Dear Aidan,
Technically, you are midway through your 11th month and I am late with this letter. Well. It’s entirely your fault since you don’t sleep well at night (yawn, what’s new) and your dad and I are just too tired to set up the camera and all.
Okay, okay, we were lazy. Plus, there was that whole Chinese New Year madness to deal with.
In less than two weeks, you turn one. And as I scroll through the photos and videos that I have taken of you over the past 11 months, I cannot help but marvel at just how much you have grown and how far you have come.
Look at you now: you are able to prop yourself up and stand on your two little feet. Your favourite activity is to crawl to the fan and press the buttons. You look up and point at the ceiling light when we ask you where it is. You smile and reach out for me every single evening when I pick you up. You do all sorts of adorable things – you clap enthusiastically, complete with “oh oh oh” sounds; you love to smack your open mouth while making “ah” noises; you babble to yourself in the car seat in a language that only fellow babies and, possibly, aliens understand.
Just this evening, you grabbed a flash card from your dad and in a moment of brilliance, he said to you, “Kiss?” With much aplomb, you brought the card to your lips and gave it a resoundingly loud kiss. And to prove that it isn’t a fluke, you did it over and over again.
Oh, just how much you have grown! From that frowning, orange, floppy little baby to this joyful, lovable, willful and observant little person. And to be able to witness this process is such a priceless privilege.
Not a day goes by without me marveling at the miracle that is you. You made me a mother and for that, I will always be grateful.
You are turning ONE. How unreal is that? Even as you move into toddlerhood (and headlong into a whole host of other parenting challenges), don’t worry, you will always be mama’s baby.
(Until you turn into a stinky, sulky teenager anyway. Then you are all your father’s.)
Love you always,
mama
Yannisms 