The Things You Do Too

My dear NB,

It is less than a month now until you leave us and move on to your new home, your new mummy and your new life.  After that, you will only be real for me in my memories of the past 18 months and my imagination of your future.  I imagine it to be a very GOOD future!

Such a lot has changed for you since you came to live with us, and it's about to all change again, so this seems like the perfect time to take a snapshot of the things I love about where you are now:

• Your beautiful, strawberry blond curls - even though I finally took the plunge and took you for a haircut a few months ago, your curls are just as gorgeous as ever
• Your sensitivity, and the way you genuinely care when other children are crying or hurt
• The ability that you have to sleep, sleep, sleep, right through the night, for a long afternoon nap, whenever, wherever
• The endless curiosity that always leads you to look under, around and behind to see how things work and what makes them tick
• The fact that pretty much everything is potential tower-building material to you
• The way you run with total abandon, looking as though you might fall at any second with your limbs flailing wildly about
• The conversations you have with me where 90% of your sentences consist entirely of "Ha de de de de de . . . " with just one intelligible word slipped in there somewhere - I love that you're trying so hard to tell me your stories
• The way you still sometimes use the signs we learned when you Really, Really Mean It!
• The way you drum in time with the music
• Your great attitude towards your swimming lessons and tolerance of the cap!
• The way you love to dress up and parade around the house
• Your drawing and colouring
• The way you 'read' your books out loud
• The way you say "Po Po Pat!"
• How excited you get about trains and planes
• How beautiful you look in the new jumper I got you
• Your pleases and thankyous
• The way you watch Mr Tumble with such intensity and teach yourself new signs
• How cute you look tucked up in your big boy bed
• The way you wrap yourself around me when I'm carrying you
• How appreciative you are about new toys, even taking them with you to bed
• Your current obsession with your toy saw
• The way you'll talk on a toy phone for ages, but totally clam up when somebody is talking to you on a real phone!
• The shy smile you do every night when we talk about your new mummy in our prayers

Love you NB
xx