Elliot’s 2nd Birthday Letter

When either one of my children has a birthday I write them a birthday letter. :) This is Elliot’s 2nd birthday letter.

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Dearest Amazing Elliot,

It was not that long ago that you turned 2. I’ve been meaning to write you this birthday letter for a while now, but life (and often YOU) got in the way! Better late than never right? You’re probably going to disagree with that as in your short life so far, you’re doing everything early, you’re not a late-kind-of-person; from crawling, to walking, to talking: you did it all earlier than the text books said you would. So if my tardiness offends or frustrates you, do accept my apologies my love. My beautiful, amazing, little, round-tummied boy.

Currently, we have a routine, which is that you and I go in the bath each evening just before bed. It’s you, me, a million bath toys (the huge crocodile, horsey, duckies, little spades and buckets) and sometimes your brother comes in too, but it’s usually just you and me. Those times are special times as I get to spend some time alone with you and really soak up your aura, energy and you-ness. You are such a force of life dear Ellie. To be in your presence is to witness the essence of life. That might sound a bit grand but it’s true, you really embody a passionate, fiery life force and you have a huge presence. You’re here, you know? Not always in a loud way vocally (though it CAN be like that), but just by being, you demand attention, in a pleasant sort of way. :)

Sometimes when we’re in the bath, you stand up and your tummy is round and sticks out, you’ve got muscley strong little legs, pudgy arms, huge round eyes and huge round cheeks, crazy, messy, einstein-like hair on your head and you look at me all quizzically but determined and I’m blown away by you, your you-ness. Your beauty and strength and spirit is overwhelming. It’s hard to describe, you really entrance me.

No offense but you also really annoy me sometimes. You’re 2, so it’s in your job description to annoy me, so it’s ok, of course, you have many redeeming qualities, but sometimes you do things that are rather frustrating. For instance, you have a ‘no blankets on mummy policy’ and you enforce it by making it super clear that you are absolutely vehemently against me putting a blanket over my legs when I’m cold. You scream and shout and start pulling the blanket off my legs as if I’ve committed a grave crime. Like, blankets, to you, are like Nazi’s who eat baby dolphins for breakfast while they cackle evilly. How dare I, the mummy, put baby-dolphin-eating-nazis over my legs when I’m cold. It’s preposterous! NO. BLANKETS. ALLOWED. IN. THIS. HOUSE. So I often go around the house cold-legged just to avoid your wrath little one. See? A little annoying.

You can also get highly distressed and upset with me if I cut something ‘the wrong way’, don’t play the same song 1000 times over or if I don’t let you dip both your hands into the yogurt and allow you to smear it all over the furniture. All perfectly understandable reasons for melting down, screaming, shouting, crying and jumping up and down in fury and rage according to you … But you’re 2, it’s what you’re meant to do! ;)

So, how was your second year on this planet, you wonder? Pretty spectacular. You started walking at 9 months, so in your second year you became a very confident walker and runner, you love climbing, you go confidently up stairs and down slides and you have a wonderful time in parks and farms.

You love animals, the first animal you really fell in love with were horses, then ‘edebents or trunks’ (elephants) were your favourites and now you’re back on horses again. You currently own a little miniature horse (made of plastic) and you won’t part from it, you take it everywhere with you, in the bath, to bed, everywhere. It’s adorable.

To my great joy and pride you love painting and drawing! Though you mostly have your own kid art supplies and you draw and paint on paper in the living room, we spent a few afternoons painting on canvas together (with mummy’s paints and in mummy’s studio!) which was SO much fun. You express yourself with a freedom that many of us artists envy. :) A funny fact; at some point you were obsessed with a brown marker which you called: ‘lochlet’ (chocolate) and you called the green marker: ‘grass’.

You are a food champion! While your big bro is a fussy and picky eater, you love trying many things (though not so much veg) but you’ll eat rice, peas, houmous, olives and you like spicey things and quiches too, the foods you’re willing to eat are impressive for a little one like you! We finished breastfeeding just after you turned 2. You weren’t super happy about this one, but we had to stop due to my medication, and because we did it gradually it was pretty painless, thanks for that dear Ellie.

For the most part of your second year you continued to sleep pretty badly, often waking in the night between 3 to 7 times. You can imagine how I was on the verge of breaking down by the end of your 2nd year, and finally I had to say to your daddy: please sort it out, because I was just not able to cope anymore. And guess what? He did sort it out. In the most loving, gentle and amazing way. He basically sat with you each night to help you to go to sleep. He did this for about 2 weeks and you are now a SLEEP TROOPER! You don’t know the difference this makes to both our sanity. The relief is unimaginable dear Ellie, thank you.

Talking is going well. You 2 year olds are the funnest when it comes to learning to talk. Here is a list of my favourite current Elliot-isms:

Apples = papples
Pears = papples
Anything that is hot or warm = hottee (because your dad always warns you of the ‘hot tea’ in his cup, you’ve come to believe that anything that is hot is called: ‘hottee’. So the warm water in the bath is also: hottee.
Elephant = either ‘trunk’ or ‘edebent’
Ice cream = ide krem
Finger = dingdaa
Come on= nahmon!
Fish = pisch
Lion = lilon
Up high = tupphi
Rabbit = babbitt
Makka Pakka = gappa tappah
Nice and warm = niceywarm (one word)
What’s that noise? = nick nack noise?
Hippo = pippo
Jumping = shumping
Motorbike = mokkibike
Pussycat = pootiecat

ADORABLE right?!

Dear beautiful angel Ellie, as hard as it is to live life with a 2 year old and a wilful one at that, I adore you. I. Adore. You. You have wrapped me around your little finger so tight, I won’t ever let go ok? I marvel at your soulful spirit, your life force, your joy (you have so much joy, you often burst out in dance and song out of nowhere), you’re such a happy kid and I feel so proud of you because of your joy and enjoyment of life. You’re amazing and beautiful and I’m so grateful that you completed our family of 4. Life wouldn’t be the same without you (slightly less crazy but also much less fun if you weren’t there – ha!).

You’ve got my heart little boy with the round tummy. I love you I love you I love you.

Your mummy.