Oh, Kate...

"Don't look at me, Mommy."

This is what she says as she stands naked behind me, covering her privates with one hand and her eyes with the other.

This is what she says several times a day after she takes off her poopy diaper somewhere in the house and attempts to clean up the mess.

This is what she says after she raids the purple nail polish for the umpeenth time and drips it across the wood floor, the granite counter tops, her back, and her face.

This is what she says after she drenches herself with milk, thus soiling the fourth outfit of the day.

This is what she says after "nap" time, during which she empties all of her drawers and her toys, then pushes her mattress to the floor and strips it of sheets.  And then strips off her clothing, just because.

And this, my friends, is what Hurrican Kate looks like, in a frog costume, approximately three seconds after we start driving.  Being two must be utterly exhausting for this child.

I definitely yelled a few times today, and she definitely spent more than a few minutes in time-out today.  But there were also many moments today when I reflected on the nightmare that was my pregnancy with her, and then remembered what a gift of a child she is.  How lucky I am that we have this time together after such a treacherous beginning.  So then I look at her in her various disheveled states, and then hug her and kiss her and tell her I love her.

And then I get her dressed.  Again.