father & son
dear Ollie,
you’re a through and through monster. Yep. But don’t worry, I still love you, okay? =)
What sparked this letter. Hrm. It would have to be the trip to the zoo yesterday. Your daddy had enjoyed the long weekend last week, spending time with you and had decided that he will take an impromptu day off and take you out to the zoo. It was an awesome family day out. I saw a little grown 18 month old boy having fun.
We have been periodically letting you sit alone in your childseat in the back seat of the car, wondering how you would feel without anyone next to you. You did really well, and you showed Daddy that you could do it when he was driving alone with you to pick me up. Well done! All we had to do was to hand you a snack, occasionally give you your sippy cup and you were contented watching out of the window, watching the traffic. You would get exceptionally excited when it was time to go for a drive. To you, Daddy was “beep! vroom vroom! drive!”. Haha.
Back to the trip to the zoo. I watched you look around, sitting in the stroller, slowly warming up to what the zoo was really about, seeing live animals first hand. The last time we went to the zoo in March ’13, you weren’t sure about what these animals were about. But since then, you knew more about your animals, making the noises of animals as you saw them in your picture book. “dat” (cat), duck, pig, dog, “burd” (bird), “gee-affe” (giraffe), “elle-l” (elephant) are the few first animals that you can say.
We spent a good half of the day watching the animal shows, and you were somewhat enticed by them, watching the animals perform their tricks. You spent the second half of the day running around the zoo. Poor Daddy had to brisk walk to catch up with you, watching you pick up leaves, pebbles and twigs, stopping you from launching yourself into the little ponds, and touching the information boards. Sometimes we hurried you a little, so we could move on around the zoo. Then I told Daddy to let you take your time to run around, afterall, we are coming back to the zoo on 3rd Sept. Daddy would pick you up to look at the various animals in their enclosures, so you could see them.
We listened to you call the snake a worm, watched you imitate the giraffes chewing away at their afternoon snack of leaves, watched you used your hands to imitate the trunk of the elephant and attempt to make a trumpeting sound, and definitely watched you pick loads of leaves, twigs and pebbles. I pointed out to you the water park at the children’s zoo and watched you run all the way towards it excitedly. Daddy had to tell you that we were going to see the elephants before you would turn away.
This morning, you were still excited about the zoo. You picked your animal puzzle and brought it to me, demanding that it was to share the countertop with your breakfast. You put your puzzle pieces into their places, and then started pointing at each animal, saying what you could and grunting at what you couldn’t, indicating that you wanted me to repeat their names.
You have grown so much, Mummy sometimes can’t believe it.
You love our naps together in the afternoon. This afternoon, you sat up in bed suddenly, looked at me, gave me a huge grin and then flopped back on me to snuggle your back against me, promptly falling back to sleep again.
You always run back to me even when I get cross at you for the little naughty things that you have done. I would look upset, and you would run straight into my legs, give me a hug and say “up”, indicating you wanted to be picked up for a cuddle.
We could go out for a walk, with you in the carrier sometimes, and you would say “up” and give me random hugs by saying “ugh” (hug) before putting your arms around my neck and resting your head on my shoulder.
As much as I love you, you make me feel just as loved. Thank you for that. I hope you know that this love will never change. Even when your sibling comes along next year. I will try to be fair and square to the both of you. Fingers crossed!
To the many more months of growing up, Ollie.
Love,
your mom.