Dear Matthew
When you were six weeks old we drove down to Busselton and stayed the weekend with grandma, gramps, uncle Andrew and Aunty Robyn. On reflection I don't know how I had the mental energy to do it given how horrible you were in the car during your first year of life. In any event we survived. And a couple of weeks ago we took the plunge again and drove down with the fam as it was my cousin Kate's 30th birthday.
This time there were exactly 0 tears. On the way down there (around lunchtime on Friday), grandma entertained you in the car and you literally fell asleep without me even noticing that you were tired. And then when you woke you were easily distracted and happy as larry. We went shopping, played on the jumpy castle and had a very chilled evening.
On the Saturday the girls headed off for the ladies lunch to celebrate Kate's birthday and your dad and gramps took you to an animal petting farm which I'm told you loved. I was sad to have missed you feeding the animals but I'm sure there'll be more chances. In the afternoon we went to the beach, had a bubble bath (and you spread the bubbles all over the villa's garden) and had fish and chips.
On the Sunday we went to my cousin Joseph's new farm in Cowarranup where you got to go on a ride on their quad bike with daddy. You didn't really enjoy it but had fun playing with the other little boys, walking through the olive trees and eating pancakes for breakfast.
We then headed north, stopping at the Bunbury Farmers Markets for some fresh grub. We also dropped into my Nanna and granddad's house for afternoon tea where you helped Nanna pick some fruit and veggies from their patch. All up we drove for four hours with you on the Sunday and you didn't cry once. Completely different to when you were younger and you couldn't handle four minutes in the car without a complete breakdown. Yay for time passing haha!!
It was a lovely weekend and full of some great experiences.
Looking forward to travelling with you again soon travel buddy.
Love,
Mum xxx
Dear Matthew
Today after I finished work and came to pick you up from grandma's house you took me into her pantry and asked for 'bubbles?' which was your way of asking for a bowl of rice bubbles.
I quickly obliged and sat you in your high chair to eat. After a few minutes of eating you asked 'more bubbles?' and I said 'you've got plenty of bubbles to eat in your bowl already' and then realised you had put two words together, something you had never done before.
And so it begins! The start of sentences! It is the most beautiful thing to watch your language skills (and other skills of course) develop. I'm grateful every day that you're an early talker, with over 50 words now and not yet even 16 months old. I know communication is key to keeping both our frustration levels to a minimum when we're trying to portray our messages, so am very thankful that you seem to learning a new word every day and using if regularly in context.
Don't ever stop talking to me baby boy. Lord knows nothing can stop me from always talking to you :)
Love you my babble boy
Mum xxx
P.S. You've also learnt that you can throw potatoes at windows because FUN. Also you like throwing balls at walls so I guess you're making that link too. So of course I had to take some snaps of you with your weapon of choice :)
Dear Matthew
The day after your trip to emergency was my 29th birthday. It was a Tuesday so I headed into work and your Nanna came to look after you. I was thoroughly spoilt at work and had an early dinner with you, dad, and Nanna and then grandma, gramps and Aunty Robyn came over later in the evening. We had my favourite meal- laksa from Cafe 55 in Freo.
But by far my favourite part of the day was coming home to you- you get so excited when you see me now, it is pure joy for me. Your face lights up in a huge smile, your eyes twinkle and you come running toward me with your arms up wanting to be picked up. It is the best.
Thank you for loving me as much as I love you. It's like it's my birthday every day of the year.
Mum xxx
Dear Matthew
A few weeks ago you had been suffering from a fever for four days when you woke up, started crying in my arms, your eyes rolled to the back of your head, you semi fainted backwards then lunged forward and vomitted. So we did what any sane parents would do- we drove you straight to the emergency room.
The nearest public hospital at that point was Fremantle so lucky you got to be seen by the doctors there (it's old and gross but the new Fiona Stanley Hospital opened this week so we'll be heading there in the future should the need arise).
It took three doctors, including the paediatric registrar, to look you over and be confident you were ok before we could be sent home. We were told just to watch for febrile convulsions and that it was just a nasty virus causing the fever. The sort of thing every parent wants to hear. But luckily you were fine and by the end of the day pretty much fully recovered.
Fun times! Grateful for our free health care system and no so long wait times in hospital. It was scary but we knew you were in safe hands. And so proud of my brave boy- you were prodded and poked but still generally happy. What a trooper.
Love,
Mum xxx
Dear Matthew
Last Friday we visited the Re Store with Grandma. The Re Store is just an Italian gourmet shop in Northbridge that has a deli where you can get a roll made, but it holds special meaning for me. This is because when we were young, as a school holiday treat, Grandma, Aunty, Uncle Andrew, Aunty Robyn and my cousins Kate and Anna would go there and have a roll made just the way we like it. And on the way out the person on check out would give us a Cadbury chocolate.
It sounds so simple when I type it out like that. But for some reason it was a highly anticipated tradition and treat.
I suspect the reason I loved it as a kid was that I got to feel like I had a bit of culture- us skips would also help out on Tomato Day with the Melias, bottling a years worth of pasta sauce in a day in the front yard of aunty's house under the watchful eye of nonna (uncle Bruno's mum). And I could cling to that, as I didn't realise that we had our own culture at the time. I didn't recognise our own traditions to be important as they weren't hugely obvious, so I tried to swing with my wog cousins in an attempt to feel some form of cultural identity.
Also, I got to spend the morning with my extended family whom I love and adore. Nothing beat that.
So you've made your first trip and I hope there will be more :) You loved your roll, almost as much as you loved watching the pigeons each scraps near the table we were eating at! And you loved all the nativity sets in the window of the store (it was fun describing the scene to you as you would point to each and day 'dat!' and I'd tell you who was who).
Love you monkey.
Mum xxx
Dear Matthew
My job is to teach you about the real world. So here's how exciting New Years Eve can get when you're a parent:
It was great. Truly.
Hoping our 2015 is awesome. What am I saying- with you, things are always awesome :)
Love you baby boy.
Mum xxx
