Our Son...Caellum Leoni

Make a Smilebox photobook

Evelyn's 2nd Birthday Slideshow & Annual Letter

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dear Sweet & Sassy Evelyn –
“What up girlfriend?” I begin this yearly birthday letter to you with this specific phrase because you’ve breathed new life into it in a way that shocked us. Once upon a time you were our sweet, shy girl who barely acknowledged other kids on the playground. That is until you chose your moment to blossom into an outgoing jive talking little lady. A girl came up to you and said, “Hi my name is Crystal.” You in turn stared at her, cocked your hip, cracked a bit of a smile and said in response “What up girlfriend?!” You all but snapped your fingers afterwards to complete your greeting!

It’s true, you make us laugh and you sure have been responsible for my fair share of tears this past year as well. You can melt my heart one minute and milliseconds later have me desperately sprinting to the library to check out multitudes of parenting self help books. Such is love. The more familiar you are with somebody, the more you love them, the more you let them see ALL of you…the good, the bad, the ugly. I guess I should feel honored to know that our parent/child relationship is developing a maturity and a fine tuning of our character daily.

In this past year we have swung the white flag of surrender to the fact that you love life so incredibly much you choose to forego your sleep. Other moms share about their gorgeous Guido or marvelous Matilda napping 3 hours long and sleeping in until 7 or 8 in the morning. Not you my sweetness. Once in a grand while when you know I’m about to crack, you’ll pull a 2 hour gift of a nap on me. But normally you’re down for an hour, if that, and then desperately want out of your prison crib. As for the mornings...the earlier, the better you figure. I think deep down you know that if you deprive us of our sleep then you will be able to wear us physically down enough to finally have the control you desperately seek. Very clever Evelyn. It’s working. The moral of the story is that trying to figure out your sleep patterns has been similar to working on a NASA space project. We even consulted pediatric sleep experts whom you had baffled. Anyway, I give up and decided to just buy more eye cream to hide the wear and tear of our endless sleep drama battlements.

You are one of the funniest people I have ever met (or given birth to for that matter). This past year you have blossomed into a beautiful little girl, no longer a baby! We are still waiting for your hair to grown in though. You even let me put piggy tails in for all of two weeks until you decided to rip them out and throw them at me instead. So a mullet it will have to be for now.

Moments that we don’t want to forget? You wildly pointing out people of other ethnicities and loudly calling them “Obama”. “See mommy, see daddy, there’s Obama, right there!” And recently you have been extremely curious about your anatomy. We took some sound parenting advice and decided to tell you the correct terminology when answering your questions. Now you think it’s amusing to ask to see everybody’s vagina. We are awaiting a call from DCFS any day now.

We cannot wait to see how you will (hopefully) graciously grow into your role as big sister. I am at a loss for words with tenderness when I see you curl up to my tummy and use your sweet high pitched voice to talk to your baby brother and sing him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Every time you are dancing around (most likely naked) like a goof, saying “Look at me, Look at me!” you will stop mid-move to pull my shirt up and say, “See baby brother, see me dance?!”. You are quite the caretaker. Your stuffed animals can attest to that after you throw them vigorously on the floor, then gasp with fright “You okay bunny?! You okay teddy?!” then caress them back to health with your gentle strokes and by putting band aids on their fur. You love to have daddy role play with your animals. I must say his voice overs are quite impressive. You truly believe he is Dora at times – our little trick to get you to do anything and everything we want.

From your daddy, you definitely have acquired an appreciation for nature. We cannot contain you once you are outside. You are off and running with your mullet streaming in the air. You pick up on every sight, taste, smell and touch that you can take in and you make sure we all know full well what it is you are so fascinated by. I must say I still hate sand, and I’m still the last one who wants to get into a cold pool, but you inspire me to dive head first into all these things that make you messy and dirty. Who knows, you may even get me to camp one day. Maybe.

As for firsts, we haven’t kept track of all the dates of your milestones, but the consensus around town is that you are one smart cookie. Some have even called you an incredibly sensory, sensitive child who feels everything to the core of its depth. This is a unique and beautiful gift. On the flipside, we have discovered that no one can so much as raise their voice around you (even in jest) without you completely melting down, hiding your face and crying until all is calm again. A peacemaker at heart.

Overall, this has been a busy year of swim lessons, music classes, learning to put sentences together, getting rid of your pacifier, drinking from a straw, doing cartwheels, mimicking everything we say and do, riding scooters (and anything with wheels on), eating with utensils in your very own chair and table -and much, much more!

Your love for music and rhythm is undeniable. The song that is playing to your picture montage is your newest and latest obsession. By age two you know all the words to it and you are totally in tune with the beat. When you finally let us in on this musical secret of yours we were definitely in awe. Your “Prince Daddio” or “Boink”, as you like to refer to him as, is certain that you will become a famous musician one day.

When I sit back and think about how loved you are between your daddy’s family and my family I get overwhelmed to the point of tears. You are truly adored to the fullest sense of the word. With the loving and compassionate influences in your life, you will no doubt have the confidence to walk effortlessly into being all of whom God created you to be.

We will never grow tired of watching you and your cousins play and squeal with delight when you see one another. When I become sad about all the dysfunction and hurt in the world I take time out to observe your innocence and the beauty of how you embrace the relationships in your life with pure, unhindered joy. This is especially true when your dad comes home from work! You could care less if Dora is on or not, nothing is going to get in the way of you and your faster than lightening run down that hallway to jump up into his arms. Then you show off for him for the rest of the night in delight.

By far some of our favorite moments with you are bringing you into bed with us in the morning to cuddle. We ask you what your dreams were about and every morning without fail you say “Kendall, Ava and Hadley.” Then we lay there watching the sun glisten in while the “leaves dance around”. These are magical moments we will never forget.

Oh and Choo-Choo trains. We cannot forget to mention your obsession with choo-choo trains. Sometimes I’ll plop you on the El, and we’ll go two stops to Starbucks just to satisfy the desires of your heart. You would think you just had come off a ride at Disneyland afterwards. Simple pleasures

Everyday we grow to love every precious bit of you more. We thank God so deeply for blessing us with a child so full of life, wonderment, laughter and a sense of humor. I learn so much from you in how to be patient, more creative, to slow down and to merely savor the moment for what it is.

Per your request, for your birthday we are celebrating with party hats and cake just like your idol Dora does in your book. We are not just celebrating you on this one day, but everyday in between because you are so unbelievably special to us in ways that we’ll never be able to express in mere words.

You have added a purpose to our lives that will never come close to anything we could have ever imagined or planned for ourselves.

So be nice to your new brother, sleep longer if you are willing, keep laughing your infectious laugh, but other than that don’t change a thing because you are a gift to us and to this world just the way you are.

We love you birthday girl! Happy 2nd birthday!
Mommy & Daddio