Dear Eli

Dear Eli,

It's one whole year since you came into our life.  

I was so prepared for it to be chaos, but I loved it from day one.  I'll never forget that first night together at the hospital, I woke up in the middle of the night, and you were lying there in your bassinet calmly.   I thought hmm, ok, I got this.   And changed your first ever stinky nappy (first of many!)  it occurred to me that your Daddy was missing the first nappy, so I grabbed the camera and took a photo of it.  Yep, I photographed your first crap.   How about that!  

You came home less than 24 hours after you were born.  

For the first few months of your life you almost never cried.  You really only made a sound if something was wrong - and because you were with me 24/7 nothing was ever really wrong!   Of course, as you grew older you learnt you could use your voice to exert your opinion on all sorts of things.  And now, as a big 1 year old, you throw some epic tantrums when the world doesn't go your way!

One thing that amazes me is how much more we love you each and every day.  The more time we spend with you, the more we get to know you and enjoy your company, the greater our love grows.

You have an awesome sense of humour.   You are the kid everybody adores.  We are so incredibly proud of you and the cool little man you are turning into - brave, confident, entertaining, interested in the world.

Love always,
Mummy

Things I love about Eli

The way he shuts himself in his room and sits behind the door giggling and waiting for me to come find him

His obsession with blueberries - he never throws or wastes any, and carefully eats them one by one.

The fact he LOVES broccoli, which is his Daddy's least favourite food ever.

His amazing smile. 

A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me that Eli could probably walk.   I based this on the fact that he was spending most of his time on his feet, either cruising around the furniture or standing in the middle of the room playing with his toys.

So one Sunday afternoon, after we got home from his friend Milly's 1st birthday party, I watched him standing there with a ball in each hand giggling.  So I knelt down 4 feet away and asked him to walk to me.   He stood there giggling for awhile, and then he cheerfully picked up his foot and moved it towards me, and took four confident steps in my direction, before flinging his arms around my neck with a giggle.

A week after his first steps we're at Samantha's 1st birthday party.  Suddenly, he takes off towards her!  He walked a few times that day, apparently inspired by all of the exciting things and people to see.   Now he seems inclined some days to walk a lot, others not.  To him it's an exciting novelty rather than a mode of transportation.  He's always crawled so quickly he has no need of an alternate transport method.

It's one of those milestones that prior to having kids I thought would matter, but now kind of doesn't.   They learn these things so gradually over time that there is no definitive milestone, just constant learning every day. 

Never too old for a cuddle nap!

 

I don't believe in naming babies after people. If I did, my kid would be called "Shakespeare Leonardo John McLane Patrick Stewart Jean-Luc Picard Superman".