2.

Dear Colin,

Today, you turn 2 years old and it is exactly one year since I have written you.  First of all, thank you for the past year.  It has been so much fun to spend it with you and watch you every second of the way.  You and your super fun self have made being your Mom just the best thing that I could ever ask for.  When looking back at pictures from this time one year ago, it really magnifies how much you have grown and developed.  One year ago, you couldn't walk, now you run...everywhere.  One year ago, you couldn't say much of anything, and what you could say, I couldn't really understand.  Now you are constantly talking, 80% or so of which I understand - we are getting there.  Bottom line is that one year ago you were still very much a baby and today, you are most definitely a little boy.  You are absolutely the most stereotypical, loud, rowdy, crazy boy.  You love all things boy - cars, trucks, tractors, bridges, trains, buses, and destroying.

For you, learning to walk was a slower process where you didn't really hit your true stride until 14 or 15 months.  I have read that the bigger the baby, the longer it takes for them to really get moving so the theory fits with you.  Ever since you started walking, and now running, you have really slimmed out and simply lengthened up instead of out, something you did very quickly in your first year.  I remember sometime around Christmas looking at you and realizing that I could actually see your neck, something I had never seen since you were a few weeks old.  You are still thick, but I would imagine you might always be.  Your Dad and I are not small people therefore I can't imagine why you would be either.  Today, on your birthday we measured you and marked your height on the measuring stick that I made last year.  It is great to be able to see how much you have grown...I know making a new mark will be something I look forward to each year.

You are smart.  You love to learn and love to practice something over and over again until you can do it by yourself and to perfection.  I see your Dad in you as you often get frustrated when you initially have trouble with something.  You are both perfectionists and I think the learner in him has brushed off in you.  I fully expect and accept that you will one day be smarter than me.  You are just that way and I can tell already that you will be a lifelong learner.  You are so much like your Dad in that way.  It is never enough for your Dad just to shrug off how things work and let them do their job.  Your Dad always wants to research and understand each and every thing in our home and in the world.  You seem to be the same way.  Hopefully you'll go easy on me when I you realize that I just don't share that trait.  A student, I am not.  I love that you are already on this path as I know how much fun you and your Dad will have learning together.  You and he can read every sign on hikes, spend hours reading online about everything under the sun and go through the years discussing the latest and greatest.

Something I realized the other day is just how easy a toddler you have been even though you were a difficult baby and an extremely challenged sleeper for quite a few of your initial months of life.  Although sleeping was such a challenge for you for those first months, ever since then you are the ideal sleeper.  Zero complaints.  For the past year, you have handled every transition with ease.  A few months ago we decided to move you to a toddler bed thinking that we wanted to get that over and done with while your sister was still up at that time anyways.  I didn't want to wait until she was going to bed at 7:30 and then deal with you getting out of bed again and again for hours.  I should have given you more credit.  From night one, you stayed in your bed.  You fell out once, but that wasn't anything a pool noodle under the sheet couldn't fix.  It was then that I realized that you truly have transitioned through each and every stage with almost no problems.  As tough a newborn that you were, you have made up for it tenfold.

This year, we changed everything and added another baby to our family.  You, my friend, love on your sister like I always hoped you would.  You are gentle and caring and compassionate to her and what she needs.  One time a month or so ago you accidentally hit her with a toy you were playing with and she started crying.  Instantly, you started bawling, tears flowed and your lips quivered.  You were so sorry.  You are on your way to being a great big brother.  I am sure the two of you will have your moments, but I could not have asked for a better introduction to the dynamic of having 2 kids.

Over the past year, you have become a wonderfully awesome, super fun little boy.  There have been times however when you and I have come to "blows".  Your wonderfulness sometimes spills over into craziness and your craziness sometimes morphs into super loudness and annoyingness.  You are 2 and for the past year I have had to remind myself of your age from time to time.  You will sometimes cry because your bath made you wet, or because your milk out of the fridge was cold, or because I picked up the wrong book off the shelf.  I have to remember that outbursts and ridiculousness comes with the territory of being 2 and try not to hold it against you too much.  Luckily for me, you make up for it with your cuteness and your general disposition that can turn even the saddest and grumpiest of my moods around as quickly as they began.  I remember when my sisters kids were your age and they would do something rotten to their Mom and she would of course, discipline them.  Not 2 seconds later, after all the tears were wiped and sorry's were said, she would act as if nothing happened, and simply go on with the day calling them "sweetheart" and "honey".  Before I had you, and before this past year I always wondered how she did that.  To me, I thought, if my kid had just done that with me, I would be still be angry, at least for an hour or two.  You have shown me why my sister was able to brush things off so easily.  When it's your own kid, it just comes with the love and joy you have for them.  No matter how rotten you have been from time to time over this past year, once you are past it and back to sweetness, so am I.  I simply can't help but forgive and forget.  I could never hold a grudge on you.

Every stage we have gotten through with you has been my most favorite and the stage we are in now is no different.  I love your independence, your politeness, your humour, your words.  You are so happy to be you and I am so happy to have a front row seat.  You make me laugh more than I ever thought a 2 year old could and make me happy to be exactly where we are.  Seeing the world through your eyes brings me more energy than I ever thought I could have while mothering 2 kids under 2.  You think the simplest things are so incredibly interesting.  You start each day with joy and energy and excitement.  You find fun in anything and simply love living.  You are my bestest boy and my sweetest little man.

This morning, I conducted the first of an annual interview that we will repeat yearly on your birthday.  Even though this video is a bit of a mess, I love how it represents who you are today.  You are exactly you in this...energetic, funny, and never stop moving.  My personal favorite moment is when you pretend to be sleeping around the 2:30 mark.  Obviously I am not a very engaging interviewer.  Can't wait to see what you will be like one year from now and how your answers will differ.  Hopefully you might actually sit still as well...


 

I will cherish this video and how it so perfectly represents you and all I love and adore.

Happy Birthday, bub.  To the moon and back, you are forever loved.

Mommy
xoxo

This is to you.