A friend's son had his 4th birthday recently and to commemorate it, she wrote him a letter and talked about their life together and how much she loved him. I love that idea so much, I'm going to steal it.
Without further ado:
Dearest, dearest, Elianna,
Your third birthday came and went with a flash; there was so much going on with our joint cousin birthday party, there was scarcely time to savor the moment of YOUR day.
We’ve been a team for 3 years now and while it was a little one-sided at first, you’re finally starting to shoulder a little bit of the load.
Kidding! But seriously, you are starting to become this little person with your own thoughts, desires, dare I say, agenda and it’s ridiculously entertaining being a part of it. Everyone tells us you are rather verbal for your age and your ability to wrap your mind around ideas and tell us what you’re thinking is amazing, at least to me. I love how you can make these leaps in logic that turn our rules into something that works for you. Example: Us: Elianna, you can’t use our phones without us being there, understand?
You: Okay, mommy!
Upon finding you playing with the phone:Us: Elianna! We said you can’t play with our phones unless we’re there. You: But you’re in the house!
There are many, many examples of this and while it’s massively frustrating it’s also quite amusing and sometimes it’s very difficult not to laugh.
You are your father’s daughter when it comes to climbing and while I know all kids this age climb, it’s easy to attach a certain significance to it. It makes me want to climb again so we can do this as a family. You are in gymnastics and seem to love it as well. The coach frequently has to redirect you off the bar, where you have pulled your feet over your head and are swinging upside down, to whatever the rest of the group is doing. We have a pull up bar at home and you are always asking to 'hang'.
You alternately love and love to torture your sister. Sometimes you try and calm her down if she’s crying, others, you’ll scream at to make her cry! Either way, you both enjoy each other immensely and it’s so fun to watch.
Elianna, I love being your mommy. I hope you never doubt how much you bring to our lives and how much we want wonderful things for you. Three years old is going to be a wonderful year for you.
Love you forever,
Mommy
And for your baby sister:
Oh, my Marielle. It’s such a cliche but I can’t believe you’re one year old. I’m so in love with you, it’s hard to remember the first few months of your life when I was so depressed and not in a good place at all. I hope beyond all hope that that period when I was in survival mode and had nothing extra to give you won’t adversely affect you.
We really have come out the other side though. I love being around you and learning the world through your eyes. As recently as 2 months ago (and yes, I’m ashamed that it took so long), I still thought your cries were just cries with no meaning or intention behind them. You would think that being a second time around mom, I’d be less dense but no it took you getting extremely upset when I took a toy away for me to finally realize that A) you knew what that toy was and B) you wanted it! Once that realization took place I started seeing your ‘becoming’ in so many places.
You’ve been communicating for a long time whether it’s from your piercing screams (any soprano opera singer would be proud) or your insistent grunts when something displeases you but now you have become a talker and although it’s totally unintelligible, it’s so adorable. You babble and jabber constantly and some of them are starting to sound like words. Pretty sure you’ve said mamamama and meant it. Your only consistent sign is for milk and you use it frequently. Guess weaning isn’t in our immediate future!
You’re on the move; we’ve blocked the stairs because when we don’t it’s the first place you head to. You’re very good at them but I’m just not comfortable risking a fall. Yesterday, however, you figured out the 3 steps into the lower room all by yourself. So proud! You’ve started cruising and pulling up so I’m sure walking isn’t far behind.
You’re more of a snuggler than Elianna was at this age but you both still would rather be upright, looking around, than hiding from the world. You are also one of the happiest babies I’ve seen. As Nana says, if you’re awake you’re smiling. Love that about you.
I love the relationship between you and your sister. She’s always been able to make you laugh or smile, even when you were at your grumpiest and now that you can do more things, Elianna is really starting to have fun with you as a sibling.
Happy Birthday, my love. I love you, love being your mommy.
And what you all really came here for...
