Dear Maly,
You turned 22-months-old this past week. I had recently realized that I’d fallen behind on writing my letter to you this month. For a fleeting moment I thought to myself, “Man, I don’t have the time or energy to write it right now.” And no sooner had that thought crossed my mind when the father in me kicked in. In another fleeting moment I was reminded of how lucky and blessed I have to have the priviledge to write this letter to you every month. While your mom was pregnant with you, I’d been told by friends and family that I would never again imagine life without my child in it.
And that is so very true. When people told me that, we didn’t know what you were. We didn’t know if you were a boy or a girl. We didn’t know if there might be complications during the pregnancy, delivery or after your were born. There were so many “what ifs”. And here you are, going on 2-years-old and it seems like just last week I was walking you around the house as a teeny-tiny baby in my arms and accidentally whacked the side of your head against the back of the bar stool.
Now onto this month’s milestones…
I’m not really sure yet if this is normal for a child of your age, but you now know the alphabet. Well, you know all of the letters. We’re still working on the actual alphabet song and learning the order in which the letters occur, but you know every single letter. We started out many months ago with just the vowels during bath time. At some point you seemed to be getting bored with vowels, so we started learning more and more letters each night. Now whenever you printed words, you like to point out and say the letters in the words.
I’m very proud of you for this. I think it’s fantastic how quickly you picked up on all of your letters. If you’re anything like your mom, I envision you being quite the linguist.
Another milestone is that you’re not quite as enthusiastic about Nemo as you were last month. Albeit for the vast majority of the month we were pretty inundated with requests to watch Nemo, but those requests have started to subside. And surprisingly, your mom and I never really got sick of that movie.
Your motor skills have been continuing to improve. I’d say you’ve got running down pretty well now. I actually have to run after you if I need to catch you whereas in the past I could just take a few quick steps and catch up with you. You’ve also begun to grasp the concept and effort in playing catch. Your reflexes aren’t quite there yet, but your effort and enthusiasm are admirable; two qualities that I hope you continue to maintain as you get older.
You’re very observant and like to point things out and explain them to us. You’re on the verge of putting together 3-4 word sentences. You say things like, “Daddy blue shirt” and “Bye bye, see ya”.
Your evolving vocabulary has also left me laughing to nearly the point of tears. Most of these moments have been during our time at night when I give you a bath, brush your teeth, put your pajamas on you and get your ready for bed. Recently I was chasing your from the bathroom to Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom after I’d given you a bath. As we were breaching the threshold, I said, “Okay, Maly, let’s put on a diaper.” You threw yourself to the ground and rolled over onto your back. I reached into your diaper drawer and then grabbed your feet and pulled them up so your butt was off the carpet so I could slide your diaper underneath you. It was at that point that my lifting of your feet must have squeezed your guts with enough thrust to send a rocket fart blaring from your butt. My eyebrows immediately lifted with surprise and amusement before I sent myself into laughter. Before you joined me in my laughter, you pointed out, “Ohhhhh, Maly FART!!!” To which I had to lie down beside you to laugh.
On another recent ocassion I was changing your diaper. We were having our usual conversation about wind wind wind the bobbin, the colors of all of the beads you own, that time that Nemo and Dori ran into the angler fish when they were looking for the scuba mask when, out of nowhere, you threw your legs apart and into the air, pointed to your groinal area and proudly proclaimed, “Maly GINA!!!” It was at that moment that I had to cease any and all attempt to laugh and maintain my parental composure and, with a smirk, I responded with, “yes, that is Maly’s vagina.” That was the first time I had to acknowledge the correct anatomical name for that area. I sadly suppose gone are the days of my referencing that area as the cooter and the pooter.
I love watching you grow and learn. I love coming home from work and seeing the look on your face when we first see each other. Even though your attention span is still so small and I don’t think you understand the concept of my being away for the majority of the day, it’s that one little moment when you look at me and I see that excitement in your eye. It’s that look of love and trust that makes it all worth while. It’s the look in your eye and that cute grin that makes me so very proud of you and, even more, proud of what your mom and I have among us.
Thank you for all of those fleeting moments.
I love you, Sugar.
Love,
Daddy