Happy 2nd Birthday my beautiful boy!

Dear Aden,
Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet boy. It has been such a pleasure being your Mummy for the last 2 years!
You are a joy to be around and you make me smile everyday. I am constantly surprised at the things you have achieved and the new things you learn. Your ability to speak and form independent sentences amazes me. You love to chat and will talk to almost anybody.

I love the way to introduce yourself to strangers in the shops or people who come to the door. 'Hello, I Adie' while you point your finger to your chest. This is usually followed by a useful piece of information like 'I'm wearing my new pajamas'* (even if they are not new) or 'This is my Mummy'
I love the way you are singing Happy Birthday to yourself while you eat your breakfast, and randomly start singing the Alphabet or Wheels on the Bus when we are driving in the car.
We are not loving so much the 'What you doing?', 'Why?' but I love the curiosity you show towards new things and how intensely you stare at the pages of a book or watch so closely while we cook, clean or write and then want to have a go yourself. 

Other favourite things you like to say are;
 'I need that too' - said for anything that we have in our hands that you think you'd like
'That's mine!- you are 2 after all
'Rice bubbles please Mummy' - said for breakfast, lunch and dinner
'I'm reading' - you love books (you always have) - you also can 'read' a few of your favourite books from memory and you love to tell the story from the pictures.
'Come with me, I show you' - he doesn't take 'in a minute' or 'hang on buddy I'm busy' very well
'Watching me' - he loves to show you what he can do!
"Ah Ha! I found it!" - when you ask him to pick something up
" Oh No! What happened here" - this one makes me laugh as he sounds just like I do!


You are very much a 'Mummy's boy' and ask for 'baby cuddles' after every bath. So I wrap you in a towel and cuddle you into my shoulder, where you pat my back and sigh contentedly. You love to splash and 'swim' in the bath. You are getting more confident at floating on your back so you can 'look at the roof' you tell me. You sit between my feet when we shower in the mornings and if I move you move too. There are more 'baby cuddles' when we get out and it is often the only way I can get you out of the shower is to offer a cuddle. You are learning to wash and dry yourself 'I can do it Mummy' you tell me when I try to help.

The only issue I have with you is food...Dinner to be specific...you eat 2-3 bowls of rice bubbles for breakfast, you love fruit and yogurt for morning tea and you are most content with a jam or peanut butter sandwich for lunch, but the only thing you will eat for dinner is sausages....and only when you feel like it. I'm hoping you will grow out of it one day and until then we will just keep putting up with the 'Noooooooo' that we get when we try to get you to eat something (anything) for dinner.

Aden, you play so nicely with your toys, anything with wheels being your favourite...trains especially! You love Thomas, Lightening McQueen, Mack and Roary. You love balls and are getting good at kicking, throwing and catching. You love jumping onto and off anything. Your latest trick is the 'firemans pole' at Day Care where you give the carers a heart attack by just leaning out and grabbing the pole to slide down. You love the slides and the rope ladder, the swings not so much. You love to play with anyone who will play with you...only if they don't try and take what you are playing with at that moment...or something you might want to play with next...or something that you just finished playing with....you are 2!

You love swimming lessons and will have your first one on your own tomorrow without Mummy in the water...I think you will be fine...if you don't try and jump off the step when it is not your turn! You can paddle and kick and have learnt to propell yourself through the water using a noodle without any help. You love jumping in from the edge and can 'monkey' very fast to get back to the steps.

You are a great sleeper, having between 1 and 2 hrs during the day and into bed at around 7 every night. With cuddles, a few 'I love yous' and a story or 2, you are easy to get to bed and you settle well, putting yourself to sleep with the help of your bedside light (which you turn on after we leave the room- naughty boy!) and musical fish tank, half a dozen books and whatever toy takes your fancy just before bed. If you hear us up early in the morning you get up too, to say bye to Daddy before he goes to work. If we don't have to get up early you wander into our room not long after 6am and snuggle in bed with us for 10 mins before demanding 'breakfsss please Mummy, I hungry'

You have beautiful manners, without needing too much prompting. You say 'bless you' when someone sneezes, and 'sscue me' to people in the shops in your way. You call out 'drive safely' whenever we go anywhere in the car and you always check we have our seat belts on.

You are a beautiful soul Aden Henry and I love you very much. I feel so blessed to have you in my life. I will continue to enjoy watching you grow from a baby into a little boy over the next 12 months.
Thank you for being a wonderful son.

Love Mummy
xxxooo

*said to the gardener who showed up at 7am, we do not wear Pj's to the shops!