Dear Emily (Twenty Months)

Dear Emily

My beautiful, affectionate, friendly Emily. You're twenty months today. Twenty months of my life being turned upside down and my heart feeling emotions it could never have imagined.

In six short months, you'll become a big sister. This fills me with excitement, nerves and turmoil. How dare anyone come into our lives and let me have less time with you? And yet, when I mention your little brother or sister to you (a sister, you insist), your face lights up and you lean down to kiss my belly. You understand far more of what is going on than I give you credit for. And seeing that gives me hope: if it's ok with you, then it can be ok with me too We'll do this, altogether, our amazing family of four. We'll have wonderful adventures together and I'll look back and wonder what on earth I was on about when I wrote the beginning of this paragraph.

You understand so much that dropping you off at the childminder has suddenly become a nightmare. Although from what I hear, you stop crying before I have, you cheeky monkey. But if you have your way, you won't let go of me, I wouldn't walk into a different room, I wouldn't even be allowed a toilet break. When you're on the brink of sleep, you wake up, panicked, crying for me. It's tiring but I'm trying my best to be patient about it. After all it's only because you love me so much.

You give the best hugs. And the gentlest kisses. Random kisses, like when you take my hand and kiss my fingers over dinner, just because. Or sometimes you.ll get down on your little knees and kiss my toes. Completely unexpectedly. Completely adorable. And then "thank you Mummy."

Words are no problem to you. This week we've moved on to sentences. Three or four words strung together, making perfect sense. "I like colour" was your very first sentence, as you headed over to your little table to do some colouring.

But as much as I can have entire conversations with you, there are some words that you've created crazy versions of.

Bly (butterfly)
Feckist (breakfast)
Vesen (seven)
Lalloo (flower)
Maimow (rainbow, oh how you love rainbows!)

You'll dance to anything. A funny, one-legged, jumpy dance that you are so very proud of. Everyone who meets you falls for your charm, and everyone gets treated to the jumpy dance.

I could write forever. You surprise me with something new and we discover new little secrets to your personality every day. It's never disappointing.

Keep smiling, my princess.

Mummy x