Hello Two,

It’s been awhile, two years to be exact, since you’ve reared your sweetly mischievous and charming (if slightly neurotic) face. And although we’ve met before, we consistently underestimate you. Because even though you’re small, you are undeniably mighty in your power to render us, as a family, helpless in our defense.

You never cease to amaze us, Two, in your keen ability to transmutate completely at the sight of mis-cut grapes, an improperly sung song, the mere mention of unwanted pigtails. Your shrill protests render our ability to think, reason and articulate above the level of a kindergartener completely invalid.

Now please don’t take us wrong, Two. We welcome your resolute ambivalence with all the love, patience and humor that we possess (which can be challenging if you’re Four) and understand that we will soon miss these days of sweet, but sincere, irreverence.

So for now, Two, although you sometimes replace your sweet toddler smiles with sideways sneers, although we can never again show our faces at the Concordia New Seasons after yesterday’s fitful adventure, and although you leave us worn and bewildered after each day’s medley of quarrels, colloquies and coup d’etats, we still hold your sing-song voice close to our hearts (as we dodge your flailing limbs), we embrace your shrieks of joy (along with your screams of dismay), and we remember to always respect and admire your innate desire to rule your world (and ours), because Two, we love and adore all that is sweet, duplicitous, you.