Happy 2nd Birthday to my Nova Mira…What a wild force of nature you are!
Heading into yet another packed weekend of mirth within this celebratory marathon. Nova’s birthday party is on Sunday and aptly themed around her favorite Star Wars droid: R2-D2. Before I get to baking cookies and cake and party-prepping, I wanted to take a moment to really celebrate my girl, as I hope she has a really HAPPY 2nd birthday…
I’ve written an introductory post about Nova Mira before. About her difficulty. About her tenacity. I’ve written about how much of a challenge she posed as a colicky baby and how it reminded me of stories I’d been told of my earliest years. What I haven’t addressed in great detail is this little girl’s uniqueness and singular personality...
Projecting Personality
I don’t want to project our similarities too strongly upon Nova. She may remind me of a younger me, but I don’t discount that she is altogether a very different person. And she baffles me. I’m so frequently stunned by her beauty and by her sense of adventure and what ensnares her imagination and interest.
Her personality is so much bigger than words could ever encapsulate. She can both be demure and, at other times, boisterous. She can be afraid of something (like New Year’s Eve fireworks) but far too curious to look away. She’s both rough-and-tumble tomboy and bougie princess baby. Everything. Everywhere. All at once. And such an adventure, beyond scope.
2nd Birthday Dinner Makes for a Happy Girl
This little lady has refined tastes. Yes, it’s true, she may be more than happy to eat dirty rocks gathered from the sidewalk cracks and unpopped popcorn kernels she’s harvested from the kitchen crannies, but she also has standards for her meals.
Special birthday breakfast is Nathan’s traditional birthday breakfast: baked oatmeal. We thought it would be fun to pass on one of Nathan’s traditional birthday meals onto each of the babies. Orson gets the pizza dough-wrapped hot dogs for dinner. Nova gets the baked oatmeal for breakfast. You won’t hear a single complaint here.
But for this bourgeois baby, Mamasaur knows her favorite meal for her Happy 2nd Birthday dinner.
RISOTTO. Not just any risotto, no. Risotto made with Firebrand Chardonnay Reserve. Better yet, serve it with STEAK. Juicy sirloin. Medium-rare. This Nova baby has CLASS. And SASS. For daysss. (I find this narrative amusing, but it may just be my Gin & Tonic talking…)
Anyway, yes, this happy girl is definitely looking forward to her gourmet, anything-but-basic, special 2nd birthday dinner.
Mixed Mannerisms
Nathan and I frequently find ourselves amused by Nova’s conflicting idiosyncrasies. Some of her favorite pastimes? Strutting her stuff and dancing in frilly, twirly dresses. Getting her beautiful little toenails painted with her Christmas red Piggy Paint. Oh, and spitting drool into cups and fervently chugging her own backwash…
Smearing ketchup in her hair, then whining for a wipe for her “dicky” (sticky) hands. Pretending to be a whimsical butterfly, flapping her arms like fluttering wings, then slipping in puddles of water she’s haphazardly spit all over our house in a not-so-whimsical fashion.
Whether she’s hurt herself or not, if she’s upset, she’s a total princess about it and asks us to kiss her toes. But, at the same time, she’s super fast to rebound from hard falls during evening neighborhood walks. So tough and unstoppable and just keeps on trucking…SUPER Nova Mira, a blinding-bright starburst.
She’s also the human toddler equivalent of a cat. Stay with me here. She likes knocking things off of any surface she sees. And she is super affectionate…but only when she wants to be and only on her terms. But how we adore her terms! If she’s excited about anything, she starts running around, doling out kiss attacks and smothering with giddy hugs.
I think it says a lot that when recently asked what we could see Nova doing when she’s all grown up, without skipping a beat, Nathan and I both jumped to CIA assassin. She’s absolutely killin’ it. That being said, her poker face needs work. She knows when she’s doing something she shouldn’t, and because of her expressive little face, everyone else knows it too.
Happy 2nd Birthday to My Bougie Little Baby Girl!
For as BIG of a personality as she has, for all the ways that she can be a struggle to parent, she is more so, a million times over, the BIGGEST answer to prayer and blessing I could have ever asked for…
Every day with her is an adventure. Life to the fullest. All of the challenge. All of the unbridled joy. Such fire and fervor and passion for life… And it’s truly difficult to believe that she’s only turning TWO. This happy occasion will ONLY BE HER 2ND BIRTHDAY!
I feel like so often the narrative is more one of “Awww, she’s already 2. Stop growing!”. But I look at Nova and am frequently astounded. Her radiant beauty, her extroversion and love for people, her conversational aptitude… In my mind, she and Orson really are twins. She’s 3 already! Must be! Nope. Just now turning 2. Just now celebrating a happy 2nd birthday.
In two, short (that have, at times, felt strenuously long) years, I have learned, and continue to learn so much from Nova Mira. Sure, dance and clap like no one is watching, but it’s even better if they are! They can join in your revelry…
Enter into the experience that food is with absolute abandon. Hard times will pass. Sweet dreams will eventually replace all of the long, sleepless nights. Life is rich. Explore it! Feel every emotion. Make friends. Share love!
And we love love love our SUPER NOVA BABY! A very happy 2nd birthday to our overflowing wellspring of vibrancy and wild adventure.
