Two years as parents, as a family of three, of the biggest learning curve ever… and another year with the wonderful Sophia Talitha! So, just as I did this time last year, I’m sharing some thoughts.

We’ve just had a lovely couple of days, with a family wedding and then a trip to one of our favourite childhood haunts full of fun and play. Sophia has been surrounded by lots of her favourite people, and she’s giggled, explored and eaten lots. Tonight, she’s struggled to go to sleep because she kept remembering all the wonderful things that happened today, and she just had to tell me!

But what can I tell you about our now two year old?

Sophia loves music. She’s a big fan of Frozen and Encanto, but she loves to sing all kinds of songs. Other favourites include the wheels on the bus, baa baa black sheep and, most recently, baby shark.

She likes to read, but the longer picture books aren’t as fun as they used to be because they tend to have more text and she just wants to get to the next page! This last year, I set up her reading room with her rocker, reading tent, lots of books and quiet toys. We have such a good time in there, especially when she gets the three of us to squeeze in the tent all together!

If she could, Sophia would have eye-peem (icecream) for every meal! She’s a big fan of am (ham), lamee (salami) and tuss (toast). She will tell you that she wants chocolate, but more often than not, a little will suffice, and she likes the idea better than the reality.

She loves to hug, blow kisses and wave bye-bye. She calls blankets cuddles because we often have a cuddle under a blanket. Last year a feed was burbur but now it is definitely booboo and as of this weekend, I loy you booboo!

Sophia like to be chased, especially when Daddy crawls along the floor towards her, or sneaks up behind her and lifts her up over his head. She’s into picking things up, opening things, taking things out, moving things around, throwing things on the floor, eating things from the floor and just generally reorganising things into systems that we are clearly too stupid to understand.

Mostly, Sophia loves to be outside. She loves the ar-den (garden) whatever the weather. One evening recently, we lay on the grass and watched the birds and the ky choo choos (sky choochoo is an aeroplane). She also really likes church. She loves chatting to people of all ages, and she knows that at 6 pway and talk to Jesus.

That’s her. She’s funny and sparky. She’s interested and sharp and enthusiastic. She’s full to the brim of joy, and I want to be more like her.

In the early hours of this morning, I woke to find Sophia really upset. She was unusually loud and inconsolable. She didn’t seem to want to calm down no matter what I tried. Eventually, I asked if she was hot. ‘YEAHHH’ she replied! Until that point, I was concerned that a switch had been flipped in her little brain, that she had got three hours into being 2 and that she was somehow completely different. Nonsense, really.

Terrible twos, tantrum twos, tumultuous twos. Legend is that it’s awful. But surely not? Even if it is as bad as they say, can it be so much worse than what has gone before? They say that you lose on average 6 months sleep in the first 2 years of your child’s life, so we’ve officially reached that milestone! Now I am aware that sleep and tantrums are two completely different things. But what I think I’m trying to say is this: in all the broken nights, and nappy explosions, and teething pain, and tears and chaos that was the past two years, I have experienced more joy than I’ve ever known. Surely, even if this next phase is a tricky one, there will be joy again.

So, hello to life with a two year old, we’re here for all you have to throw at us, sunshine, thunderstorms and everything in between.