Wha' Do T'Day?

Yahoo is just about 2 1/2 years old. It cracks me up to look at her then look at photos of Yip and Yap at the same age. They are all so cute.

Between the boys 2nd and 3rd birthday we lived in southern Indiana in the middle of nowhere three miles off the paved road. I loved our home there and that year holds a lot of special memories for me. We lived on a couple of acres surrounded by trees and fields and although we had three neighbors all within a half a mile away I couldn't see any houses. We had a couple dozen fruit bearing trees and plenty of room for two toddler boys to play in. Our neighbor had horses that we fed extra apples to. Another neighbor urged us to explore his wooded trails around his home. Although they kept me busy and were quite the handful I must say my favorite age of children, so far is 2 and 3 years old and that year we lived in the perfect place to explore.  

Two and Three year olds have imaginations that grow by leaps and bounds, it's hard to keep up. Their personalities take on a strength never seen before in their young lives and they become such unique individuals, even twins. Young children want to know and learn and explore and they can find joy in the simplest moments! I just love this age! 

After Yahoo was born I was really looking forward to her getting to this age of exploration. Now she's here and...well, I do believe handling twin toddler boys was easier than corralling Miss Yahoo...or Miss Thing as Yap calls her. Yes, she has a bit of a diva attitude, as though she is "The Thing", the ruler of the roost! She's pretty stubborn too. Of course, in hindsight, I think having twins spoiled me. Honestly! Twin toddlers do so well at entertaining one another that moms and dads don't have much to do except breaking up fights.

Having a single toddler in the house is an entirely different dynamic. She has to entertain herself or I have to. Although I love this town I can't just allow Yahoo to walk outside on her own the way her brothers did at that same age. She doesn't have the chance to explore her world the way the boys did either. But the thing that cracks me up about Yahoo is her daily question;

"Wha' do t'day?"

Technically it isn't a daily question because it's a question she poses numerous times a day. I've learned I have to interpret her meaning depending on the time of day she asks it. If it's in the morning then she means, "What are we going to do today?" but if she asks in the afternoon or evening then she means, "What did we do today?" Usually then in the afternoon she enjoys reciting to me the various activities we did that day. Library, shopping, swimming, etc.

But the deeper meaning her early morning question of "Wha' do t'day?" means she is ready to go and ready and raring to start in on her day. Full tilt at 100% speed at all times. She never. stops. moving....or talking. And it's my job, most of the time, to keep her engaged and entertained and busy. I'm also her main source of conversation about just what we did or going to do today! She wears me out!

Sometimes, I admit, "Wha' do t'day?" makes me cringe. There's a lot expected of me in that question!

I never thought I'd look back on this photograph my twin two year old boys and think this was an easy stage of life but boy, there are days, when I wish I could have them back just like that. Because, believe it or not, Yahoo makes twin toddler boys look easy!