* Her non-stop love of laughter - an infectious, pure, happy giggle that comes from within and makes her eyes sparkle
*How she loves to be caressed - especially her “gav” - until goosebumps forms on her skin and she closes her eyes, asking for more “tackle pease”
* Her physical strength - she navigates stairs without holding on and rearranges the furniture no matter how heavy it is. The other day she lifted her solid wood shopping cart on to the couch. Why? We have no idea
* Her cute baby-dyslexia, saying phrases and words out of order (muchis = music, mahtes=shmate, pahtes=pasta, fart abba=abba farted, noko=neko)
* Her sense of fashion … sunglasses, a have a nice day knit cap, yellow galoshes, and nothing else
* The way she smiles at us right before she’s about to do something she knows we don’t approve of … eg - climbing in the window sill and dancing, jumping on the sofa, putting plastic toys in her mouth, dumping her food on the floor, throwing anything in the garbage, and drinking her soapy, dirty bath water (yum)
* Her expressiveness and exuberance - some kids say “bye bye”, but neko yells “BYYYYYYEEEEE” with great gusto and verve
* Her good days when she wakes up running in circles shouting “Noko happy, Noko happy!”
* Her bad days when she wakes up screaming “No!” - why? we don’t know, but we all feel like that upon occasion
* Her baby fat creases in all the right places
* Her dimply thunder thighs
* Her love of hats and headgear and letting Keren “do” her hair
* The fact that she cried when she watched “Bambi” (someone must’ve been cutting onions)
* Her undying love of other kids and how she remembers all their names (plus their parents)
* How she tells us what she did each day when we come home from work
* Her random use of please and thank you (a good start)
* That she’s more known and more popular in this neighborhood than we are
* She has taught us many things about love, about patience, the capacity for change, responsibility, learning, and laughing (and let’s not forget changing a diaper on a kid who doesn’t sit still)
* She’s a vibrant, outrageous, demanding, wild, independent, often uncontrollable, mostly sweet, warm, vivacious, funny, silly, expressive, fearless, physical, clever, and unique individual who is truly one of a kind. We love her. More every day.
Two years ago she was this small:
What an amazing journey.
We are lucky to be her parents.
