We have two little girls. We’re probably not going to have more children, at least not biologically, because we decided to have my tubes tied after Coco’s birth. It was a decision that I made at the end of a very unpleasant pregnancy and although there have been times that I’ve regretted it deeply, the truth is that I don’t think I can physically go through another pregnancy.

I always thought I would have a girl and a boy. That’s how I grew up. Although I have step- and half-siblings, in my mother’s home, it was my brother and me. So maybe that’s why I thought it’d be that way for me when I had my own family.

But we have two little girls. And we could not be more delighted by that. Although Coco is still forming her little personality, I am beginning to catch glimpses of who she’s going to become. And I like it. She’s sweet and angelic and quiet. But she has a glint in her eye. A glimmer of mischievousness, if you will. I think I’m going to have my hands full with that one. And Pea, well, she’s coming up on three and she is just amazing to watch grow every single day. The things she says… they just blow my mind. And although she’s very pretty and graceful and loves tea parties and ballerinas, she’s also a tom-boy, through and through. Just like her mama was. She loves to be outside and she loves to climb and she hates to wear shoes. My mother says it’s like watching my childhood all over again.

So it delights me that my husband buys her things like train sets and snow-shoes and basketball hoops. Who doesn’t want their kids to be well-rounded? And who wouldn’t want a little girl in a pink tutu to be tough as nails?

This afternoon, I came home from getting a haircut, and when I walked into the Great Room, Pea was standing on the coffee table with a towering building hovering over her head by about two feet. It was enormous, very intricately built and evenly balanced and she was waiting with baited breath for her father’s “go!” so that she could knock it down. She was referring to herself as “Pea-zilla,” and she meant business.

My husband had ordered her a set of building blocks by Kapla. And not just any set, but the deluxe TWO HUNDRED PIECE set. Over the weekend, he was in San Jose, California, and his hotel was across the street from The Tech Museum of Innovation and he eyed them in the gift shop. When he returned home, he ordered them for Pea and let’s just suffice it to say that with 200 little wooden building blocks (made with wood from renewable French forests, I proudly add), the sky is quite literally the limit. They were building towers and houses and even bridges.

Building things? Fun. Collecting and storing 200 wooden blocks? Not so much fun. But worth it.