Dear Two-Year-Old Currier,

You're growing up so fast it makes my head spin. Some days it's subtle like the shoes I just bought you a few weeks ago are already tight. Other days it's something so huge I call your dad at work to boast, "Currier just said a sentence! He said, 'Currier do it'. Can you believe it? Our son is a genius!" Speaking of 'Currier do it', you're an independent little person. There are times when your independence infuriates me. Like when we're in a rush to be someplace and you absolutely insist on putting on your own shoes. I have to take deep breaths and try to remind myself that raising an independent person is my job.

The past five months have been tough on you. We said good-bye to Italy and some really good friends—the only home and family you've ever known. We went five months without our furniture and you without your toys and you just rolled with the punches. I’m pregnant with your sibling right now and I feel guilty because most of our days are spent on the couch watching TV because “Mama is sick”. You don’t seem to mind and you’ve actually showed empathy a few times by rubbing my back and saying, “Mama okay?” You learned to adapt to these new situations and that makes me very proud of you.

You’re at the age where it's impossible to take you anywhere. Shopping and restaurants are a thing of the past. Other moms assure me that this is a phase. Please hurry through this phase because I’d kill for an hour of mindless shopping at Target without a temper tantrum or a meal in a restaurant that I don’t have to scarf down because my son is screaming and everyone is staring at me!

I hate wishing away any phase because I know that means I’m also wishing you’d grow up faster. Everyone is always telling me, “Cherish every moment because it goes by so fast” and it is so astoundingly true. I can’t believe you’re already two-years-old! I promise to try to slow down and enjoy the little moments and not wish away the phases but embrace them with deep breaths. Because one day before I know it you'll be a grown man and this Boston Red Sox t-shirt will fit you and I'll wish you were a two-year-old again.

All my love,
Mama