Happy Birthday, Thing 2!

It is Thing 2's 12th birthday today, and you can believe me utterly when I say there were plenty of days when she was younger when I didn't think either one of us was going to live to see this day. A day where she was whole and healthy and independent and capable and well on her way to a rich, full life, and I had no criminal record and my name was not synonymous with "sold her child for spare parts".

Thing 2 has always been a kid who knew what she wanted and had no problem telling you what your role in the acquisition might be. When she was around 3 years old, she spent a lot of time with her hands on her hips, barking out orders to anyone within earshot....when people asked who she looked like, we replied, "Mussolini". Like most people born under the sign of Aquarius, she can't figure out why you can't see that she's right. And she's also charming and delightful and very, very funny.

It's always interesting when Thing 2 comes into the room:

• When she was about 18 months old, she pooped in the bathtub, and her poop had red sequins in it. (Very festive)
• She bonked her head so much when she was a toddler, that she referred to her forehead as her "poor head".
• She told the Mister's cousin that her new baby looked like "an alien".
• Pumpernickel bread was "pointy nipple bread"
• When she was about 4, she got mad at Thing 1 and threatened to cut off her ponytail.\
• She once went to bed wearing nothing but a life jacket. (In case the house hit an ice berg, I assume.)
• She was about 4 when she told me, very seriously, that "it's hard to kiss and think at the same time". I told her she didn't know the half of it.
• She was outraged at the idea that there were people in Thing 1's Grade 4 class that didn't believe in Santa Claus, and so she made a list of their names and sent it to St. Nick, just so he'd know, and they would be duly punished.

Happy 12th, sweetie! I don't know what we'd do without you!