3

I know it is a cliche and I know that parents of young children all over the world say the same thing all the time, but seriously, how are you 3 years old already? THREE. Mind boggling.

I still remember so vividly, no, not remember, I still feel your newborn tiny body (yes, I know with your 3910g birth weight you weren’t exactly tiny but your big sister beat you by half a kilo so yes, you were tiny to me) nestled in my arms. If I close my eyes I can still smell the sweet scent of your baby skin. And if I open them, I see a boy (that baby is long gone, no matter how desperately I was denying it). A happy boy. This is the word I mostly use to describe you to those who haven’t met you yet. Happy. You have a sunny personality (minus the recently developed love for tantrums, then it is more like a thousand thunders), you laugh and smile and make everyone around you do the same. Strangers on the street, neighbours, teachers, no one is immune. Least of all the three of us, you are our very own little grapjas. You greet each day with such zest, the wind in your back and the sun shining on you.

You are a big boy now, at least that’s what you say about yourself. You have started looking up at your father, identifying with him (“I am a boy, like Daddy”), doing boy stuff with him, the two of you fixed my bike yesterday, each with your own screwdriver. Seka is, hands down, still your very favourite person. Even though you are not nearly as gentle and sharing with her as she is with you, the bond between the two of you, manifested in moments of every day, is one of the most rewarding aspects of parenting for me and Daddy and the one that tells us that we are doing something right. I am still the one you look for when you are tired, sad, sick. I am still the one you come to in the early morning hours, the pitter-patter of your little feet and your sleepy head next to mine make me, the least morning person in the history of the universe, look forward to every morning.  I cherish these moments with the wistfulness of a second time mother, I know how fleeting they are.

You have brought SO much joy into our lives, so much laughter, so much love. I hope you always know how loved you are.

Happy birthday, my darling boy.