For instance, not only do I know who Arthur, DW, Tinky Winky, Loonette, Zoe and Baby Bop are, but I know the details of their "lives" more intimately than those of our government officials (and that’s pretty hard to beat). I know the words to every Disney song ever written and find myself singing them in the shower. I am now an engineering whiz, having assembled almost every toy that a two-year old could want (prior to my daughter I had trouble figuring out which way the batteries went into my Walkman).

I ride elevators and escalators for no good reason except that it is an activity that absorbs my daughter’s attention for a solid five minutes. I have also made friends with women in every conceivable location, including the supermarket, because we have children the same age and children are the great equalizers in life.

My bag is filled with pretzels, wipes, tissues, stickers, lollipops, crayons, and milk, and I’m lucky if any of these things actually stay in their original containers. I find myself channeling my mother by using phrases I used to hate as a child but now feel compelled to use as a mother myself. I have touched things, held things and come in contact with every conceivable bodily fluid there is (and some I didn’t even know existed) and presently use the words ba-ba, pee-pee and doody way too much.

In looking back over my parenting experiences, however, it is not the ridiculous and many times embarassing situations I find myself in that stand out most in my mind. My overall experience has been one of humility, gratitude and abundance. I am blessed to be the mother of this child and have learned something new from her every day of her life, even if I don’t always like the lesson. So tomorrow, when she turns two, it will feel like my birthday as well. It was the day I became a mother.

Elizabeth Schulman, M.A. has a masters degree in stress management from Goddard College and a masters in health education from Columbia University. She is a yoga instructor and a full-time mother.