Kate Wicker

Storyteller & Speaker

Happy Birthday, Rachel Marie!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Rae, a lover of:

  • Going “night-night.” Yes, you actually ask to go to sleep. I hit the mom jackpot with you.
  • Showing off and saying words like “Japanese,” “guacamole,” and “porcupine.” You’re our little chatterbox.
  • Anything your big sister Madeline loves or likes to do. (“I color, too!” “I ride horseys, too!” “I like boo [AKA Madeline’s fave color blue], too!” “I ride bike, too.”)
  • Blueberries
  • Milk
  • Guacamole. You like to eat it almost as much as you like to say it.
  • Saying, “I ‘hungee,'” even when you’re not.
  • Music. You particularly like the “Alleluia” song and what you call the “Sunshine song,” (“You Are My Sunshine”).
  • Saying, “I ‘sowry,'” even when you didn’t do anything wrong like when you recently got stitches after a run-in with a Wii remote.
  • Books and pointing to every single picture and asking, “What’s ‘dat,’ Mama?”
  • Chasing butterflies. (“I chase ‘butterfy’!”)
  • Unearthing earthworms. In some sense, you’re very much a girly-girl (you love baby dolls and your run looks more like a prance than a 100-yard-dash), but you’re definitely not afraid to dig in the dirt.
  • Shoes. Poor Daddy. You’re only 2 and you’ve already got it bad for shoes. You’ll sometimes sneak into my closet and steal a pair. Your favorite? A chic pair of floral flats. You’ve got good taste, kiddo.
  • Piggy back rides from Daddy.
  • Tickling sessions.
  • Wrestling and playing airplane with Daddy.
  • Elmo. As much as I tried to shield you from falling prey to the red, furry guy’s antics, you’re as addicted as the next 2-year-old. Is it any wonder why Daddy and I refer to Elmo as toddler crack?
  • Talking on the phone with anyone, including telemarketers. As soon as the phone rings, you say, “I talk! I talk!”
  • Loveys, especially two stuffed elephants.
  • “Bahs” (AKA pacis). I smugly assumed I’d never be a pacifier mom (Madeline didn’t use one) and I certainly never imagined I would allow the habit to extend beyond my child’s second birthday, but somehow I caved in and yes, you still go to bed with your “bah.”
  • Bathtime.
  • Making a mess during meals (and then saying, “‘Sowry'” when you turn the floor into an artist’s palette with myriad blobs of varicolored food).
  • Building things like towers and swiftly destroying them.
  • Swinging at the park.
  • Potty humor. All I have to do is say the word “beanie” (our family euphemism for gas) and you convulse with giggles.
  • Cuddling with Mommy and/or Daddy (and grandparents, too!).
  • Ivy (Gaba and Papa’s Lab) and all doggies.
  • Smiling and making my life more joyful by just being a part of it.

    Rae, from the moment you were born I’d tell people God truly gave me a bundle of joy. Nothing has changed. While you can be dramatic and demanding like the next child (you’ve been known to fake an Oscar-worthy teary fit that ends when you offer me an impish grin when I play along and say something like, “Oh, my poor, poor baby. What’s wrong?”), you came into this world happy, easy-going, and eager to please.

    Even during toddlerhood it’s rare for you to behave like a tiny tyrant. Oh, you know what you want, but you’re also incredibly adaptable if things don’t work out the way you’d like them to – like the other day when I discovered you during dinnertime already proudly positioned in your big-girl booster seat and I asked if you wouldn’t mind sitting in your highchair since spaghetti is so messy. “Oh!” you exclaimed as you humbly climbed down from your throne – as in, “Of course, that makes perfect sense.”

    A few weeks ago we were over at a friend’s house and a fellow mom pointed to you and asked, “Is she always like that?” The rest of the kids were running around like wild banshees while you sat contentedly just taking everything in. You’re a lot like your daddy in that sense: You’re content to let others shine but in your contentment you’re the lovely wallflower who catches everyone’s attention.

    My Rachel Marie, we could not have come up with a better nickname for you because you truly are my “Rae” of sunshine – what with your hair’s buttery highlights, your sunny, easy-going demeanor, and the fact that your favorite lullaby is “You Are My Sunshine.”

    And that is exactly what you are to me: My sunshine, a light in my life that’s always around to remind me to be happy, silly, to giggle more and to cry less, and that there’s nothing better than cuddling up with a few loveys to go “night-night.”

    I love you, my sweet, sweet girl. Happy second birthday!

    Love,

    Mommy (whom you’ve just recently started calling Mama)

    We welcome you into the world. (You look a lot like your baby sister, don’t you think?)

    Your first birthday





    My big girl now

    • Comments

    1. Hard to believe she's already two! I vividly remember when se was born. Happy Birthday, Baby Rae!!

    2. How sweet she is! Happy birthday Dear Rae, happy birthday to youuuuuu!

    3. Oh my goodness! She is so beautiful! It's hard to imagine that they grow so quickly. All of the sudden, one day you realize that the baby face is gone, and you are looking into the eyes of a little girl. Strange. Happy birthday to your sweet angel.

    5. Saw you listed on newparent.com! Congrats and of course.. Happy Birthday to your sweet princess!!

    6. Happy Birthday Baby Rae, who is no longer a baby! The last time I saw her, she was just 4 months old, I believe! How time flies :)

    “She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.”

    ―Flannery O'Connor