with Penny. You insist on holding her leash and tug her every where you want her to go.
Perhaps my favorite part of this last year is the bond that you and I have created. You have always loved your Daddy and for several months only wanted him. Last summer that all changed when we got to spend our summer together with no babysitting friends coming over everyday. It was so fun spending so much one-on-one time with you and pretty soon you preferred me over every one else. You are constantly calling my name. You say "Mommy" in such a way that it melts my heart, and makes me want to give you anything that you want.
I love to hold you in my arms. I cuddle with you for as long as you will let me. I love it when you fall asleep in my arms because then I can hold you longer and breathe in your scent as you sleep.We have such great times together making up games, teasing each other, tickling, and laughing. Hearing you laugh in such a carefree way is the best sound in the whole world, and makes me wish that you could always be this little and carefree. I cringe at all the scary things that are happening in this world today, and hope that I can somehow shelter you from it as long as possible. You are going to have a such a hard life as it is with your health, my hope is that you can stay young and innocent as long as possible.

Sydney girl, I don't know all the you are going to have to go through this next year. I do know that you are going to get a new baby brother and I hope and pray that you will love him and that you both will be good friends. I hope that you will never feel that you have been replaced by this little guy and that you will always feel the love and concern that your Mommy and Daddy have for you. I hope that you will stay the strong little fighter girl that you are, and that even if there are bumps in your road that they wont keep you down for long. I hope that you will stay the happy, social girl that you are and that you will continue to make friends every where you go. I hope that you continue to have your great thirst for knowledge and learning. That you will continue to learn and grow and wow us with all the many things you discover.

I love you so much little Sydney, it has been such a joy these past few years being your Mommy! I never knew that my heart could love so much until you came into our lives and I hope and pray that I can continue to be the kind of Mommy that you need.



I love you with all of my heart!
-Mommy