Letters to Nathan: Twelve Months

My Dear Nathan,

One year ago today, you came into this world, perfect and beautiful. A healthy 6lbs 5oz, with wailing lungs and tiny hands. You were so fragile and helpless. As you snuggled into my arms and breathed little sighs of sleepiness, I felt a sense of calmness and recognition, as if I had known you all along and we had just been reunited. It took both of us awhile to adjust to you being out in the world, and while I would make mistakes along the way, you never seemed to mind. Today, you are no longer a baby. You're a toddler. Except that you'll always be my baby.

I can't believe all that you've accomplished this past month. You learned to crawl (and boy, you're fast!), pull yourself up to stand, and walk along holding onto furniture. You're fearless, maybe a little too fearless. You walk along the table and when you reach the corner, instead of turning, you just continue on your trajectory and take a leap of faith. Luckily, someone has always caught you but I'm trying to teach you to round the corners now. With so much going on developmentally, you suddenly had trouble falling asleep. You're still napping twice a day and sleeping deeply at night, but it takes you longer to fall asleep and there's usually some protesting involved beforehand.






You've got a mischievous grin and a burgeoning sense of humour. You do things to try to make me laugh now, instead of the other way around. Your face shines with pure delight.

We had a big family BBQ to celebrate your birthday, and you had your first taste of cake (chocolate banana, yum!). You didn't seem to know what to do with your cake at first, and eventually conceded that it was fairly tasty but you would prefer to eat grapes and blueberries.

Oh, and you said "Mama" a few times! All my coaching the past six months has finally paid off.

Nathan, what a wonderful little boy you've become. Your dad and I love being your parents and feel that we are just the luckiest little family of three.

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Mumma and Daddy

Morning Yoga: Downward Facing Dog pose

"Look Ma, only one hand!"

"I don't like baby jail"

First time in the pool

Eating birthday cake in your birthday suit

 

Last set of monthly photos

A look back in the past year:

When I first started writing these letters to you, I thought it would be a wonderful way to chronicle all the little details of your first year. I saw it as an online memory box. Now I see that these are actually love letters that I've written. Love that includes grand sweeping moments of heart soaring euphoria, the daily drudgery of duties and diapers, and everything in between. It wouldn't be right to say that I didn't know love before I met you, but I certainly had never experienced this consuming, unconditional, always-in-my-thoughts kind of love until you came along. I think of you when I wake up and before I fall asleep, and every single moment in between.

I look into your eyes and I see everything that is good and right with the world. A year ago, you made me into a mother. Your mother. Forever and always - you are mine, and I am yours.

Love always,
Mumma

Letters to Nathan: Eleven Months

Dear Nathan,

Oh my big beautiful boy, you are eleven months old today. You are only a month away from being a toddler (gulp) and you are sometimes mistaken for being older than you are because you're so tall and big. You bring so much joy to us.

You're in 18mo clothing, and you weigh 23 lbs. You're still a pretty good eater. Messy, but not terribly picky. Along with four bottles of formula, you eat all kinds of table food now - green beans, strawberries, toast, pancakes, yogurt, etc. but lately you have a tendency to shove a lot of food into your mouth and then you panic a bit because you can't chew it all. So I've had to go back to cutting food up into smaller pieces for you instead of larger chunks since you no longer eat reasonably. Sigh.

This photo isn't wholly accurate of our day-to-day life. You hardly ever hold your own bottle, you lazy bum.

Sometimes you go into Baby Hulk mode. It's really funny to watch. You start to growl and clench your fists high above your head. You smash things. You try to rip the tray off your booster seat (and sometimes succeed). You're too strong!

 

You like to play peek-a-boo with me now, with a sly mischievous smile behind your plastic cover before you pop your face over for the reveal.

 

You crawled forwards for the first time on May 4th. It's sort of a crab crawl you do on your belly, but at least you're moving forwards. Yay for progress! I took this video on the first day you started, but now a week later you're much more proficient at it and you're a fast crab crawler.


We had lovely warm sunny weather for about two weeks, and you got to experience the playground at the park for the first time. Your feelings about the swing and slide are mixed. Some days you find it tolerable, other days it bores you.

We've had a few barbeques in our backyard, and it's been so lovely to sit on our patio set or under a tree with a picnic blanket. So far you don't really love touching the grass, but I can see how it may seem a bit alien after a winter's worth of indoor play. I'm trying to instill good sun protection habits with you by getting you used to wearing hats and sunglasses.You hate having things touch your head or face. It takes some distraction but you're tolerating hats a bit more these days. Sunglasses, not so much.

I've also started wearing a hat in an effort to provide a good example to you. Most of the time you try to pull both our hats off our heads.

We had another playdate with some other babies born last June. This time you had more fun, and you were a bit more interactive with them especially when it came to lunchtime. It was fun for me to talk with the other moms and share war stories. Most of their babies are crawling properly and some are even walking, but I know you'll catch up. For now, you're really good at....sleeping. You take two naps a day (each lasting 60-90 minutes) and sleep eleven hours at night. I can't remember the last time you woke up in the middle of the night, knock on wood.

Now that the weather is nicer, we go out a lot more. You enjoy the park, long walks along nature trails, malls (sort of), Costco (often), Ikea, etc. We also go out to eat every week so you're quite used to loud restaurants and being sociable at the table.

You enjoyed the pasta at the Ikea cafeteria

Mini Poang chair!

I can't believe we're only one month away from your first birthday. Where did the year go? The wee baby I brought home from the hospital is now so big, active, sweet and giggly. Love you, boy-o.

Matching elephants. Yes, I am that mother who will occasionally co-ordinate outfits with her baby until he is old enough to protest out of embarassment. Ha!

Love always,
Mumma