Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A First Birthday Letter- A Bit Belated

Dear Max,

You are one!  Ok, technically, at this point you are almost 15 months but you come from a long line of procrastinators.  Sorry.




So much as been going on since you came into my world on March 20th, 2010 at 2:36am.  I don’t remember much of it though because most of that time was spent in a sleepless haze.  You weren’t really big on the sleeping the first 11 months of your life. While you still won’t be winning any world records for your sleeping ability, I am now able to get regular doses of 8 hour nights.  Thank you.



I’ll be brutally honest.  The first year of your life was hard. It’s not that I didn’t love you.  Don’t ever doubt that for a second.  It’s just I was ill prepared to give up my cushy life of extra time, extra sleep and extra money. I was selfish and not ready to let go. Plus, I was in a deep post partum depression for the first chunk of that year.  With the help of you wonderful Dad, those days are past.

Despite that, there are still many wonderful memories of your first year.  The first time you smiled at me as I looked at you through the slats of your crib.  The first time you laughed when I picked you up and hoisted you into the air. The first time I watched you pull yourself up without any warning or previous attempts. In fact, for a lot of your firsts, you didn’t give us much warning.  You aren’t one for practice or trial runs.  You got from 0 to 60 in everything you do. You are a lot like your Dad in that respect. I will never forget the first time I went to wake you up from your nap and there you were, standing up like you’ve been doing it forever.

You’ve been lucky enough to take multiple trips in your first year.  You’ve been in an airplane more time your first year than I was at age 16.  You’ve been to Asheville , Chicago , Akron and Disney World (where you spiked 103 fever two hours after we entered the park). You’ve visited zoo’s, wildlife refuges, hotels and parks.  If I would let you, you would spend your entire day playing in the fountains in downtown Savannah .



And now, your time as a baby is over.  You are a full fledged toddler now and it’s an absolute joy to watch you.  You prefer to walk.  You have preferences, which you let us know about (usually very loudly).  You play games like “So Big” and you have more teeth than most professional hockey players. I love to watch you “read” books out loud and listen to you talk to yourself as you play with your toys or watch the world from your stroller.  Any day now I expect your first word. Given that you have to commute with me every day, I’m worried it’s going to be inappropriate.



You eat regular food now without any assistance and get annoyed when I tried to feed you softer foods like yogurt and oatmeal. You wouldn’t know what to do with a bottle any more and I was surprised at how easy you gave them up.  I wish I could say the same thing about your thumb. You are willing to try everything but if it was up to you, your diet would consist of nothing but graham crackers and cantaloupe.

I’m looking forward to the next year, Maxwell. There is so much out there your Dad and I want you to experience.  We have more trips to take, games to play and people to visit.  There are more hugs, kisses and cuddles to come.  Sure there are also more bumps, fevers, temper tantrums and longs nights ahead too.  But there is nothing that as a family, we can’t handle.

Thank you for all the good times and the bad.

Thank you for all the things I can’t find the words to say.

Thank you Max for letting me be your Mommy.

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4 comments:

Joyce said...

Oh so sweet. Thanks for sharing.

Jen said...

Aw, what a sweet birthday post. Happy belated birthday to your little guy.

Auntie Lala said...

Hi Max! You have the best Mommy in the world! And even if you don't learn profanities from driving around with her, you probably would've learned them from me anyway, so it's all ok! But I really hope your first word is "Momma" or something similar. Love, Auntie Lala

Amy said...

What a great post--it makes me think I should do the same for my kids. I'm sure that will happen at some point. :)
My daughter's birthday is March 20th, too (but she's 7). :)

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