Elise's 2nd Birthday Letters from Grandparents

Elise is such a lucky girl to have 4 such wonderful and loving grandparents. It's amazing how much love she is surrounded by and how much support she will have as she continues to grow. I added the letters in the order I received them. Read Elise's 1st birthday letters from her grandparents here. 

Gpa:

Dear Elise,

Happy Birthday! It has been amazing to watch you grow up these last two short years. One of the things that I enjoy watching is that you have a strong will all your own. You want to do things on your own, and if you can’t you don’t seem to give up on it very easily. It will be fun seeing how you navigate life with such a good outlook.

And I really like to watch you and Carter together, we have seen that he has a love and caring for you, but I think you return it to him. You perfectly round out your family unit, and I think you will also keep your mom and dad on their toes.

Again Happy Birthday, G’PA

Gma:

Happy 2^nd Birthday Elise!  You are so sweet and cuddly . . .  when you want to be!  I love getting you up in the morning or after a nap because you like to just sit and cuddle.  Having your warm little body wrapped around me, with your head resting peacefully on my chest is so heartwarming.

It is so funny how quick you are with “NO”, even when you mean “yes”!  “No” to kisses, “No” to sitting on my lap, “No” you don’t want your finger nails painted, only to look at your hand and then hold it out for me to paint.  “No” you don’t want any part of it until you see Carter and I doing it and then you are all in.

It is so much fun seeing you get excited while playing and running around on your tippy toes, with an occasional leap. You are a real go getter and can keep up with the best of them, running, jumping climbing.  That is why I am so surprised that you don’t climb right out of the crib more.

I love your sweet little voice and can’t wait for your vocabulary to take off.  It has been a blast watching you grow and develop and I look forward to the years to come.  In the meantime, keep blowing me those sweet little kisses and know that I love you very much.

Gma

Oma:

Dear Elise,

It’s hard to believe you’re already two.  And it’s so neat to see how different you are from your brother.  Even with the same parents and environment, you are so different.  You’re very determined, and it’s very hard to change your mind.  Sometimes it’s best not to try.  You’re also very good at standing up for yourself, so we don’t have to worry about older kids taking advantage of you.  You are so sweet with animals, petting them over and over.  You spent half an hour just petting and trying to hug Angel, and it was very sweet.  I’m glad your balance is so much better.  We were all getting really upset with how often you’d fall and bump your head.  We tried to make a rule you couldn’t run anywhere but grass, and you kind of followed it.  But, you prefer to follow your own rules.  It’s so sweet to see you hold out your hand and move your fingers trying to get someone to follow you.  It’s sweet to hear you talk, and usually we can figure out what you’re saying.  Sometimes we can’t and you just keep trying.  You still love to quietly play by yourself, and you don’t need attention to enjoy yourself.  You still love shoes, which I think it so funny.  Your mom didn’t really care about shoes until she was older.  You love to empty things and put things away in different places.  One of your favorites at our house is Opa’s light stand; you know what goes there and you put things in the drawer too, besides just emptying it.  Uncie Taco couldn’t find his keys once, and it turned out you’d put them there because you know that’s where Opa’s go. Your mom and dad still can’t find the TV remote you put it in such a good spot.  You are a lot of fun to be around and the force you can use to say, “No” and mean it is very entertaining.  Here is one of my favorite pictures.

PS.  I love how you can quietly come up behind a person and lift their phone out of their pocket so you can play.

Opa:

Dear Elise:

Happy Second Birthday!


We know that you will have a great second birthday. You seem to really enjoy life!


The last couple of weeks you have really been talking a lot more. You have always been interested in talking, but you really did not produce a lot of words. You would say “mommy,” daddy,” “CarCar,” “Jay” for Uncle Jeremy, “Taco” for Uncle Thomas, “Gma,” “Gpa,” “Opa,” “Oma,” “Harper” and “shoes,” but you were not really putting a lot of words together into sentences. You sometimes would string along a bunch of made-up words or you might say “side!” for “let’s go outside!”, but now you are talking a lot. It is really fun to listen to you.


It is also fun to see you develop into such a social person. You are very caring and sociable and particularly love your brother, Carter. As an example, when we were eating last night, Carter spilled some food on his shirt and he was unhappy about that and you reached out for a napkin and handed it to me to help Carter get the food off of his shirt. That was really cute and showed that you not only care for Carter, but pay attention to his needs. You also like to take care of your dollies by carefully carrying them and occasionally “feeding” them. You also like to feed people, which is fun to watch too.


You have a very serious daredevil and wild side to you as well. You LOVE to jump crazily on the small trampoline. In fact, you decided to jump without holding onto the bar, which was the first for anyone in your family! You love jumping and being crazy. You love running and chasing Carter and you are getting fast. You also like to be tickled. I do not know if this will last, but you and Carter both like to be tickled. If you are being tickled and someone stops, you will say “gin!” for “again!”


Along with the daredevil and wild side, your wild side can be crazy too. Once when we went out to eat you did not want to sit on your dad’s lap. You were fussing a bit and, I thought, accidentally head butted your dad. At first, I thought that the head butting was accidental. When your dad was not fast enough letting you go where you wanted to go, you head butted him again! At that point, I knew that you did not do that by accident and asked about it. Sure enough, that was not the first time that you head butted someone. I only mention this since you will have verification from someone other than your mom and dad that you actually did this. You also REALLY like to say the word “no,” which you do rather emphatically when something happens that you do not like. We like that!

The funniest thing that I saw you do was also when we went out to eat. You love to eat! Your dad wanted to taste your macaroni and cheese and took a sample from your plate. You turned toward him, showing him a clenched fist and yelled “NO!” It was clear that you did not appreciate him taking any of your macaroni and cheese and not only was it really cute for you to express yourself that way, but also quite funny. You were pretty small and your dad was WAY bigger than you, but it did not stop you.


Being with you and watching you is a lot of fun. Seeing you grow up and getting to see your amazing personality develop is really awesome. You love your family and love playing with everyone, including Harper, other dogs and cats, other children, and non-family members.