Happy second birthday, Ciera Dawn

Saturday marks two years with the most precious girl in the world -- my sweet, sassy, sarcastic, smart and funny Ciera Dawn.

I’m sure this sounds cliche, but I seriously didn’t know how much love my heart was able to hold until I became a mommy. Seeing my husband and daughter interact on a daily basis is the best thing that could have happened to me.

In the last two years, Cici has hit many milestones. She took her first real steps on her first birthday, and the time since has been the best kind of madness. I’m so lucky though, because, on top of her being energetic, she’s also incredibly smart. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use those smarts to my advantage, sending her to throw away her own trash or retrieve the diapers to change her bottom.

This child makes me laugh and surprises me every single day.

Most recently, she has started to pretend to be an animal and makes me guess what she is trying to be. Most of the time, my toddler is replaced by a barking dog, meowing cat or ribbitting frog. When I say, “aww kitty,” she nuzzles up against me in an affectionate way. It’s also a great way for mommy to get snuggles, so I tend to play along.

This weekend, she flipped the tables to get snuggles out of me on my lunch break. She would grab my neck and say, “aw kitty,” so I would snuggle up against her. It’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m not biased or anything.

She found a piece of plastic on the floor that was shaped like a Band-Aid. She stuck it to my leg and said, “Aw. It’s much better, mommy?” Absolutely, baby girl. Absolutely.

Cici tends to be quiet around strangers, or just gives them the stink eye -- a trait I believe she inherited from her father. After a while, she warms up to most people, but she’s not afraid to let you know if she isn’t feeling the conversation. Sometimes it’s embarrassing. Other times, it’s hilarious.

While much of her attitude comes from daddy, I did see a bit of mommy shine through the other day. Logan asked her too many times what she was doing, so she whipped around and said, “What do you want?”

My first thought was, ‘Oh! There I am!”

In addition to mommy and daddy, she loves her “Tittles,” which is the nickname she gave my sister, Crystal. She also mostly adores her cousins, calling her younger cousin Peeboo. She donned him with this name around the same time she was learning to play peek-a-boo. She also loves her grandmas, but is mostly obsessed with her grandpas. I don’t care who you are. If there is a papaw in the room, she is no longer paying attention to you.

Our current venture is potty training. For some reason, she insists on brushing her teeth while trying to use the potty. I’m not sure if it’s cute or weird, but at least she cares about her oral hygiene, I guess!

But, in addition to watching my daughter grow, I’ve spent the last two years watching my husband grow. Logan is one of the kindest men I know, but he sometimes has a short temper when aggravated. (If you’ve ever ridden in a car with him, you’ll understand what I mean.) I’ve seen him grow and learn along with me.

The amount of love he has for his daughter makes me love him even more. Even if that means mommy gets booted out of cuddle time so Cici and daddy can relax in the chair.

If you see me out covering events of an evening or on the weekend, there’s a pretty good chance I have a blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty on my hip. Stop and say hi. She’ll either wave really big back, or look at you like you’re a creature from the sea. Either way, she’s pretty cute though.

Happy birthday, my beautiful girl. I can’t wait to continue watching you grow and learn.

Sabrina is the editor of the Greene County Daily World. She can be reached at sabrinagcdw@gmail.com.