letter to my kid

dear littlebaby,

i am supposed to be keeping this memory book for you -- you know, keeping track of your milestones and all. i did ... one entry. and there is a tuft of hair in a plastic baggy from your first haircut. but since then, you have learned all manners of tricks and i haven't recorded a single one of your firsts. i love watching you snuggle your stuffed animals and anything fluffy, whether it's a pair of your pants or a blanket. i love watching you feed yourself, and choose blueberries over beets, or figure out how to spit back out just the corn kernel you don't want. i love watching you smile when you toddle and bobble across the room. it kills me that you know how to manipulate your grandparents to take you outside, feed you more food, or buy toys on cue. watching you wave like a braves fan, or dance with only your head, is hysterical to me.

but i am forgetting things already, and you're not even a year old yet. like how you would make smallmouth -- just a little pintip of a mouth -- when you were first born. how you were the laziest latcher ever. or how you were a man on the patch when we took away your pacifier one day. or how you used to suck two fingers because you couldn't figure out how to separate your thumb from the rest of the bunch.

i'm sure we'll be making tons more memories, and the milestones will (hopefully) be fewer and farther between so i can remember them. but i just want you to know how much your daddy and i *heart* you and how much joy you bring us. and what i love most about you is that you -- in the heart of your character -- are much the same since you were born. you are good natured and ready to smile. you are generous with other people, and incredibly tolerant of people pawing at you and grabbing you in unseemly places. you're pretty easy going but you are passionate about the things you enjoy -- food, bugging us to do what you want us to do, playing as hard as you can -- and i love all these things about you. you are a fantastic baby and little person and we are trying to soak up all the love you give us while you still like us because you rock. i love you so much!

stay cool, littlebaby.

love, your mama